By Dixie Knutson of The Daily Inter Lake
It's not often in wrestling duals where it all comes down to one match, where the fate of a team rides on the shoulders of one athlete.
But that's what happened to Flathead's Steel Hahn on Tuesday night.
The Braves trailed the Pirates 34-19 when Hahn stepped onto the mat against Polson's Mike Devlin at 152 pounds.
Flathead knew it would get forfeits in the final two matches at 160 and 171 pounds - but it needed at least a major decision from Hahn to win the dual.
He came through for Flathead with points to spare, getting a pin in 3:22 to help the Braves down visiting Polson, 37-34.
"If we wouldn't have got that one, we would have lost the dual. That was a big one. The kid (Hahn) was wrestling is no slouch and he took to him right from the start," said Flathead coach Matt Owen.
It was Matt Owen's first dual victory as a head coach over his uncle Bob Owen.
"It was really fun to have my dad and uncle come down and bring their team to wrestle us. Hopefully, we will be able to make this a yearly tradition. It's definitely a good thing," Matt Owen said.
The Braves, fresh off their eighth-place finish at the Tri-State Tournament in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, had some open spots in their lineup.
"It was kind of a patched together team. We had some of our JV guys step in the lienup because we had a pretty tough weekend at Tri-State. Some of them didn't make weight and there were a couple who had injuries we were trying to get healed up. But all the younger guys who jumped in the lineup did a really good job - they went out there and competed hard," Owen said.
"The best thing (about Tuesday's dual) is we get more competition. Now we don't have anything til the sixth of January. It was nice to get something over (Christmas) break to break it up a little bit and not have almost three full weeks of practice before we saw some competition again," he said.
The Pirates got a few things out of the dual as well, according to Polson coach Bob Owen.
"For one thing, I get to compete against somebody I totally respect. Going against Matt, when he asked ... I'm more than willing to dual them anytime. He's a class act. I like doing that. He'd be a little stronger if he had his full lineup tonight, but it's still great competition for us and I'm willing to do it anytime," Bob Owen said.
"I think this was probably our best effort since we started. We told (the kids) last night - we know you're going against a Class AA team but we don't want you to take the idea that it's lambs going to slaughter. You guys are going up there to compete and I really felt like they did compete well tonight," he said.
"They were pretty excited about how they competed - and I am too."
As for the matches - there were some good ones.
(Polson's Josiah) Clairmont wrestled Connor (Thomas) really tough," Matt Owen said.
Thomas defeated Clairmont a few weeks ago during the Polson Tournament, but Clairmont stayed right with him on Tuesday, losing a 5-3 decision.
"The kid was being a little more defensive, but he wrestled smart. He was taking Connor's offense away from him. Connor needs to work on opening up a little bit, trying some new things," Matt Owen said.
"He wrestled pretty well against Connor at the Polson Tournament and even better here," Bob Owen said.
"A couple times he reached back for that headlock and it cost him. If we can correct that mistake, maybe we can make it closer," he added.
That was the match of the night for Bob Owen.
"Clairmont probably had the toughest guys, so he competed the best. But the whole group is responding pretty well to what we are trying to do. I think the pieces are coming together," he said.
Flathead 37, Polson 34
98: Double forfeit; 105: Dylan Moll (P) won by forfeit; 112: Craig Feistner (P) p. Easton Terry, :32; 119: Tel Motichka (P) won by forfeit; 125: Jake Kinkel (F) dec. Drew Fouty, 11-6; 130: Coty Piasecki (F) maj. dec. Jesse Alfiero, 10-1; 135: Jose Quinones (P), maj. dec. Brock Steller, 18-4; 140: Jacob Young (P) p. Jacob Egley, 5:36; 145: Alex Nystrom (P) p. Evan Eirckert, 3:20; 152: Steel Hahn (F) p. Mike Devlin, 1:22; 160: Jeremiah Gaiser (F) won by forfeit; 171: Larry Francis (F) won by forfeit; 189: Alex Rudolph (F) dec. Marlin Burke, 6-0; 215: Travis Ozegovich (F) p. Jereal Chiefstick, 1:17; Hwt: Connor Thomas (F) dec. Josiah Clairmont, 5-3.
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