Wolves maul the competition to capture Divisional Championship

It was a phenomenal start to the postseason for the Three Forks High School Wrestling team, with four Wolves winning individual titles on their way to first-place team finish at last week's Western B/C Divisional Tournament in Pablo.

Three Forks captured the first Divisional Title in school history, dominating the field finishing with 335 team points, 99 points ahead of second-place Lincoln County (Eureka) with 236. Whitehall was third with 230, Jefferson was fourth with 211, and Cut Bank finished fifth with 187.5.

"It felt good to win the Division Title. We had a lot of younger wrestlers really step up and that helped us get points," Head Coach Nye Howey said.

Brummie Boggus (103), Cole Rogers (120), Levi Wagner (138), and Dylan Kamps (145) all won Divisional Titles for the Wolves. 12 Three Forks wrestlers advanced to this week's State Tournament at the Metra in Billings.

Brayden Linville finished in second place for Three Forks at 113 pounds and earned the 100th victory of his high school career at the tournament. Chase Kirkland also finished in second for Three Forks at 132 pounds. Eighth-grader Mathias Hogue finished in third place at 126 pounds, and Gabe Hungerford was fourth at 145 pounds.

Also qualifying for state for Three Forks were Logan Douma, who was sixth at 120 pounds; eighth-grader Wyatt Hart-Barker, who was seventh at 132; Josiah Gonzalez, who was seventh at 285 pounds; and Jesse Eide, who finished ninth at 160 pounds.

Howey praised the two eighth graders Hogue and Hart-Barker their efforts at the Divisional Tournament.

"They really helped us," he said.

On his way to the 103-pound Title, Boggus opened with a quarterfinal pin over Owen Pesanti in 27 seconds. He pinned Colin Hickman of Eureka at 4:39 in the semifinals and won the title with a pin in 38 seconds over Richard Schmidt of Cut Bank.

"I felt excited for the opportunity to wrestle and can't wait for state," Boggus said.

Rogers advanced to the finals with a pin over Dawson Davis of Manhattan in 29 seconds, a pin over Brody Smith of Arlee at 3:42, and an 8-3 semifinal decision win over Micah Acker of Superior. Rogers won the Division Title with a pin over Bradin Murphy of Cut Bank at 3:40.

"It felt good to go out there and do my thing. It felt great to win a divisional title again. I'm staying focused as we prepare for state," Rogers said.

Wagner was dominant at the Divisional Tournament, advancing to the semifinals with pins over Bo Daniel of Deer Lodge (2:43), Brock Ryan of Thompson Falls (2:48), and Riley Attchinson of Eureka (2:39). After winning by technical fall 21-6 over Dane Hoover of Whitehall in the semifinals, Wagner won the Title with a thrilling 6-5 win over Alex Wahl of Cut Bank.

Following the title win, Wagner was not ready to celebrate -- he had his eye on a bigger prize.

"I felt nothing. Job's not done yet. I'm ready to get my mind right for a big week ahead of me," Wagner said.

Kamps had an amazing performance at the Divisional Tournament, winning all five of his matches with a first-period pin. Kamps had pins over Carter Sampson of Anaconda (1:52), Tate Bosker of Thompson Falls (1:27), Payson Allaire of Choteau (1:37), and teammate Hungerford (1:00) in the semifinals. Kamps captured the Divisional Title with a pin over Kanon Branch of Cut Bank at 1:35.

"I was beyond exited for about 10 minutes before realizing the job isn't finished, with state coming up this week my mind immediately shifted to doing the same thing next weekend," Kamps said.

Hogue, Hart-Barker, Hungerford, and Eide all had four wins at the two-day tournament. Linville, Douma, and Gonzalez all finished with three wins. Jack Hayder had two wins at 152 pounds, Braden Gruber had a win at 103 pounds, and Carson Lattimore picked up a win at 160 pounds.

Looking towards state, Howey said his team has work to do.

"We need to fine tune some things and get everybody ready to go to state," he said.