Brawl of the Wild tailgate party set in Havre

For one Saturday in November all across the Treasure State, communities come together, though divided, to watch the annual game between the Montana Grizzlies and Montana State Bobcats.

Yes, in bars, homes and just about anywhere there’s a television, Cat-Griz watch parties are a long-standing tradition in Montana.

For nearly three decades now, the Havre Wrestling Club has been hosting one of those parties in Havre. The event brings Havre fans on both sides of the Brawl of the Wild rivalry together, whether they like it or not.

This year’s Cat-Griz showdown is set for noon Saturday and the Havre Wrestling Club’s Cat-Griz Tailgate Party will take place at Shamrocks Bar. Admission is free, and the event, which features food as well as raffles, silent auctions on prizes such as a 55-inch smart TV, custom built cornhole boards, a Lincoln Holt handmade knife, an iPad and more, is an important fundraiser for the Havre Wrestling Club.

“It’s a lot of fun,” wrestling club president Shaylee Lewis said. “There’s a ton of prizes, there will be quarter boards and halftime boards with prizes for each one, a silent auction on some really great items as well as a live auction. It’s just a really good time.”

The Cat-Griz Tailgate Party is always a great time, but it also serves an important function. It’s one of two yearly fundraisers for the club and the proceeds go directly to the kids who participate in Havre youth wrestling, which has become a premier sport in the community.

The Havre Wrestling Club’s mission statement says, “The Havre Wrestling Club is a non-school-related organization with its primary mission to provide young students — age 4-11 — with an opportunity to get involved in the sport of wrestling and embrace the sport as a child progresses through his-her school years. At the club, we truly believe that there is no substitute for experience.”

“The money we raise goes to benefit all of our kids in the club,” Lewis said. “It helps to keep registration costs for tournaments down, it goes for equipment for the kids, expenses, just a lot of different things. The money we raise just helps to lessen some of the costs that go along with traveling and competing at all of these tournaments these kids can choose to go to.

“There are so many tournaments these kids can choose to go to, both in the state and out,” she continued. “We’ve sent kids to tournaments in Las Vegas and Denver, and to a lot of other really big tournaments. So this is about getting those kids that want to go to those tournaments, opportunities to be able to do that.”

No doubt, the Havre Wrestling Club has become an esteemed program in Havre. The success the Havre High wrestling team has had over the years has helped the club become more popular. Now, the club itself is giving back to the Blue Ponies, in that it has become a feeder program for high school wrestling in Havre. Year after year, wrestlers who started in the Havre Wrestling Club have found success with the Blue Ponies past head coach Scott Filius and now head coach Beau LaSalle. And that success shows no signs of slowing down, as the club routinely has more than 100 grapplers each year.

“We usually have at least 100 or more kids in the club,” Lewis said. “And the kids can wrestle as much as they want. They can do a two-month season or a sixth-month season if they want. They can choose to go to whatever tournaments they want. It’s kind of just up to each individual and their parents how far they want to go with it. But, for sure, we have a ton of kids who participate. They start as young as 5 years old, and we’re busting at the seams with kids at practices.”

The popularity of youth wrestling is at an all-time high in Havre right now, and the Havre Wrestling Club is certainly providing experience for any youngster who wants to participate, learn the sport, and eventually, become a Blue Pony wrestler. The club’s success is becoming unmatched around the state of Montana, too. The Havre Wrestling Club is coached by Bobby Mantle, Tyrel Stygles, Buzz Stiffarm and C.J. Caven. Lewis said many more parents also volunteer their time to help the club, on and off the mat.

“We’ve had so many kids accomplish so many great things,” Lewis said. “Too many to even list. We’ve won the state AAU, we’ve had kids that have traveled to and won some really big tournaments. These are the younger kids, and they’re doing great things in this sport. We have kids who will have wrestled as much as 500 times before they’re even in the middle school program. We have kids that will have wrestled at some really big tournaments, so when they get to high school and to the state tournament in the Metra, they’ve already wrestled at big tournaments just like that. It’s just awesome.”

And that’s why the club’s fundraisers, like the annual Cat-Griz Tailgate Party, are so important, she added. The proceeds from the party, and the club’s annual raffle, help to continue to build and strengthen the club and help the kids who participate. And it offers something else that’s unique and special about the Havre Wrestling Club — scholarships.

“If there is a kid out there that wants to join, but they can’t afford it, we do have scholarships available,” Lewis said. “That’s something else, we want to make sure anyone who wants to participate can participate.”

And participation is booming, much like the club hopes the annual Cat-Griz Tailgate Party will be booming Saturday at Shamrocks Bar. The Havre Wrestling Club is also playing host to one large tournament this winter. Jan. 18, the AAU Tournament will be held in the Armory Gymnasium.