Post Falls Doubles Pleasure Trojans Have Littlest, Biggest Champs In A-1

Dennis Amende didn’t mind splitting his emotions Saturday afternoon.

Nor did he mind waiting nearly 3 hours between State A-1 high school wrestling championship matches at Idaho State University’s Holt Arena.

Post Falls’ Al Mack (34-0) and Matt Smith (35-1) were crowned the littlest and biggest state champs. Mack pulled off a dominating three-peat at 103 pounds and Smith produced what most of the crowd of 7,000 thought was an upset at heavyweight.

Amende exudes a tough exterior, but even his eyes were moist following Smith’s victory over crowd-favorite Phil Colburn of Idaho Falls.

Smith, a light heavyweight at 215 pounds, gave up more than 60 pounds to Colburn. But Smith proved he had a big heart.

Not intimidated in the least, Smith topped Colburn 7-4. It’s the second straight year Colburn has finished second. Smith took third last season.

From the start of the season, Amende believed Smith would capture gold. He and his wrestler were probably the only believers in Holt Arena heading into the final.

“He won that match because he outworked the kid,” Amende said. “He wasn’t worried about what the other guy did. He believes in himself. He didn’t get any respect down here, and here he is - Idaho state champion.”

Smith initially had difficulty summing up the win because he was overcome with emotion. But he warmed up quickly.

“I had news for them,” Smith said about knocking off the favored Colburn. “I wanted it bad. I’ve been working all four years of my high school career for this.”

Mack became Post Falls’ first three-time champ. He downed a tough freshman, Mike Moon of Highland, 7-3.

“This is the best feeling I’ve ever had,” Mack said. “It’s better than the first two.”

Mack wore the orange and black singlet in which he won state titles the previous two years for good luck.

Afterward, he put on a knit snow cap - with his last name on it, though it’s a Mack trucks cap - that Amende gave to Mack his sophomore year.

It was Amende’s cap. He wore it the year he won a state title at Coeur d’Alene in the early 1980s.

Sandpoint collected the fourth-place trophy with 100.5 points. Idaho Falls ran away from the field for a second straight year, finishing with 253.5. Post Falls was eighth (75.5).

Sandpoint’s Jared Lawrence (39-0) did what was a given as he collected his fourth state title. But it was the state title captured by Cody Crawford at 125 that allowed the Bulldogs to take home a team trophy for a fifth straight year. He defeated Caleb Norviel of Hillcrest 10-8 in a dramatic overtime finish.

Crawford (33-4) trailed 8-4 with 15 seconds left when he pulled off a reversal and added near-fall points to tie the score. His takedown came in the overtime.

“The only thing he could do was reverse him and put him on his back,” Sandpoint coach Eric Langley said. “Then he comes back with a takedown and he’s not even scoring takedowns the whole match. He just guts it out. Phenomenal.”

Four Intermountain League wrestlers qualified for the State A-2 finals, but just one walked away with a title.

Bonners Ferry junior Travis Liermann wasn’t even thinking about a state title at the start of the season. It wasn’t in the mind of his coach, either.

But Liermann (33-3) capped an incredible second-half run, edging Ben Hanson of Salmon 11-10 at 160 in a wild ending. Liermann scored a clinching takedown in the waning seconds to secure the win. He said the state title his brother, Dennis, won two years ago motivated him.

Winter Braden of Bonners Ferry (135) and Priest River’s Jake Stark (145) and Lucas Blaine (140) all fell in their finals.

Tyson Campbell of Preston pinned Braden in 1:30; Blaine fell to top-seeded and defending champ Anthony Bartlett of Buhl 7-2; and Stark lost 7-6 to Chris Balmforth of Shelley.

Stark’s defeat was particularly disappointing since he was a defending champ.

Priest River finished seventh with 81 points. Buhl took the team title with 144.

A handful of other Panhandle wrestlers earned medals.

Sandpoint’s Joe Tuinstra took fourth at 171, sophomore Jake Macdonald was fourth at 103 and freshman Jake Rosholt took fifth at 140.

Post Falls’ Josh Day was sixth at 160 while Lewiston’s Pete Larson was fourth at 119 and teammates Mike Frei (189) and Bryan Adkisson (130) were sixth.

St. Maries’ Shaun Willey took third at 103 while teammates Josh Buell (171) and Dante Stone (189) were sixth. Bonners Ferry’s Billy Elliston was third at 125. Priest River heavyweight Josh Queen bounced back for third and teammate Zack Wood was fourth at 152.

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