P-HS sends 7 on to state

The Plains-Hot Springs wrestling team members are brothers in arms, some of them brothers by blood, but beyond that also brothers of the wrestling kind.

Carrying their school colors proudly last week in the Western B-C divisional tournament at Cut Bank, the Savage Horsemen qualified seven grapplers for the State B-C meet in Shelby this week. Sixteen P-HS wrestlers competed in the Western B-C.

Two sets of very effective wrestling brothers – Jacob (fourth at 120 pounds), Stephen (fourth at 126) and David Schultze (fifth at 132), and Drew (fifth at 120) and Peter Carey (fifth at 126) – plus Donny Nelson (ninth at 113) and Jesse Uski (seventh at 170), produced a total of seven Savage Men who will grapple in Shelby.

Nelson earned his bid as a result of an open slot from the Eastern B-C bracket.

"I have to give it to the team," coach Shane Angle said, "they all showed up to do their part this weekend. Everybody wrestled with heart and determination and laid it all out on the mat."

Drew Carey advanced to the 120 pound championship semifinals Friday to highlight P-HS's efforts that day, although most of the State B-C qualifiers had to do their best mat work Friday night in the consolation rounds.

And sometimes you have to wrestle your own teammate as Carey was forced into facing teammate Jacob Schultze, in the conso semis and Schultze won that friendly encounter by a 4-1 decision, sending Carey into the match for fifth and sixth.

"It's never a good outcome when you have to wrestle your own," Angle said, "but Drew and Jacob battled it out to try and earn their spot regardless of whether that is your teammate or not."

Schultze lost a 6-4 decision to Clark Fork's Decker Milender and settled for fourth place while Carey pinned Angus Anderson to win fifth place at 120.

Stephen Schultze came back from a quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Kyle Durden at 126 pounds with three straight consolation round wins, claiming his fourth place medal at 126 after falling to Dayne Sullivan of Simms in the match for third place. Stephen went 4-2 in the six matches wrestled in Cut Bank.

Peter Carey won four of six matches, pinning Three Forks' Chase Kirkland in 1:37 of the match for fifth and sixth place, avenging a sudden death loss suffered to Kirkland in the championship quarterfinals earlier in the tournament.

David Schultze also went 4-2 in securing his medal at 132, clinching fifth place with a 13-1 major decision win over Ryder Nollan of Bigfork.

Uski clinched his spot in the State B-C meet by pinning Mission-Charlo's Christian Smith in 4:57 of the second consolation round. Finishing the tourney with three wins in five matches, Uski pinned Josh Baldwin of Thompson Falls-Noxon in 3:20 of the match for seventh and eighth.

Besides the seven State B-C qualifiers, Mason Elliott (1-2 at 132), Will James Courville (3-2 at 138), Brady Schrenk (1-2 at 138), Brenden Vanderwall (1-2 at 145), Brody Black (0-2 at 145), Bert DeTienne (1-2 at 152), Stephen Yothers (0-2 at 170), William Dyson (0-2 at 182) and Denny Black (1-2 at 285), all competed gamely in Cut Bank, although their seasons ended there.

"It takes a tough competitor mentally and physically to endure a loss and then turn around and fight their way to the end in the consolations," Angle said. "And I can't say enough about these kids because they all did just that.

"We are very happy with our outcome," he added. "This Western B-C super divisional was just a blood bath to get qualified for state. We are very proud of our team's effort in Cut Bank."