It's All About Finishing For Scottie Wrestling

As the Scottie wrestlers hit the home stretch, they need to focus on finishing both the season and individual matches well. Over the weekend, the Scotties had trouble with the latter in some cases as they let opponents score points late in matches. Despite those late struggles, the Scotties still placed third as a team in Harlem over teams like Malta and Chinook. 

“If you said we were going to take third over Chinook, I would have called you a liar because Chinook’s pretty tough. Beating them is huge,” said Head Coach Byron Hallock.

Chinook, despite being a Class C team, has one of the bigger teams in Class B/C and has several highly-ranked wrestlers. 

The only teams to beat Glasgow were Cut Bank, who took first, and Harlem, who took second.

The Scotties’ success was evident as they had five wrestlers in the finals in Harlem. However, only one, Jake Shawver at 125 pounds, was able to finish the tournament with a championship. The Scotties could easily have had another if not for a last-minute mistake.

Freshman Mick Reyling was leading two-time state-champion Maestro Martinez by a 6-4 score with one minute to go. The two had wrestled several times this season already with Martinez coming out on top each time. 

This could have been the match that Reyling finally broke through for the big win. However, Martinez made a late move and was able to throw Reyling for four points and the 8-6 win.

“We had a chance to win the match and we didn’t take advantage of that. We started the match well but we didn’t end it well,” said Hallock. “Mick was a little excited. He thought he had the match won. Those things happen.”

It wasn’t the only match where a Scottie wrestler let an opponent score late.

“Everybody on the team knows they’ve got to wrestle a full six minutes,” said Hallock. 

But if how they wrestled in Harlem is any indication, the Scotties are back on the right track after a couple of weeks of disappointing results.

The Scotties had a bout with impetigo that kept them out of the wrestling room and away from practice. They were able to get back to practice this week though, and the results were evident.

Ben Kountz was able to beat Malta’s Chris Doney, second-place finisher at 130 last season, twice in as many days. They first met in Chinook on Friday where Kountz came out on top 16-3, according to Hallock, and then pinned Doney on Saturday in Harlem in a semi-final match.

Kountz ultimately fell to Cut Bank’s Neil Johnson in the finals match to grab second. Also placing second were Reyling at 112, Travis Austin at 160 and Killian Gregg at 215.

Jake Hentges beat Harlem’s Franki Taylor in the third-place match at 130 and Eddie Daggett fell to fourth after losing to Shelby’s Streeter Stirling in the heavyweight class.

In Chinook on Friday, no official results were posted as wrestlers were moved in and out of weight classes to find matches.

The Scotties did have a dual on Thursday against Sidney. It was also senior night as Robbie Henville, Gage Cusker, Austin and Kountz were honored, as well as managers Megan Storkson, Cindy Storkson and Cory Larson. 

The Scotties had a rough night against the Class A wrestlers, though. They lost the team score 65-13 as only Austin was able to get a win on the night.

The Scotties have a big meet in Malta starting on Friday. 

“It’s going to be a loaded tournament at Malta,” said Hallock. 

Class B favorite Choteau will be there as will Class A Havre. Both teams have quite a few ranked wrestlers and it should provide a good test for the Scotties heading into the final few weeks of the season.