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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Post Falls defends title at own tourney

The state tournament is still a month away and the Post Falls wrestling team is on track to pull off a repeat.

Winners of three big tournaments, including Tri-State and Rollie Lane, Post Falls easily defended its title in its own tournament Saturday – the 19th annual River City Duals.

The Trojans, ranked No. 1 in Idaho’s 5A ranks, won 12 of 15 matches to easily thump fourth-ranked Columbia of Nampa 57-15 in the title final.

Post Falls handled beat up Bonneville of Idaho Falls, the second-ranked 5A team, 64-19 in the semifinals.

The Trojans, now 14-0, beat Columbia twice in three days. Post Falls won in a pretournament dual 55-18 on Thursday.

“To beat them (Columbia) the way we did, it’s awesome,” Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. “It might not show by our scores, but Columbia is a great team. We did a little bit better than I anticipated. We outhustled teams in the 50-50 positions.”

In the dual title match, Post Falls won 11 straight classes – from 98 pounds to 170.

TJ Wolf, a defending state champ at 138, went 5-0 in the tourney, blanking Kade Grigsby 3-0. Wolf beat Grigsby 5-1 on Thursday.

After a scoreless first period, Wolf chose down and got an escape. He increased his lead to 3-0 with a takedown and then rode out Grigsby in the third.

“I wrestled a little cautiously,” Wolf said. “I should have gone out and wrestled a little harder at the start.”

Wolf was one of eight Trojans to go undefeated in the tourney. The others were Ridge Lovett, Mathias De La Rosa, Matt McLeod, Braydon Huber, Jason Burchell and David Booth.

McLeod topped Dylan Morgan 5-1 at 120. McLeod trailed 1-0 when he got a takedown with 1 second to go in the second period.

He got an escape coupled with a takedown with 12 seconds in the match to finish his scoring.

“He’s a super nice kid and a tough wrestler,” McLeod said of Morgan. “I had a lot of respect for him. I needed to keep shooting. I tried not to think about my match against him Thursday and tried to think I was wrestling a completely different kid.”

Post Falls will have a week off before it wrestles the first of three league duals. The Trojans’ final tournament will be the North Idaho Rumble in two weeks at Coeur d’Alene.

After that, the Trojans will focus on the state-qualifying regional tournament.

“We’re giving the kids a couple days off,” Reardon said. “Coming off Rollie Lane last week and our tournament, it’s been a grind. They need some time off.”

In the dual for third/fourth, Kamiakin, ranked No. 1 in Washington in 3A, defeated Bonneville 57-23. For fifth/sixth, Sandpoint topped Eureka, Montana, 42-34. For seventh/eighth, Lakeland defeated Freeman 57-27.

Rocky Mountain Classic

Central Valley’s Bryson Beard claimed the individual title at 126 and helped guide the Bears to a fourth-place finish at the tournament in Missoula.

Beard earned a 4-0 win over Belgrade’s Sawyer Degen. CV’s Braedon Orrino took third place at 145 after a 3-1 win over Sentinel’s Dylan Duffalo.

Havre claimed the team title, followed by Sentinel and Powell. Thirty-two teams competeted at the tournament.

Other area weight-class champions included Clarkston’s Dalton Port (103) and Dylan Beeler (205), University’s Sam Sorenson (132) and Mead’s Trevor Senn (170).