Butte High grapplers down Helena High, Capital in duals

By Bruce Sayler - 01/22/2006

Butte High head coach Jim Street will be glad when the Bulldogs are back to full strength in wrestling. And Class AA ought to be mindful of an up-and-coming Helena Capital outfit.

Butte High shuffled its lineups Saturday for dual meets against Helena High and Helena Capital. The Bulldogs won both in Ross J. Richardson Memorial Gym at Butte High, but they did not exactly cruise, especially against Capital in the dual meet that ended this year’s home schedule.

After Street worked his seniors into the lineup toward a 66-18 win over Helena High, the Bulldogs veteran mentor revamped again, stuck some younger regulars back in and then held his breath and sighed after a 41-40 win over Capital.

“That was a little too close for comfort,” Street said so soon after the narrow escape he couldn’t yet smile. “(Capital head coach) James Sheridan is a good guy and he’s doing a good job.” Street noted, too, that the Bruins’ staff also includes Helena chiropractor Chad Lemre, who was a top international wrestler during his competitive days.

“He was in the top one, two or three on the World Team for four years,” Street said.

Senior Parents’ Day in the gym saw Street send eight seniors to the mat against Helena High. Senior winners were Matt Hettick at 119 pounds, Tyler Johnston at 125, Ben Bersanti at 135, Brody Verrall at 140, Cole Dallaserra at 145, Adam Witt at 152 and Brandon Penrose at 160. All won by pin and several wrestled up a weight class to fit classmates into the lineup. The other senior, A.J. Konen, lost a very tight, good match to Bengals veteran Toby Erickson at 215 pounds, 6-5. Erickson scored an escape late to break a tie, picked up a passivity warning with six seconds to go and hung on for the win.

The Bulldogs went back to a lineup closer to their regular one for the bouts with Capital, but still See GRAPPLERS, Page B6 missed Nick Haynes (sore shoulder), Trevor Hass (illness), Bryce Foley (sore knee), Bryce Willis (cut eye) and Jace Jaap.

“We put different people in the lineup,” Street said. “But that’s no excuse. The ones we put in there should’ve won anyway.” The Bulldogs-Bruins dual meet started at 189 pounds and Capital held a 22-18 lead seven bouts into it. Two of Butte High’s wins came on Bruins forfeits at 98 and 105 pounds. The Bulldogs took the lead, 24-22, on a pin by Johnston at 125, then won the next three matches for just enough points to gain the win. Renz tallied a pin, Verrall got a technical fall and Dallaserra closed the run with a pin, which bumped the team score to 41-22.

Johnston, Renz, Verrall and Dallaserra were all impressive in their showings, looking even better than they have in what has been a very good season for the four.

The Bruins then won out, but having to settle for decisions at 152 pounds and 160 prevented them from posting the team win. Devon Sherley pinned at 160 and Joel Nay finished the dual meet with a pin 171.

“We’re getting better each week,” Sheridan said. “We’re moving in the right direction. Our goal is to peak at state.

“We had our opportunities today. But Jim Street does a good job.” The Bruins were without two regulars because of injuries — Krist Knutson at 135 pounds and Cody Sampson at 140.

“I’m pleased,” Sheridan said of the team’s performance. “We worked hard in mentally preparing the kids — for them to be hard-nosed and to stay in position. For the most part, we did that.

“We have some work to do now — a lot of work to build our program to get it there. Today was good. We took some steps to get over the hump.” Butte High will wrestle at Missoula Sentinel Thursday in a dual meet.

Butte High 66, Helena High 18 171 — Heath McCloskey, Butte, won by forfeit. 189 — Ryan Fetherston, Helena, pinned Beau Baltezar, 4:26. 215 — Toby Erickson, Helena, dec. A.J. Konen, 6-5. 275 — Russell Patera, Helena, pinned Bryon Ellingson, 3:08. 98 — Zach Hettick, Butte, won by forfeit. 105 — Tyler McLaughlin, Butte, pinned Niko Guyman, 1:10. 112 — Brad Boettcher, Helena, dec. Levi Lovshin, 6-5. 119 — Matt Hettick, Butte, pinned Brandon Bertagnolli, 1:09. 125 — Tyler Johnston, Butte, pinned Kurtis Gross, :28. 130 — T.J. Renz, Butte, pinned Abel Dallas, :44. 135 — Ben Bersanti, Butte, pinned Adam Pfeiffer, 1:15. 140 — Brody Verrall, Butte, pinned Cole Martin, 1:47. 145 — Cole Dallaserra, Butte, pinned Matt Upham, :54. 152 — Adam Witt, Butte, pinned Dolan Gilreath, 5:29. 160 — Brandon Penrose, Butte, pinned Chris Donahue, 1:21.

Butte High 41, Helena Capital 40 189 — Beau Baltezar, Butte, pinned Colton Sherley, 1:17. 215 — Jack Scott, Capital, major dec. Cory Tallon, 12-0. 275 — Jeff Mahana, Capital, pinned Bryon Ellingson, 3:53. 98 — Zach Hettick, Butte, won by forfeit. 105 — Tyler McLaughlin, Butte, won by forfeit. 112 — Kallen Kleinschmidt, Capital, pinned Levi Lovshin, 1:31. 119 — Colby Hurt, Capital, pinned Matt Hettick, 2:25. 125 — Tyler Johnston, Butte, pinned Eric Gardner, :24. 130 — T.J. Renz, Butte, pinned Shawn Potter, 1:28. 135 — Brody Verrall, Butte, won by tech. fall over Sean Conner, 19-4 (3:32). 140 — Cole Dallaserra, Butte, pinned Craig Remsen, 1:30. 145 — Devon Sherley, Capital, pinned Adam Witt, 1:23. 152 — Curtis Gardner, Capital, dec. Brandon Penrose, 9-2. 160 — Jarrad Kleinschmidt, Capital, dec. D.J. Renz, 5-0. 171 — Joel Nay, Capital, pinned Heath McCloskey, 3:50.