Pirates win third straight NWA title

COLUMBIA FALLS - They say third time's a charm, but for the

Polson Pirates, their third straight Northwestern A wrestling

divisional championship was more like trench warfare.

COLUMBIA FALLS - They say third time's a charm, but for the Polson Pirates, their third straight Northwestern A wrestling divisional championship was more like trench warfare.

"This was the toughest one of the three championships," head coach Bob Owen said. "There were four teams that could have won it and the lead changed between those teams about four times during the tournament. I think every one of those four teams had the lead at some point."

Owen felt that a semifinal win by 130-pounder Drew Fouty, a pin of Columbia Falls' Josiah Osborne, was the turning point of the weekend. The Pirates were able to gain momentum en route to 200 team points, 13 more than second-place Frenchtown.

"That was the catalyst," Owen said. "That's really what got it going."

Going into the championship matches trailing by just three and a half points, the Pirates sent an astounding eight kids to the first-place match in various weight classes and they took care of business. Five of them won individual championships and four won by pins, meaning extra bonus points for the team.

"That's a lot of kids for the finals," Owen said. "We needed everybody this weekend and we dang near maxed out with our kids going to state."

Of the 17 kids that went to divisionals, 14 will be going to Billings this weekend for the All-State Wrestling Tournament at the tornado-free Metra Park.

Junior 125-pounder Craig "Captain America" Feistner and senior heavyweight Josiah "Diesel" Clairmont repeated as divisional champions. Feistner pinned Frenchtown's Cody Lemmons in 2:24, while Clairmont steamrolled Whitefish's Wolf Zinke in just 35 seconds.

Senior Alex Nystrom, who has looked incredibly focused this year, won the 140-pound weight class with a pin of Garret Chapel in the first round of the championship bout. Junior Mike "The Devil" Devlin continued his spree of terror out on the mat, earning a 6-0 decision over Libby's Joshua Bowers in the 152-pound weight class.

Perhaps the "surprise" of the divisional tournament was sophomore Taylor Martin, who had served as a backup behind Carlos Quinones at the 112-pound weight class for much of the season. Martin dropped down to the 105-pound weight class just before the tournament and ended up winning the divisional title with a 43-second pin of Libby's Dylan Roby in the championship match.

"We didn't know for sure what would happen because he hadn't been in that situation before," Owen said of Martin moving down a weight class. "It was not an easy weight reduction. I was pleased with how he handled it."

Martin wrestled so well at the divisional tournament he won the Jug Beck Quick Pin Award, getting three pins in a combined time of just 3:10.

"Going to the state tournament after being a backup is a little bit of an advantage having not really wrestled at that weight class," Owen said. "He could sneak up on a few guys."

With the top four in each weight class, Polson had several placers that will be making the trip to Billings. Quinones reached the championship match at 112 pounds as did Dylan Moll at 119 pounds and Fouty at 130 pounds. Placing third was Alex Helgeson at 98 pounds, Lucas Polk at 112 pounds, Skylar Anderson at 135 pounds and Marlin Burke at 189 pounds.

Placing fourth for the Pirates was Jared Young at 152 pounds and Tel Motichka at 145 pounds. Motichka lost by a slim 8-7 margin to Columbia Falls' Travis Province in a great battle.

"Tel wrestled really well in the match," Owen said. "It was a real fun one."

The fab 14 that will head to the state tournament have high hopes and many of them have previous state experience. The ultimate goal would be to take home a state championship and Polson has wrestlers that are certainly looking to do that.

"We all talk about goals of getting better and there are definitely some of these kids that have their sights on a state championship," Owen said.

Owen said that Laurel and Corvallis look like to the two top teams heading into the tournament, while Havre, Belgrade, Glendive, Sydney and Libby all look evenly matched along with Polson.

One thing is for sure though: if it's a tough battle, Polson wrestlers are up to the task.