Super Hawks win 5th place in Western B-C

Superhuman efforts by all Hawks involved at the very first super divisional.

The Thompson Falls-Noxon Blue Hawk wrestling team, spearheaded by stirring championship wins by Trae Thilmony (132 pounds), Elijah Ratliff (145) and Dane Chojnacky (182), surged to an impressive fifth place team finish in the Western B-C divisional tournament in Cut Bank last weekend, the first of its kind including all 24 teams now assigned to the division – now dubbed as a super divisional tourney.

What's more, Shane Reishus (152) and Max Hannum (160) advanced to the championship semifinals before settling for fourth place honors and Josh Baldwin (170) placed eighth.

Perhaps up for some more super-heroics, all eight of these Hawk grapplers now make plans to compete in the State B-C meet in Shelby Friday and Saturday.

Westin Brown (126), Walker Morefield (138) and Owen Fernstrum (152) also all grappled in Cut Bank but could not quite make it out of the new, improved and definitely a lot tougher Western B-C.

"We finished strong, did about as well as I could have expected going into something like this," Hawk coach Mike Thilmony said. "All our kids battled hard, they picked each other up and helped each other out through it all.

"Everybody expected an extremely tough tournament and it really was a war," he added. "It was fun to be part of and we are very proud of how the kids responded to it."

Perhaps the most compelling story of the entire Western B-C tournament, coach Thilmony's son Trae's championship match Saturday with three-time state champ Gunnar Smith of Eureka at 132 was a highlight among highlights for the Thompson Falls contingent in Cut Bank.

Fanning the flames on one of the hottest rivalries in Montana high school wrestling over the past two years, Trae Thilmony and Smith both easily made the finals as expected. Coming off a match in Thompson Falls last week where Smith scored a decisive 10-2 win over Thilmony, Smith led the head-to-head series between the two, which started with a split of matches last season, 2-1.

Smith again grabbed the momentum early in Cut Bank, building a lead of 8-2 heading into the second period. Still leading 10-5 to begin the third period, Smith could not hold off the determined Thilmony after that.

Wrestling from the down position, Thilmony finally managed a reverse with about a minute left and appeared to have Smith in pinning position before the referee stopped the action due to a potentially dangerous hold by Thilmony, making the score 10-7.

With about 30 seconds remaining, Thilmony mustered another big move and tilted Smith onto his back for a three-point nearfall, tying the match up 10-10 and sending it into overtime.

Coach Thilmony said it appeared that Smith had a good shot locked in on Trae, but that somehow his son fought his way out of the predicament. "Gunnar had a shin whizzer locked in, he was inches away from getting the takedown," he said, "but somehow Trae fought out of it and got his own shot in to win the match."

Thilmony's blue-ribbon win in one of the most important matches of his wrestling life, which improved his season record to 30-1, leaves the rivalry tied at 2-2 with the possibility looming of one more high-stakes match between the proven mat warriors.

Although they would both have to again have excellent tournaments this week in Shelby to meet once more in the State B-C championship match, coach Thilmony relishes the opportunity. "They have got to get to each other first, there are a lot of quality kids between them and that championship match," he said. "But it would be a great match if they did end up meeting again."

Trae Thilmony advanced to the final by pinning Mason Elliott of Plains-Hot Springs in the second round, pinning Chase Evans of Shelby in the quarterfinals and winning a 14-1 major decision from Anaconda's Tommy Sawyer in the semis.

Ratliff and Chojnacky were also up to the Western B-C super-challenge, and both were well-oiled, opponent-pinning, point-producing machines in Cut Bank.

In order, Ratliff pinned Eureka's Dominic Peltier in 3:19, won a 19-1 tech fall from Mission-Charlo's Charlie Adams in 2:05, pinned Boulder's Jace Oxart (4:50) and pinned Arlee's Colt Crawford (2:51) to land in the championship match against Mathew Larson of Cut Bank.

Now sporting a record of 34-1 for the season, Ratliff's only loss this season was by decision to Larson in Thompson Falls back in January. Ratliff dominated from the opening whistle this time, beating the Cut Bank grappler to the punch time and again and eventually winning by 7-2 decision, on Larson's home mat.

"That's as good as we've seen Elijah wrestle all year," Thilmony said. "He scored takedowns and controlled the action on top, he is really wrestling smart right now."

Perhaps one of the most improved wrestlers in Montana this season, Chojnacky settled an old score in winning the championship at 182. The man he beat 4-2 in that match, Cameron Brusven of Shelby, had pinned Chojnacky twice during the 2019-2020 season.

Trailing 2-1 heading into the third period, Chojnacky worked himself free for an escape and then took down Brusven with about 20 seconds left to pull out the hard-earned revenge win and improve his season record to an impressive 31-2.

"Dane had an unbelievable tournament, and his match with Brusven was the best of his career," Thilmony said. "This shows how far he has come and he still has another week to do even more."

Chojnacky dispatched his opposition soundly along the way, scoring pin wins over Mission-Charlo's Deago Hostetler (2:46), Shelby's Bryant Mertz (1:16) and Florence's Dallas Blair (3:06) to set up a semifinal with Boulder's Braedon Jones, which the Hawk senior won by major decision 15-2.

Reishus and Hannum also turned in solid performances in earning their State B-C bids.

A junior from Noxon, Reishus won his way into the semifinals at 152, where he lost a tough 11-8 decision to Whitehall's Dallen Hoover. Reishus came back to decision Mission-Charlo's Canyon Sargent 6-5 in the conso semis, and then lost an 11-4 decision to Cut Bank's Ty Curry in the third place match.

"Shane had a great tournament in a very tough weight class," Thilmony said. "He was in control of that semifinal match most of the way, and is totally capable of good run at state this week."

Only a freshman wrestling at an upperclassman's weight, Hannum competed in Cut Bank, winning a tough 7-6 decision form Fairfield's Miguel Perez in the quarterfinals. After falling in the championship semifinals, Hannum came back to pin Cyrus Richardson of Manhattan in the conso semis to land in the third place match, where he lost to Miles Hoerauf of Whitehall.

"Max is a big part of the future of our program, has really grown up in it already," Thilmony said. "He is a high-energy kid who works really hard, he could surprise some people in Shelby."

Baldwin, who had been nursing an injury late this season, clinched his State B-C berth by pinning Gus Lee of Choteau in 40 seconds of that second round consolation match. Baldwin had pinned Anaconda's Robert Wareham in 2:04 in the first round of the consolations. A senior from Noxon, Baldwin is in only his second year of wrestling.

"We are extremely proud of Josh and how much he has grown these last few years," Thilmony offered. "It was great to see him get a few big wins Friday night and get into the state tournament for his senior year like this."

Brown, Morefield and Fernstrum may not have earned trips to the State B-C meet, but all three earned the respect of their coach. Fersntrum lost a decision by only one point in the match to get in for the seventh-eighth place match at 152.

"All our kids wrestled very well in Cut Bank," Thilmony said. "It was a brutal weekend with 24 teams beating the heck out of each other. It was a lot of fun, a lot different, and a lot more challenging than the old format.

"For us to place six of our nine kids, crown three champions and place fifth overall in team scoring says a lot about this team," he added. "We really figure that we could be in the hunt in the team race in Shelby this week. We will go in fighting I will tell you that, these kids really want to do well."