Chiefs ready to 'fine-tune' skills for divisional

The Ronan High School wrestling team finished its regular season by defeating its biggest rival Polson 52-21 Saturday night at Polson High School.

“We took some individual steps in those cases and they did a good job,” Chiefs’ Coach James Muir said of his team’s performance. “We dug down and gave it 100 percent. We didn’t give up any possessions and that was some of the deciding factor. You can never count Polson out and we knew it was going to be a dogfight, especially in front of their home crowd in Polson.”

Muir said Polson is a “hard atmosphere” for his team to win.

“Our guys really stepped up to the plate and got it done,” Muir said.

Now the Chiefs will focus on the individual efforts of qualifying for state as individuals when they prepare for Class B-C Western Divisionals Friday at Arlee High School.

“It’s always important to have those quality matches and the fact that we have come away from the last two duals with a win as a team, that puts a pretty good stamp on it,” Muir said. “When we wrestled in Big Sky, we were a little humbled. Our guys did not dig down and wrestle to their potential and it showed on the scoreboard and mat. We had a little talk about where we needed to be (as a team) and the guys stepped up.”

The Chiefs defeated Florence 57-15 Thursday night at Florence High School.

“Our guys wrestled with tunnel vision against Florence and we had to put a stomp the head in the Class B-C dual,” Muir said. “That was our last head-to-head and our guys took that to heart. Our wrestlers really stepped up to the plate, wrestled tough and carried the momentum into Saturday against Polson.”

Muir said wrestling against Polson is always a difficult match up regardless of the circumstances surrounding the teams.

“We can never count Polson out of our backyard because it’s a backyard brawl and no matter how that team is that year, that is a tough dual match,” Muir said.

As of press time, the brackets for the Class B-C match have not been made up yet. According to Muir, this week is all about mat time and practice in preparation for divisional Friday at Arlee High School.

“Mentally, our guys are ready and physically, our guys are already fine-tuning their skills,” Muir said. “We brought this to their attention this year to be technically sound. We will have a couple of good practices that get their heart rates up and blasting their lungs really hard. The thought process for my coaching staff and I is to stay healthy and not get banged in practice or do something stupid that might get them injured.”