Tyler Schaub's journey keeps 205 title in the family

BILLINGS - In sports, you often hear people talk about having the heart of a champion. It's a cliché sure, but every once in a while it rings true.

Saturday at the All-Class State Wrestling Tournament, was one of those times as Havre High senior Tyler Schaub had to dig deep in order to win his second individual state championship.

After winning his matches easily Friday to get into the semifinals, nothing came easy for Schaub from there. He was down 2-0 in the semifinals, in the third period to Brady Boyce of Lewistown. Things started to look bleak, when Schaub suddenly turned it on, overpowered his opponent and took him down for a pin.

One difficult match down, another to go.

"He was trying to pin me," Schaub said. "But I wasn't going to be pinned. I wasn't going to let him do that. I just tried to finish the match and that's what I was able to do."

Boyce wrestled as well he could, but it still wasn't enough to stop Schaub, who somehow, someway, found an extra gear whenever he needed to Saturday, including on finals night.

In the championship match at 205 pounds, Schaub grabbed the lead with a second-period takedown that put him up 2-0. Yet, two escapes by his opponent, tied the score at 2-2 and as the clock ticked under a minute, it remained that way. Suddenly, everything was on the line and it wasn't just a state championship. After missing most of his junior season and the state tournament due to a knee injury, Schaub worked incredibly hard to get back and he didn't want all that work to go to waste.

Without the injury, there's a good chance Schaub would have been wrestling for a third state championship this weekend. But life doesn't always go according to plan. The injury cost him a chance to wrestle at state as a junior, but after all the work he put in to get back to finals night at the state tournament, he wasn't about to let someone else walk away with his 205-pound state championship.

So, as Schaub has done throughout his career, he found a way. He scored a late takedown in the finals, then was able to stalemate his opponent, Will Caprata of Hardin, as the clock ran out. When it finally struck zero, Schaub's long and eventful journey back to the top, was finally complete.

"It's finally done," Schaub said with a sense of relief as he rested on a chair after his match. "No more morning runs, no more lifting. I can actually relax for a bit."

Relax isn't something Schaub has been able to do for a long time. Following a third-place finish at state as a freshman and an individual state title as a sophomore, he was well on his way to an incredible high school career. He even managed to overcome his injury, which first occurred during the 2016 football season, to wrestle at the 2017 Eastern A Divisional.

Schaub did qualify for state at that tournament, but in doing so, he re-injured himself and was forced to sit out the 2017 All-Class State Tournament. He had to stand by and watch his team win a state championship without him. He also watched his stepbrother, Jase Stokes, become a four-time state champion, as Stokes captured the 205-pound championship in Class A last year.

But one year later, it was Stokes who watched Schaub keep the 205-pound championship in the family. From brother to brother, the title passed. And afterward, the two embraced in the halls of the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra in Billings and it was easy to see, just how much the win meant.

"It's nice," Schaub said of keeping the title in the family for another year. "Jase (Stokes) has four, my other brother (Casey Schaub) has one and now I have two."

Of course, Schaub won two state titles in part because he is extremely talented. His size, athleticism and brute strength have always made him difficult to contend with. But he didn't win his second championship Saturday because of any physical attribute. He won because he refused to lose and because no matter how cliché it might be, he truly does, have the heart of a champion.

"He's a great kid," Filius said. "He's so much fun to be around and he has such a great personality. That's the part I am going to miss. The wrestling is always there, but his personality and his friendship is what I am going to miss."

Filius won't be the only one who misses Schaub, everyone associated with Havre wrestling will feel the same. But at least, when it was all said and done, Schaub finished his career where he belongs, on top of the podium on a cold February night in Billings.