Mat Cats top Polson, Whitefish, edged by Libby

Coming off weekend wins over Polson and Whitefish, Columbia Falls was edged by Libby 37-33 in a Northwestern A Conference dual Tuesday night in Libby.

The Mat Cats avenged an earlier loss to Polson, posting a 47-34 victory Saturday at CFHS. Later in the afternoon the Mat Cats defeated Whitefish, 47-15.

CFHS is 4-3 in conference duals going into today’s (Thursday) home action against Ronan. There will be a few junior varsity matches starting at 6:30 p.m. before the varsity dual on Senior Night. The Mat Cats host several other schools in a jamboree Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m.

The Mat Cats nipped Libby 39-37 in mid-December, but did not come out with as much intensity in the rematch.

“We only won two matches,” CFHS head coach Jessie Schaeffer said. “Four matches we lost by one point. We lost three matches because of stall calls. We didn’t win the key matches.”

The dual was tied at 33-33 with just the 152-pound match to go. Morgan Peek of Libby earned an 11-2 major decision over freshman Josh Folsom for the Logger win.

Jarrett Smith won by fall at 140 pounds for the Mat Cats, and Russell Plevel earned a decision at 145. CFHS’ only other points came from forfeit wins by Sal Baccaro, Travis Province, Justin Whitman and Adam Richardson.

In two key matches, Justin Graham of Libby decisioned Kelly Houle 3-2 at 189, and Logger Brandon Mills won a 4-2 decision over Kodie Kenfield.

CFHS went into Saturday’s with a depleted lineup due to a skin condition experienced by a half dozen Mat Cats. Also, junior John Woody was lost for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injured that occurred at the Big Sky Tournament. Aaron Howland aggravated a rib injury and missed the Saturday duals. He returned against Libby.

The Mat Cats overcame the adversity very well, according to Schaeffer, getting the wins over Polson and Whitefish.

“We lost three matches the entire night,” the coach said. “The kids who stepped on the mat got it done. We turned a couple of matches around that made a difference.”

Starting at 112 pounds, the Mat Cats forfeited three of the first four weights against Polson. But they came back from a 34-18 deficit — scoring 29 points while winning the last five matches.

Those wins were by Doug Woodworth (189), Houle (215), Kenfield (285), Baccaro (98) and Justin Whitman (105). Earlier wins came from Shawn Whitman (135), Smith (140), Plevel (145) and Joe Gross (160).

Schaeffer had praise for Shawn Whitman, Gross and Plevel.

There were only five matches wrestled in the dual against Whitefish due to open weight classes, and the Mat Cats won four of them. Earning wins were Shawn Whitman, Plevel, Gross and Kenfield.

The Bulldogs’ win came from Tanner Benedict, who edged Smith, 5-4, at 145 pounds.

Mat Cats Travis Pete and Plevel won exhibition matches.