DARBY — Gearing up for the upcoming divisional, the Mission/Charlo wrestling squad placed several wrestlers to take second at the Darby Invitational wrestling tournament on Saturday after squeaking out the most narrow of dual wins against Arlee on Thursday at home for Senior Night in St. Ignatius.

Although it was Arlee that captured the first place finish in Darby, it was Mission junior Jame Petersen who took the most outstanding wrestler award.

Petersen pinned all three of his opponents, starting with Morgan Williams of Corvallis in 2:10 and Christian Hammersmith of Darby in 3:20, then went on to get his quickest of all with a first period pin of Thompson Falls’ Shaun Sacchi in the finals.

The dominant performance came at the end of hot streak, Bulldog head coach Lyle Cronk said.

Petersen started his week out right by pinning Arlee’s Cole Rice at the dual meet on Thursday. Rice, a very strong wrestler, moved up from the 130-pound weight class to face Petersen in the dual.

“I just knew Cole was going to be a tough match and I’d have to give it my all,” Petersen said. “And I just came out on top.”

Petersen had never wrestled Rice, but had faced all of the wrestlers he pinned to win at Darby. Cronk said Petersen rode that momentum through the weekend.

“It pumped him up coming into the tournament being on a little hot streak and he just continued right along,” Cronk said. “It was neat to see him open up and  dominate some kids.”

In light of his success at the Darby tournament, Petersen said his expectation is to win his weight at the divisional tournament coming up this weekend in St. Ignatius – he won the divisional both his freshman and sophomore years.

Despite getting a quick pin on Sacchi the first time around, Petersen said the Thompson Falls wrestler is no push over. The two have wrestled close matches in the past. 

“He’s pretty good,” Petersen said of his divisional opponent. “I can’t underestimate him.”

Senior Ben Eggers also finished a week that started well on Senior Night in St. Ignatius by placing in the Darby tourney. Eggers first beat Arlee’s Travis Dupuis in the heavyweight matchup at St. Ignatius then went on to snag the silver medal at Darby.  

Freshman Russel Schultz took fourth, freshman Scotty Gilleard took second, sophomore Dakota Matt finished fourth, senior Michael Beebe took second after a 3-2 loss to Arlee rival Jordan Lefler, junior Travis Dumont placed third, and senior Matt Faroni  took second place.

Faroni lost to Florence wrestler Craig Ashworth, his conference wrestler to beat, by a score of 2-0. Faroni has lost several to Ashworth, generally keeping things tight but falling just shy by the marks on the scoresheet.

The dual match against Arlee couldn’t have been closer.

The Bulldogs and the Warriors have taken turns beating each other all season.

Down six points as a team  going into the final match, Eggers evened things up by pinning Arlee’s heavyweight wrestler Dupuis.

After preliminary scoring put the match at a tie, it was the sixth criteria for tie-breaking which finally made the Bulldogs the victors. 

It came down to which team had the most first take downs in the dual, the Bulldogs taking the advantage in that category.

Next up is the B-C Divisional Tournament on its home mats in St. Ignatius. Since as many as 15 wrestlers can be scored in the tournament and nine weight classes can be doubled, the Bulldogs will be at a disadvantage compared to teams with more depth.

They don’t have any additional JV wrestlers to bring up, and it means everyone has to do their part.

To finish in the top three as a team, the Bulldogs will have to wrestle very well, Cronk said.

Fortunately for the Bulldogs they will have the home-mat advantage going for them.

Individually, those wrestlers who finish in the top four in their weights will compete at the B-C State Tournament in Billings.

Many Bulldogs will be looking to take honors in each tourney.

The Divisional tournament starts at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday in St. Ignatius.