By Bruce Sayler
Butte Central’s only home high school wrestling competition showed enough Maroon positives to run a smile across head coach Robin Moodry’s face.
The BC contingent was down to two members Friday night when it put on a four-school mixer in the Maroon Activities Center. It was also Senior Parents Night for Butte Central and so 205-pounder John Crossman and members of his family were recognized during a break in the action in an otherwise eerily quiet arena. The COVID-19 precautions being enforced in town allowed for only a handful of spectators, two per wrestler, to watch. The audience, though, was sparse in numbers, low-volume in noise.
“I think we wrestled pretty good,” Moodry said after Crossman and teammate Luke Garrison went a combined 1-3 on the mat. “This was a nice little mixer.”
Wrestlers from Dillon and Hamilton joined in the action as did backup contestants from Butte High’s program.
“Our kids were competitive in their matches,” Moodry said. “They’re trying some new things. Wins and losses will come, but it’s that they’re trying new things that is important to me. They’re scrambling and they’re trying. They wrestled a couple of good, competitive matches.”
Crossman notched a 1-minute, 32-second pin over Jesse Hughes of Dillon in his first bout, but got caught out of defensive position and lost to Hamilton’s Cadogen Wheat just short of the end of the first period. Crossman led the bout early, 2-0. His takedown on Hughes set up the fall. Crossman also tallied a takedown on Wheat, but gave up some weight and also a reversal, which the Hamilton wrestler worked into the pin.
Garrison, a game first-year wrestler displayed good takedown ability, but his inexperience was evident when competition ground down to the mat. The athletic 152-pounder lost to a pair of tough Butte High entrants – Morgan McClernan in 2:44 and Kale Schonsberg almost at the first buzzer. Garrison had 2-0 advantages in both. He took down McClernan twice, but the Bulldog got away the first time with an escape. The second period saw McClernan start from the bottom position, then reverse Garrison into a pinning position while ending the match.
Another Butte Central wrestler, Braydon Keane, sat out the mixer with an injury.
Butte High wrestlers Jeremiah LaPier, Mason Armstrong, Bryton Hardest, McClernan and Cohen Grunhuvd each won both of their bouts.
Moodry said the BC matment will vie in a competition in Deer Lodge on Saturday.
Mixer results follow:
Round One
152 pounds – Tate Hanson, Dillon, pinned Bradyn Thomas, Butte High JV :44. 180 – Trevor Lewis, Hamilton, pinned John Johnson, Dillon :49. 205 – Derrick Saltzman, Hamilton, pinned Jesse Hughes, Dillon, 1:14. 113 – Parker Smith, Dillon, pinned Hannah Hicks, Hamilton, :54. 120 – Lucas Denali, Hamilton, pinned Neal Brandon, Dillon, 1:01. 120 – Jeremiah LaPier, Butte High JV, pinned Erick Piazzola, Dillon, 3:00. 120 – Jesse Anson, Hamilton, pinned Tanner Bair, Butte High JV 5:18. 126 – Logan Bratsch, Hamilton, pinned Jakob Nielson, Butte High JV 1:54. 132 – Noah Huffaker, Dillon, pinned Jakob Autenrieth, Butte High JV 2:07. 132 – Tel Holland, Dillon, tech fall Maddy Ward, Hamilton, 17-2 (2:59). 138 – Mason Armstrong, Butte High JV, pinned Malachi Jackson, Hamilton, 4:29. 145 – Bryton Hardest, Butte High JV, pinned Forrest Waggoner, Dillon 2:34. 152 – Morgan McClernan, Butte High JV, pinned Luke Garrison, Butte Central, 2:44. 152 – Tanner Mussard, Dillon, pinned Carter Morgan, Hamilton, 1:23. 152 – Tate Hanson, Dillon, pinned Kale Schonsberg, Butte High JV, 2:42. 182 – Cohen Grunhuvd, Butte High JV, pinned John Johnson, Dillon, :31. 205 – John Crossman, Butte Central, pinned Jesse Hughes, Dillon, 1:32. 285 – Cadogen Wheat, Hamilton, pinned Mateo Martinez, Dillon, 1:12.
Round Two
113 pounds — Hannah Hicks, Hamilton, pinned Kaleb Grunhuvd, Butte High JV, :47. 120 – Jeremiah LaPier, Butte High JV, pinned Lucas Denali, Hamilton, 1:28. 120 – Tanner Bair, Butte High JV, major dec. Neal Brandon, Dillon, 13-4. 126 – Jesse Anson, Hamilton, pinned Erick Piazzola, Dillon, 1:32. 126 – Noah Huffaker, Dillon, pinned Jakob Nielson, Butte High JV 1:12. 132 – Logan Bratsch, Hamilton, pinned Jakob Autenrieth, Butte High JV :45. 138 – Mason Armstrong, Butte High JV, pinned Maddy Ward, Hamilton, :17. 138 – Tate Holland, Dillon, pinned Malachi Jackson, Hamilton, 1:58. 145 – Morgan McClernan, Butte High, pinned Forrest Waggoner, Dillon, 2:44. 152 – Bryton Hardest, Butte High JV, pinned Carter Morgan, Hamilton, 1:28. 152 – Tanner Mussard, Dillon, pinned Bradyn Thomas, Butte High JV 1:32. 152 – Kale Schonsberg, Butte High JV, pinned Luke Garrison, Butte Central, 1:58. 182 – Cohen Grunhuvd, Butte High JV, dec. Trevor Lewis, Hamilton, 9-3. 285 – Derrick Saltzman, Hamilton, pinned Mateo Martinez, Dillon, 1:02. 285 – Cadogen Wheat, Hamilton, pinned John Crossman, Butte Central, 1:57. 113 – Parker Smith, Dillon, pinned Kaleb Grunhuvd, Butte High JV 1:30.
