By A.J. MAZZOLINI For The Great Falls Tribune
HAMILTON — Jade Rauser's senior wrestling campaign ended the same way it has in each of the last three years: on top of the winner's podium at the Montana State B-C wrestling tournament.
The wrestler from Townsend capped off only the third unbeaten career in Montana high school wrestling history Saturday and locked up his fourth state title. Competing at 119 pounds, Rauser dominated Glasgow's Braden Hallock to a 15-3 decision in leading Broadwater to a fifth-place finish.
"This one was definitely my favorite," Rauser said of capping his senior year with another state championship.
Rauser ran his unblemished record to 175-0 with the victory.
"That was always my goal but I never would have thought I could do it," he said.
What looked to be a tight race at the top of the standings after Day 1 became anything but by the time the finals rolled around the second day. Forsyth, which racked up 90.5 points and held a 10 point advantage after Friday's action, pulled away from the pack on the second day. The team ended a more than 40 points ahead of the closest competitor.
After sitting in second place with 80 points going into the semifinals, Glasgow fell off the pace on Day 2, finishing the meet in third with 134.
"The last two weekends (Glasgow) beat us by 5.5 and 6.5," said Forsyth coach Scott Weber. "But the bigger tournaments like this we do better in because I believe we've got more quality kids ... Our finals didn't go the way we'd like them to but our kids showed up to wrestle today."
Forsyth had two state champs, Taylor French (125) and Daryl Fulton (152).
Coming in behind a dominant Forsyth team that put six wrestlers in the finals, Choteau ended the tournament with 152.5 points and a second=place trophy. The team placed second despite just one state champion, senior Jesse Werdal in the 140-pound class.
Trailing for most of the match, Werdal found himself down 4-2 to Forsyth's Dallen Brauer with under a minute to go in the championship meeting. With Brauer bearing down on him, Werdal threw his opponent's head aside, gaining the advantage, and tying up Brauer from behind. The move scored him two points and tied the match with only a few seconds left. Or so Werdal thought.
Just before the move that seemingly tied the match, the grapplers had been in a lengthy hold. Brauer, trying to hold onto a narrow lead and secure the victory, was called for stalling the match by a referee, a one-point score for the opponent.
The call came so shortly before Werdal's takedown, neither he nor the Choteau coaches saw it. While Werdal readied himself for overtime, the officials got together and correctly ruled the match a 5-4 victory for Choteau.
"I thought it was going into overtime the whole time," said Werdal, who lost twice to Brauer last year. "I was just preparing myself for my next takedown. It was the greatest feeling every."
Just before the move that seemingly tied the match, the grapplers had been in a lengthy hold. Brauer, trying to hold onto a narrow lead and secure the victory, was called for stalling the match by a referee, a one-point score for the opponent.
The call came so shortly before Werdal's takedown, neither he nor the Choteau coaches saw it. While Werdal readied himself for overtime, the officials got together and correctly ruled the match a 5-4 victory for Choteau.
"I thought it was going into overtime the whole time," said Werdal, who lost twice to Brauer last year. "I was just preparing myself for my next takedown. It was the greatest feeling every."
"I was so closely watching the action I missed the call," Choteau coach Steve French said of his thoughts during the referee's discussion. "We wanted to get wrestling again. We figured Jesse was in better shape (than Brauer) and the other guy was catching his air."
At the end of the tournament, Choteau was right where French figured they'd be. He knew his squad was talented and dedicated, but he also knew the power Forsyth would bring to the matches.
"Going into the tournament, we knew if we wrestled our best tournament and Forsyth wrestled their best tournament, we'd come in second," French said. "That's pretty tough to match."
Though no longer in the top spot in the state for B-C wrestling, Glasgow did finish the tourney with several individual winners. Luke Zeiger, a junior, won his third straight title at 135 pounds by pin fall and Chaz Hopstad took the heavy weight division.
Colstrip came in fourth.
The fifth-place Townsend team put three wrestlers in the finals and Val Rauser, Jade's twin brother, won the 130 class. The two brothers leave the school for Utah Valley University next year with a mind-boggling 330-5 combined record.
"They have the best practice partners ever: each other," said Townsend coach John O'Dell. "Their best practice they get is in our gym against each other."
Other schools from central Montana with state champions include Harlem's Teague Jones (105) and Trent Jones (171), Chinook's Benjamin Stroh (189) and Jorrell Jones (215) and Conrad's Luke Schlosser, winner of his third title. Harlem finished in sixth with 117 points, Chinook took ninth with 77.5 and Conrad came in 11th with 66.