Powder River Examiner -

On Thursday, February 10th, the Broadus Wrestlers headed out for Billings, escorted out of town by Cass Zimmer and his garbage truck. Broadus Wrestling Coach Frankie Schoonover told us that this was the first-time wrestling at State in Billings for all four wrestlers. Last season Dakota Holbrook won sixth at State at 170 lbs; that tournament was held in Shelby, and was a decidedly less glamorous affair compared to the lights and sounds of the all-class tournament at First Interstate Arena (known colloquially as the Metra) in Billings.

"I could tell they were nervous, but that's why we have a practice routine, which we go through the same way at every tournament," Schoonover said. "We went through our process, and it helped them calm down and focus."

The four wrestlers qualifying for State from Broadus were Dakota Holbrook, 182 lb Senior, Alex Edwards, 170 lb Junior, Kail Irish, 126 lb Freshman, and Raiden Aurand, 120 lb Freshman.

On Friday the team was at the mats bright and early at 7 AM, where they practiced again and weighed-in for the big event.

Schoonover said that all four wrestlers acted nervous and lacked aggression during their first matches of the morning, and all four wrestlers lost those matches as a result.

"You have to be aggressive and out to win when you get to that State level, because the other guys are out there to win," Schoonover said. "I had a little pep talk with they boys after the first match, and that seemed to help as they did better in their second matches."

Raiden Aurand (11-24) scored 3.0 team points in the 120 lb weight class. In his first match, he was pinned by Steven Schubarth of Simms in 0:24. Raiden then pinned Aiden Black of Circle in 2:55. Raiden had previously lost to Black in Divisionals, so the win was a great accomplishment. Though Jase Frederick of Poplar won by technical fall in Raiden's third match, Schoonover said that Raiden had taken his coaching to heart and applied it, and that ability to be coached showed that Raiden has a great future as a Hawk Wrestler.

Kail Irish (15-16) wrestled in the 126 lb weight class. In his first match of the tourney, Kail lost by tech fall to Chase Kirkland of Three Forks/Ennis. Kail was then pinned by Angus Anderson of Bigfork in 2:05.

"Kail is a great athlete, but he was extremely nervous at State," Frankie waxed. "He's also only a Freshman, so with age he will calm down. I see Kail doing great things in the years ahead."

Alex Edwards (6-21) wrestled in the 170 lb weight class. Brady Armstrong of Boulder pinned Alex in 0:59 in the first match. Next, Klause Rauser of Townsend won by fall in 0:48.

Frankie spoke of Edwards' performance: "Alex is a strong ranch kid, and the fact that he made it to State in his second year of wrestling – his second year of any sport for that matter, is a testament to Alex."

Dakota Holbrook (18-15) scored 5.0 team points in the 182 lb weight class, and was the only Hawk Wrestler to make it to the big day on Saturday. He lost his first match to Braeden Jones of Boulder by fall in 1:23 on Friday; Dakota then won by major decision 11-1 over Colyn Johnson of Eureka, in a match which Schoonover said Holbrook manhandled his opponent. Dakota then pinned Cael Giles of Fairfield/Augusta in 2:41, in a match dictated by Holbrook from the beginning.

"That match was the culmination of Dakota's four years of wrestling. He really showed what he could do, and applied everything he's been taught," Schoonover said.

On Saturday in the "Blood Round", with the winner placing and the loser heading home, Silas Acker of Superior/Alberton won the match by pin in 3:12.

"In that final match, Dakota was keyed in and ready to wrestle. The other kid gave him a bloody nose and Dakota didn't stop wrestling until the ref made them stop to clean up. Dakota made one mistake, and the kid pinned him. I think Dakota was disappointed that he didn't place, but he showed his tenacity and experience by winning his way into the Big Show on Saturday, and he's really grown as a leader this year."

With the season now officially finished, Schoonover looks to the future: "We have to start preparing for next season right now. That means continuing to stay in shape and hone our skills. We have Raiden and Kail who made it to State in their first year, and I look forward to Alex showing his leadership with the team. I'm looking forward to next season."

He continued: "I wanted to thank our managers, Sophie Irish and Jolie Blakeman for all their help. Also thanks to Mike Richards, the school and teachers for keeping the kids on track, the parents, and the folks who came out to send us off to Billings."

In the near future an AAU tournament is tentatively planned for early March in Broadus, featuring a variety of up and coming Broadus youth wrestlers. We'll have that date in the Community Calendar once the schedule is finalized.

As an aside, 8 of the 13 State winners at the BC tourney were from the Eastern Division.