PHS wrestling battles at the Battle of the Bighorns

Posted 12/20/16

Taking a detour to Worland, the squad battled to a second-place finish at the Battle of the Bighorns.

Powell also had three wrestlers — Reese Karst, Eli Briggs and Ty Dearcorn — grapple in a “best of the best” match; Karst and Ty Dearcorn …

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PHS wrestling battles at the Battle of the Bighorns

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A winter storm prevented the Powell High School wrestlers from traveling to a tournament in Gillette, but in true Panther fashion, the team didn’t let the weather prevent them from competing.

Taking a detour to Worland, the squad battled to a second-place finish at the Battle of the Bighorns.

Powell also had three wrestlers — Reese Karst, Eli Briggs and Ty Dearcorn — grapple in a “best of the best” match; Karst and Ty Dearcorn won the competition.

The Battle of the Bighorns was a team dual tournament. A bracket was set up in which entire teams either advance or go into the consolation bracket based on the team’s win or loss in a dual.

“Was really, really pleased with how well we did,” said PHS head coach Nate Urbach. “We are a really young team.”

On Saturday, the Powell line-up featured eight freshmen and sophomores.

In the first round, Powell was defeated by Riverton, 49-28. The Panthers, however, would then wrestle their way back to the first place match, for a rematch with Riverton. The Wolverines would be victorious again, but not by as much: Powell won two of the individual matches they’d lost the first time around and narrowed Riverton’s margin of victory to 39-33.

After the first loss to Riverton, Urbach said he told the team that, if they did the right things, they would have a chance to come back.

The squad apparently took the message to heart, starting with a 39-37 win over Douglas in the second round.

“Over the years we’ve had a lot of good battles with Douglas, they are always tough,” said Urbach.

The Panthers then proceded to beat Buffalo (46-24), Jackson (69-9) and Greybull-Riverside (72-12) to earn the rematch with Riverton.

At 195 pounds, senior Briggs went undefeated in eight matches. That included two wins over Tanner Verplancke of Buffalo, a 11-3 major decision over Zach McIntosh of Riverton, an 8-4 decision over Dawson Stinson of Douglas, a pin at 2:35 over Said Jimenez of Jackson, a pin at 0:39 over Jesus O’Brien of Greybull-Riverside, a 5-1 decision over Chris McIntosh of Riverton and one forfeited match.

At 132 pounds, sophomore Karst posted a 7-1 overall record.

Karst’s single loss was a 4-2 decision against reigning state champion Cole Reiner of Buffalo — who Karst had beat 5-4 earlier in the tourney. For the 2016-17 wrestling season, Karst is 2-1 against Reiner on the season, also beating him at the championship match of the Powell Athletic Roundtable Wrestling Tournament.

Five of Karst’s other six victories were won by pin.

Ty Dearcorn, a senior, also went 7-1, with all but one of his victories by pin. Pins included Anthony Graves of Buffalo in two separate matches, Chance Dutcher of Douglas at 2:21, William Dennis of Jackson at 0:55, Brody Dempster of Lander at 1:40 and Dawson McEwan of Greybull-Riverside at 3:32. Ty Dearcorn’s seventh win was a 3-2 decision over Koa Rodriguez of Riverton, avenging an earlier loss to Rodriguez.

In the 113-pound weight class, freshman Michael Maddox went 6-2. Two of his victories came by pins of Mikah Alt of Douglas and Jacob Enyert of Greybull-Riverside.

Freshman Cole Davis, at 120-pounds, posted a 4-4 record. His victories included two pins against Ryan Hansen of Riverton, an 8-5 decision over Dallas Lopez of Buffalo and a pin against Beckah Gardner of Greybull-Riverside at 2:49.

Ethan Asher and Brian Brazelton competed in the 126-pound weight class. Asher, a freshman, went 2-1, pinning both Kayden Heil of Lander at 1:30 and Tyerell Sickler at Buffalo at 0:29.

Brazelton, a junior, had three victories in five matches: a 1:30 pin against Aisley Vice of Greybull-Riverside, a 4-0 decision over Kaycee Chancelor of Jackson and a pin at 5:45 over Tyerell Sickler of Buffalo.

At 138 pounds, sophomore Dalton McMillan went 3-5. He pinned Kanyon Cecil of Douglas at 2:44, Ryan Beale of Jackson at 1:27 and Felipe Gayton of Greybull-Riverside at 0:18.

Bo Dearcorn, a freshman, picked up five victories by pin: two against Clay Reiner of Buffalo, two against Kaleob Smith of Riverton and one against Caleb Bottom of Greybull-Riverside at 1:27.

In the 152-pound weight class, senior Shattuck Swenson went 6-2 with five pins. That included pinning Elijiah Johnson of Buffalo at 0:58, Tyler Brennan of Riverton at 2:44, Nathan Motherway of Lander at 2:38, Corbin Slattery of Greybull-Riverside, Tyler Brennan of Riverton at 0:31 and taking a 6-2 decision over Christian Lobst of Jackson.

Senior Zach Easum, at 182 pounds, had only two losses in eight matches. Both losses came against Hayden Wempen of Riverton. Four of his six wins were pins, against Cody Pinkerton of Douglas at 0:48, Brayden Gaston of Jackson at 1:13, Austin Bennett of Lander at 1:18 and Jose Carmona of Greybull-Riverside at 0:43.

In the 220-pound weight class, senior Logan Lamb won five matches and lost three. His victories included a major decision over Slayter Nielsen of Buffalo, a 5-4 decision over Brock Hyberg of Jackson and pins of Damon Gardner of Buffalo at 3:19, Jaden Tillman of Lander at 1:32 and Dade Greene of Greybull-Riverside at 2:34.

Terrance McLaughlin, a senior, went 7-1 at 285 pounds. That included two pins at 0:45 against Robbie Dulmus from Douglas and Brody Hernandez of Jackson.

Also wrestling at the tournament were sophomore Cameron Schmidt and freshman Colt Nicholson.

“We are going to keep improving,” said Urbach.

With it being a young team, he said going 6-2 in the duals and placing second overall was a great accomplishment for the Panther wrestling team.

After the Christmas break, Panther wrestling will resume action at the Bozeman Invitational on Jan. 6 and 7.

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