BILLINGS — Polson put together a terrific first two rounds, but it was a Columbia Falls wrestlers’ wild post-pin reaction and subsequent disqualification that owned the day Friday in the Class A portion of the All-Class state wrestling tournament at MetraPark.

The Pirates remain a longshot to unseat three-time defending state champion Havre, but in the final event of coach Bob Owen’s storied career, Polson boasts six wrestlers in the semifinals and 10 grapplers still alive after one day.

Havre’s 93 points pace the field, ahead of Polson’s 78.5 and 70 for Western Divisional champion Columbia Falls.

The Mat Cats day, however, was overshadowed by an ugly incident. Kaleb Gravelin, who was ranked No. 1 in the state when he was upset in last weekend’s divisional tournament, won his first match at 138 pounds. In his second, the senior was pinned at 1:56 by Frenchtown’s Cody Warner, who enthusiastically celebrated the upset win. Gravelin, after first being restrained by his coaches, head-butted Warner and was disqualified from the tournament.

“We had an emotional situation and we made a bad choice,” Columbia Falls coach Jessie Schaeffer said of the incident.

“It kind of just took the air right out of our sails and we went backwards pretty quick.”

Schaeffer was visibly disappointed at the day’s events, and his Columbia Falls team has only six wrestlers still alive in the tournament, including semifinalists Winfield West (113), Ben Windauer (126), Hunter Peterson (132) and Mason Fetters (145). The Mat Cats coach was not optimistic about his team’s chances for a podium finish.

“We’ve got to just make the podium individually,” Schaeffer said. “We’ll go from there.”

Polson, meanwhile, wrestled inspired, and with a little help from some Havre opponents could still challenge for a championship. The Pirates and Blue Ponies each have 10 wrestlers scheduled to go today, although Havre has two more (eight) in the semis and a comfortable 14-point cushion.

Still, the Pirates took care of business at nearly every turn on Friday.

Polson has two wrestlers in the 103 pound semifinals, the same two who squared off in the divisional championship match. Sophomore Mateo Quinones, the top seed, won a 14-1 major decision over Benji Opat of Corvallis to secure his semifinal spot. Freshman RJ Pierre did him one better, finishing Dillon’s Luke Huffaker at 4:19 on a technical fall when he pushed his advantage to 16-1. Pierre and Quinones are on opposite sides of the bracket, so if each wins this morning they would square off for the state title.

At 120 pounds, freshman Bridger Wenzel continued his phenomenal rookie season with two victories by pin. Wenzel, who won the quick-pin award at last week’s divisional, finished Sidney’s Wyatt Vanburen in 4:59 to advance in the second round. Wenzel is 21-0 on the season.

Cameron Brown, a sophomore, also moved to 21-0 with two wins at 132 pounds. Brown pinned his opponent quickly in round one before squeaking by Sidney’s Brady Gorder on a 4-2 decision to reach the semifinals.

Parker Adler reached the semis at 145 pounds with a pair of wins on points. Adler, who was upset by Columbia Falls’ Mason Fetters last week, is potentially a win away from a rematch after Fetters moved on with an 8-6 decision over Sidney’s Parker Dean in the quarterfinals.

Mike Corrigan, ranked fourth in the state at 205, is the Pirates’ other semifinalists. He took just less than four combined minutes to pin his two opponents on Friday.

Whitefish’s top-seeded heavyweight, Steven Quimby, was upset in the quarterfinals but has advanced to the semis of the consolation bracket. Konrad Zinke is the only semifinalist for the Bulldogs. He beat Mat Cats junior Storm Kemppainen by decision, 4-2, in the second round.

The championship rounds of the Class A state tournament begins today at 9:30 a.m. at Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark.