TWO FOR BLUE

BILLINGS - No matter what the team scores say, no matter where they finish, no matter who's wrestling, the Havre Blue Ponies are always part of the final's night story in the Metra.

They always are, and they were Saturday night inside the First Interstate Bank Arena in Billings, as Havre crowned two Class A state champions and had one more Pony take to the mat.

"It's a great way to end the tournament," Havre head coach Beau LaSalle said. "We're going to come up one or two matches short of a trophy, but to have those guys win it the way they did, it's awesome."

"Those guys" were senior Connor Harris and sophomore Orion Thivierge.

Harris, who agonizingly finished third at 152 pounds in each of the last three years, finally got the state championship he was so hungry for.

In the final Saturday night, he dominated Libby's Trey Thompson into the third period, before fittingly finishing off his brilliant high school career with a pin.

"Can't really describe how I'm feeling right now, "Harris, who is headed to wrestle for Montana State University-Northern, said. "I feel a lot of relief and a lot of excitement. It's amazing."

Harris has been at the 152-pound fight for the length of his high school career, and while he could have switched weights, and probably had more state titles, in the end, he stayed the course, and both he and his coach were proud of not just what he did Saturday night, but his entire career.

"So proud of Connor," LaSalle said. "For him to get third those three times, I thought that the semifinals was the big hump he needed to get over. Once he did that, we felt pretty good about tonight. But he was just really dominant this weekend. I'm really happy for him.

"It feels good to finish it this way," Harris said. "But getting third those three years, I was never really disappointed. I know I wrestled and battled a lot of really tough kids over the years. I never ducked anybody. I wrestled everybody that was in front of me, and all I ever wanted to do was help the team win. But this is surreal. It's a great feeling to go out this way."

While Harris' Blue Pony career came to a close in the Metra, Thivierge' is just getting started.

After he finished sixth a year ago, he rolled into Saturday's championship match at 160 pounds, having not lost since early January, and he wasn't about to lose his last match of the season.

"Orion has just gotten better and better," LaSalle said. "And this weekend, for him to dominate the 160-pound weight class as a sophomore, it is so impressive. Anybody he lost to this year, he avenged that loss. He got on a big roll after Christmas, and really he's just scratching the surface of how good he is. He's just so talented and so tough, and he was awesome this week. He was not going to lose."

No doubt. In the semifinals, Thivierge beat arch rival Duane Otto of Lewistown, then he pinned Hamilton's Bridger Williams in the third period of Saturday night's 160-pound championship match.

"As little kids coming here (Metra) you always dream about winning a state championship," Thivierge said. "I did. This is every kid's dream. It's awesome - it was so much fun."

Thivierge was fun to watch, and he capped off a pretty special half hour for the Ponies, as he followed up Harris' pin with one of his own.

"That's special, for those guys to get those pins," LaSalle said. "That's such a great feeling."

Not everybody for Havre was feeling good Saturday night, but senior Cameron Pleninger had nothing to hang his head about, after he lost to Sidney's Jordan Darby in the 132-pound championship bout.

Pleninger started strong with 2-0 early and was tied 2-2 after the second. But Darby got a reversal and a nearfall in the third, and Pleninger didn't have time to recover. It was a heartbreaking defeat for the senior star, who was wrestling in his third state title match in four years. And yet, he still had an amazing career, as making it that far three times is no small feat, and, he and Darby put together one of the best Class A matches of the night, in what was the first match of the night.

And that is usually the case with the Blue Ponies. They always bring it on final's night, and from start to finish Saturday night, they did again.

"I'm really proud of those three guys for tonight," LaSalle said. "They showed up, they wrestled hard, they did everything we asked of them. Everybody on this team did. And I couldn't ask for more."