Getting ready for the state wrestling tournament

This is seriously the best time of the year for all you sports fans... when these postseason tournaments start to kickoff. The Daily Inter Lake has been absolutely blowing up the coverage of the wrestling, so let me give you a little rundown.

First, here's a rundown on the Pirates hope for state tournament glory. Check out the full article here, here's a little snippet.

The Polson Pirates, Northwestern A divisional champions, hope it will be them.

But the power in Class A is likely in the Central division.

Belgrade and Havre have been running first and second all season long in the Class A coaches poll.

Belgrade has been the top-ranked team for much of the season, but the Blue Ponies outscored the Panthers 280 to 263 at last weekend's Central A Divisional.

That bumped Havre into first in the poll.

"Right now, I'd put Havre in the driver's seat," said Polson coach Bob Owen.

"They beat Belgrade pretty bad in those divisionals. Belgrade had beaten them in every competition they'd been in all year," Owen said.

Eastern A champion Laurel was ranked third in the final poll and Southwestern A champ Corvallis was fourth. Polson was fifth.

As for the Pirates?

"We want to contend for a trophy. It's not going to be easy. Right now Corvallis has a little more depth probably. But strange things happen when you get there. You get a little help from somebody and you can be right in it," the coach said.

Okay, I will be the first to admit I'm a little shakey on my wrestling strategies, but what if Ronan and Polson formed an alliance or posse and rolled down to the state tournament together. That would be a bigger force than when The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin teamed up.

Now lets look at another Northwestern A team headed down there, namely Libby. Here's a feature on No. 1 ranked Kyle Leir, as he's kind of a big deal. Here's a snippet...

Here's a snippet...

LIBBY - Don't ask Libby junior Kyle Leir about his 2010-11 season wrestling record.

There are a lot of guys right now who wish they had his mark, but he'd rather not talk about it.

Leir is 33-1 this year with championships at two prestigious tournaments - the Tri-State Tournament in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and the Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula.

But the ‘and 1 part of 33 and 1' drives him nuts.

"Every time (he tells someone), they want to know who beat you," the 140-pounder explained.

The loss came early - Leir's second match of the season, but he can give the score (6-1), his opponent's name (Trevor Hampton of Bonners Ferry, Idaho), and describe the match in complete detail.

According to Leir, Hampton had him in a Russian tie and was pushing in. Leir did a 360 spin to a far-side single, but got into a scramble and gave up a takedown and nearfall.

Leir continued to push the tempo, and did get an escape at the end, but couldn't score enough points to rally.

He's concerned about one loss? Are you kidding me? This guy is more vengeful than the bad guy off of Die Hard. Wouldn't want to wrestle him in the state tournament...

Here's the full Leir story.