Lakeside’s Dalton Young becomes 4-time Tri-State champ, rallies to top Lakeland’s Larry Johnson

Dalton Young can’t remember the last time he trailed so late in a match.

It may not have happened in the Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) senior’s stellar career.

But there Young was Saturday at North Idaho College, trying to become just the third four-time Tri-State tournament winner and keep his unblemished record intact.

Larry Johnson of Lakeland got a takedown with 49 seconds remaining to take a 4-3 lead. But the wrestlers got into a scramble moments later, allowing Young to score a reversal with 12 seconds to go.

Young held on to Johnson’s feet the rest of the way to thwart off an escape point and hold off Johnson 5-4 in the 138-pound final.

“Yeah, I was a little bit (nervous),” Young said.

Young joins Jared Lawrence (Sandpoint) and Sam Colbray (Hermiston) as four-time Tri-State winners.

“I’ll probably see him again at Rollie Lane (Nampa),” Young said about a January tournament. “I could have easily gone 132, but I want competition.”

Young, who has signed with Stanford, praised Johnson for pushing him to the limit.

“I’m going to chase the best competition,” Young said. “He wrestled well. Props to him for battling through the tournament. I really appreciate that kind of fight. I wrestle too many guys throughout the year that don’t want to wrestle and they dodge.”

Young said he was confident with his final move.

“I feel really great in scrambles,” he said. “I just went after it.”

Johnson said he watched Young at Tri-State a year ago and in his semifinal match.

“I wondered who would be the guy to at least defeat him one time,” Johnson said. “I was ready to go. I just said, ‘Why not me?’ ”

Post Falls, which was seeking a third straight team title, had an outstanding first day in the 45th annual tournament. But the Trojans weren’t on top of their game.

The Trojans put seven in the semifinals but only pushed one into the finals. That was enough for Havre (Montana) to slip past Post Falls by 1.5 points.

Havre finished with 184 points. It needed at least a major decision from 220-pounder Jase Stokes, and he did one point better with a second-period pin.

In the Trojans’ final consolation match, Bradley Noesen gave them a chance when he scored a pin in overtime to place fifth at 195.

Then the Trojans’ lone finalist, sophomore Ridge Lovett, defending his title by pinning Chase Tebbets of Mead in 3:27.

“The truth of it is we didn’t deserve to win,” Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. “We didn’t wrestle good enough (Saturday). Hats off to (Havre), they outwrestled us today. They caught us from behind and we allowed them to catch us. It’s disappointing.”

Casey Randles, who won a title while at Sandpoint last year, defended the title in a Coeur d’Alene singlet. His family moved south this fall.

Randles held off Mead’s Trevor Senn 6-5 at 182. Senn took a 4-3 lead with 51 seconds to go. Randles got an escape and a takedown 23 seconds for the win.

“He wrestled a great match and I didn’t wrestle my best match,” said Randles, who beat Senn 16-6 a week ago at the Inland Empire Classic.

Clai Quintanilla of North Central topped defending champ Nick Hara of Moses Lake 7-2 at 132.

“All the hard work I’ve put in the past years finally paid off,” said Quintanilla, who has a chance to become the Greater Spokane League’s first four-time state champ. “I’m ready again to prove at state why I’m here.”

Mead freshman Chase Randall beat Sam Edelblute of Lakeland 10-3 at 98.

Lovett knew what he had to do to keep Post Falls’ hopes alive for a team title.

“We were talking about it and did the math and I knew I had to get it done,” said Lovett, who grew up wrestling Tebbets from Mead.