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The Savage Horsemen wrestling team is making the most of their packed schedule this year. Coach Shane Angle said last year with COVID, the team did what they could. “This year being able to go to tournaments and travel has definitely made it more of a season for everybody.”

Last week, the Plains-Hot Springs team had a week full of competition, with duals in Arlee and Hamilton on Tuesday, the Western Montana Duals in Ronan over the weekend, and additional duals in Florence on Saturday.

The Savage Horsemen were without some wrestlers due to various reasons last week, but the wrestlers they took on the road had great competition. In Hamilton last Tuesday, Lilly MacDonald and Brynn Courville both went undefeated. MacDonald wrestled up a weight class one match to give another girl a match and ended up pinning that opponent in the first period. “She handled the situation very well,” Angle said. The Savage Horsemen boys traveled to Arlee last Tuesday. Angle noted that Spur Ryan had a “really good night, going 2-0. He wrestled really well.” Brady Schrenk ended up losing both of his contests, but Angle pointed out that Schrenk put forth a fine effort in this second match. David Schulze continued his undefeated season this weekend, first beating his two opponents in Arlee. Angle said one wrestler went down a weight class to be matched with Schulze, and Schulze beat him 11-0.

Angle said the Arlee mixer turned out to be great competition as additional teams, including Mission, Superior, Eureka and Bigfork attended.

Plains-Hot Springs got the call Thursday evening during practice that a team had dropped out of the Western Montana Duals in Ronan for the weekend, so that two-day competition was a late addition to the schedule. “We were ready to go,” the coach said. “I have to give credit to my athletic director (Marie Errecart) for working with me this year. With the change in the division, we have to get out and see more kids. We have added quite a bit to the schedule to get good matches for the kids. I don’t know that we’ve ever had a full schedule and this year we have 18 events to go to. She’s doing really good working with me.”

Plains-Hot Springs went 2-2 at the Ronan duals, losing to Libby 54-23 then coming back to beat Deer Lodge 48-18 and Bigfork 24-22 before falling 42-30 in their final competition against Mission-Charlo. In the dual against Libby, August Courville (103 pounds), John Waterbury (126) and Brady Schrenk (145) all won by pin. Drew Carey also added another win to his 2021-22 record with a 15-0 technical fall over Dawson Rose.

It was a sweep against Deer Lodge as all four Savage Horsemen wrestlers in that dual won by pin. Waterbury pinned Orrin Hansen in the first minute of the match. Will James Courville pinned Jamie Rivers-Ross in 1:20 at 138 pounds and David Schulze pinned opponent Mercedes Shidurling in 25 seconds. Lilly MacDonald won her match over Lexi Lunceford at 152 with a pin in 2:23. Carey, Spur Ryan, August Courville and Gavin Schrenk won by forfeit against Deer Lodge.

Next up for the Savage Horsemen was a dual against Bigfork in which Plains-Hot Springs lost by just two points. Again, four Plains wrestlers won by pin in the dual: Carey in 1:45 at 132, Schulze at 145 in 5:42, MacDonald in 4:31 at 152 and Waterbury at 126 in 2:44. In the Bigfork dual, Will James Courville lost a 12-6 decision to Ryder Nollan and Spur Ryan lost 11-6 to Evan Tidwell. August Courville and Gavine Schrenk also came up short in their matches.

The final dual for Plains-Hot Springs was against Mission-Charlo. Schulze kept his undefeated season going with a pin over Codiak Killorn in 1:09 and Carey pinned Isaiah Fields in 56 seconds. MacDonald, Ryan and August Courville all lost by pin against Mission, and Plains wrestlers Will James Courville, Gavin Schrenk and John Waterbury won by forfeit.

On Saturday, the Savage Horsemen boys had already committed to duals in Florence with the Falcons and the Sentinel JV squads. Will James Courville and David Schulze were undefeated for the day, Waterbury won two matches on a technical fall and a pin and Ryan wrestled three matches, beating his two opponents at 160 pounds and losing one match at 170. Angle noted that Sky Van Der Gang is recovering from illness and working on getting his energy back, looking forward to more competition.

Taylor Angle went undefeated in the Western Montana Duals, winning the championship at 126 pounds and going 4-0 Saturday. Lilly MacDonald went 2-2 at the duals, and Brynn Courville went 1-1 at 132, beating the eventual champion on Friday but losing in the finals on Saturday.

“I think we know what to look for at state. Taylor is getting healthy and back to wrestling. She looks solid,” Coach Angle said of the senior. He added that MacDonald had three girls in her bracket in Ronan beating a Deer Lodge competitor in the second period.

This week the Savage Horsemen are preparing for another busy weekend. They will hit the road for a mixer in Fairfield on Thursday, then compete in the two-day Choteau Classic, which Angle says is the next best thing to the state tournament. David Schulze will see four ranked wrestlers from the division in the tournament. And Carey, who only has one loss on the season, will also see tougher competition in Choteau. “It will be a big weekend for those two,” Angle said. “Same thing for John Waterbury. He’s a solid asset to the team.” The Choteau Classic will feature separate brackets for the girls. “We’re looking forward to that, too,” Angle said, explaining all of the Savage Horsemen wrestlers will see competition they haven’t yet wrestled this year.