BILLINGS — The Columbia Falls Mat Cats and Eureka Lions continue to make a name for themselves at the All-Class State wrestling tournament.

Both squads have sent five wrestlers to the semifinals in the Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark.

While Columbia Falls is sitting in third place with 96 team points, which may not be exactly where it had planned to be, it does have 11 wrestlers alive in both the championship and consolation brackets.

Haze Bell (126), Kaleb Gravelin (132), Shonn Roberts (138), Storm Kemppainen (160) and Spencer Ross (285) are all one win away from the title match.

Roberts, who is looking for his historic fourth consecutive state title, made quick work of his first two matches. He pinned Laurel’s Mason Fend in just 48 seconds to stay on his tournament tear. He then pinned Bridger Nelson of Beaverhead County in the second period to set up a semifinal matchup with Havre’s Dane Flammond.

“I don’t think about it too much,” Roberts said of his quest to become the 24th Montana prep wrestler to win the title in each season.

“(Day 1) went great. Hopefully some of my teammates can pull some upsets throughout this round and we can move up in the standings.”

Havre, who qualified 13 wrestlers to the semifinals, is in first place with 146 points - 22 more than second-place Sidney.

While it’s commonplace to see plenty of Mat Cats in the semis, no quarterfinal victory was as exciting as Ross’ pin of Laurel’s Brandon Connolly with just six seconds remaining in the match.

Leading by a point, Ross was in the midst of getting turned to his back when he rolled through Connolly’s half-nelson attempt and pinned him.

“Honestly, I just kind of went with the wind. I usually do a roll and his arm wasn’t going in there so I just did some funk,” Ross said of his last-minute heroics.

Libby has two semifinalists.

Zach Crace (152) had two pins in as many matches to set up a semifinal showdown with Ryan Chatterton of Sidney.

Defending state champion Garret Chapel (170) also reached the semis with two pins. He never made it out of the first period and will face Havre’s Tyler Schaub.

“I wrestled a Havre kid in the semis last year. They’re always tough,” Chapel said “I just try to not let my nerves get to me. Nerves are a big part of wrestling and if you let them get to you they’ll kill you. I just go out there and wrestle like it’s any other match and take state one match at a time. Whatever happens happens.”

Mike Corrigan (205) is Polson’s lone semifinalist. He’ll face Jace Billy of Havre.

Mateo Quinones (103), Cameron Brown (113), Jaben Wenzel (132), Skylar Knuston (138), and Tele Seeman (170) are other remaining Pirates in the consolation bracket.

Judah Prestegaard (160), Travis Catina (205) and Steven Qumby still remain for Whitefish. All are one win away from guaranteeing themselves at least sixth place.

In Class B-C, the Eureka Lions sit in second place by just one point. They trail Choteau (88 points) and lead third-place Colstrip (69 points).

Kahden Bakkila (113), Zach Durden (120), Jonathan Schmidt (120), Garret White (126), and Joe Fehr (182) all won their first two matches at the two-day event.

Should Durden and Schmidt win, they’ll set up an all-Eureka final at 120. Durden has to beat Kasey Seyfert of Glasgow, and Schmidt must pull off an upset of Colstrip’s Clayton Currier, who currently has a 37-3 record.

Like Durden, White pinned both of his opponents to come within a victory of the title match. He has one of the most intriguing semifinal setups.

White, who is 29-3 on the year will face 42-3 Eli Walston from Columbus.

The All-Class tournament restarts today at 9:30 a.m. with the looming semifinal matches and consolation quarterfinals.