Whitefish wrestling beats out Libby, Hamilton at home

So far this season all three duals that Whitefish has lost were from six points or less.

Knowing this, Bulldog head coach Danny Neff and his assistant Tim Neff made some tweaks in some weight divisions and talked with their athletes about the little things that mattered. Such as, not getting pinned or turned which would save points points from their opponent.

With the changes made, the Bulldogs went 2-0 in a Triangular against two conference foes of Libby and Hamilton at home on Saturday. Whitefish easily handled a young Hamilton team 38-27 and then fought hard against Libby’s experienced wrestlers to win 34-33.

“So a big thing building up to the duals on Saturday was we’ve got to figure out how to win these close duals,” coach Danny Neff said. “With a little bit of moving around of athletes jumping to different weight classes, we were able to do so.”

“It was kind of a chess match against Libby,” he added.

Whitefish and Libby were neck and neck when freshman Henry Bennetts stepped onto the mat. After deciding to keep him in his usual weight class of 152 pounds, he made quick work of his opponent getting the pin which put Whitefish up by seven points. Then Whitefish forfeited at 160 to win by one point.

“That was really exciting,” Neff said. “Whitefish hasn’t beat Libby in a long time, so that was very cool to see. The kids were super amped after that dual.”

Bennetts is 5-1 this season as a freshman and Neff has been impressed with his performance thus far.

“I mean the record says it all, he’s beat some tough kids,” Neff expressed. “And he’s the one who came in clutch for us against Libby and really saved the dual for us. It's nice seeing him step up and be a leader on the mat as a freshman.”

Neff also was excited for Whitefish’s girl wrestler Brady Boll who wrestled another girl from Hamilton and finished with a pin. Boll is a freshman at the 120 pound weight class, but Neff said unfortunately for Whitefish she will be transferring to Glacier at the end of the semester.

Since returning to the team after being out for Covid related reasons, Whitefish’s Nathan Sproul (120) is 4-0. Angelo Castro at 126 also went 2-0 on Saturday.

Bulldog senior Camren Ross continued his strong performances on the mat getting a pin against Hamilton and winning by major decision over Libby’s Jace DeShazer who bumped up to the 170 pound weight class from 160.

“They were thinking they could get a win out of that and Camren ended up beating him pretty bad,” Neff said. “Camren’s a beast on the mat, it's tough for any wrestler to really keep up with him.”

Coming off the wins from last week, Whitefish is preparing to hit the road first against Thompson Falls on Friday and then will travel to Browning on Saturday.

“It was a really exciting Saturday so spirits are high coming into Thompson Falls this Friday and hopefully we’ll be able to compete and put more wrestlers on the mat,” Neff said.

Whitefish 38, Hamilton 27

152 Carter Morgan (Hamilton) over Jack Akey (Fall 2:17)

160 Henry Bennetts (Whitefish) over Colton Frost (Fall 3:42)

170 Valen Lewis-Ingerson (Whitefish) over Unknown (For.)

182 Camren Ross (Whitefish) over Trevor Lewis (Fall 3:14)

205 Derrick Saltzman (Hamilton / Darby) over Ashton Akey (Fall 0:46)

285 Cadogan Wheat (Hamilton / Darby) over Kai Nash (Dec 10-6)

113 Hannah Hicks (Hamilton / Darby) over Unknown (For.)

120 Nathan Sproul (Whitefish) over Hannah Hurst (Fall 1:14)

126 Angelo Castro (Whitefish) over Jesse Anson (Dec 11-6)

132 Logan Bratsch (Hamilton / Darby) over Unknown (For.)

138 Carter Moran (Whitefish) over Malachai Jackson (TF 17-1 4:00)

145 Rylan McDaniel (Whitefish) over Unknown (For.)

120 Extra: Brady Boll (Whitefish) over Denali Lucas (Fall 0:39)

120 Extra: Hannah Hurst (Hamilton / Darby) over Brady Boll (Fall 1:34)

Whitefish 34, Libby 33

170 Camren Ross (Whitefish) over Jace DeShazer (MD 17-8)

182 Tucker Masters (Libby / Troy) over Valen Lewis-Ingerson (Fall 0:39)

205 Ashton Akey (Whitefish) over Unknown (For.)

285 Aydan Williamson (Libby / Troy) over Kai Nash (Dec 6-0)

113 Xavier Reatz (Libby / Troy) over Unknown (For.)

120 Nathan Sproul (Whitefish) over Unknown (For.)

126 Angelo Castro (Whitefish) over Zekiah Meyers (Fall 1:20)

132 Matthew Niemi (Libby / Troy) over Unknown (For.)

138 Xander Spady (Libby / Troy) over Carter Moran (Fall 0:43)

145 Jack Akey (Whitefish) over Unknown (For.)

152 Henry Bennetts (Whitefish) over Joey Wise (Fall 1:04)

160 Cody Crace (Libby / Troy) over Unknown (For.)