Exhausted, hoarse and happy.

Those adjectives would no doubt be included in any discussion about the outcome of the Plains Quad wrestling match Thursday evening.

Grappling before the home fans at Plains High School for the one and only time this year, the Horsemen gave the home town folks plenty to cheer about as they recorded a 2-0-1 record against a trio of conference foes.

The Horsemen opened the meet, which in addition to the host school included teams from Arlee, Bigfork and Eureka, with a head-to-head match against Eureka. And while there were several open and/or forfeited matches due to lack of participants in all weight classes, Plains wrestlers put on a good show against three quality opponents.

Sophomore Spur Ryan got the Horsemen going with a pin in the 160-pound class.

August Courville added to the Plains point total when he scored a dominating 19-7 decision at 103 pounds.

Those victories helped propel the host team to a narrow 36-33 team win, much to the delight of a nearly full Plains gym.

Against Eureka, two of the Horsemen’s four female wrestlers had exhibition bouts and both lost by decision. However, there were victories ahead for the group, including a pair of pins.

Following their close match with Eureka, the Horsemen took on Bigfork, a team whose roster is filled with underclassmen. As was the case against Eureka, Spur chalked up a pin against his 152-pound foe. That fall was matched by Brady Schrenk, who ran his meet record to 2-0 with a pin against his 152-pound class Viking.

Also stopping his Bigfork opponent by pin was Drew Carey.

The Plains women also scored a pair of big victories over Bigfork wrestlers, although both were in “exhibition” matches that did not affect team scoring.

Highlighting the evening was a hard-fought pin by 152-pounder Lillian McDonald, who pinned Bigfork’s Ian Wolfe. That fall was later matched by Taylor Angle, who pinned the Viking’s Kaden Torgenrud in the 132-pound class.

Both wins were heavily cheered by the hometown crowd.

In the end, Plains and Bigfork finished in a 26-26 tie for the night.

With their meet record standing at one win, no losses and a tie, the Plains grapplers moved on to face the Arlee Warriors.

Plains freshmen John Waterbury got the Horsemen on the scoreboard first with a quick pin over Arlee senior Tyrel Thomas at 126 pounds. That win was followed by three straight Arlee forfeits at 132, 138 and 145 pounds as they were unable to field competitors in those weight classes.

The forfeit at 145 pounds went to Plains’ Brady Schrenk, who finished the night unbeaten.

The match then shifted to the 152-pound class where McDonald was looking for her first win of the evening, but could not hold off Arlee sophomore Drew Knoll who recorded a fall of his own.

That pin was followed by three pins and a Plains forfeit, tightening the team scoring with just a few matches to go.

Spur, who recorded pins against Eureka and Bigfork, was this time pinned by Arlee’s RJ Knoll. Arlee got a forfeit at 182 pounds, then another pin, this one in the 120-pound class when Levi Conover stopped his Plains opponent.

That put the team scoring total at 26 points each, with just an exhibition match remaining on the evening for both teams.

And what a match it turned out to be.

Plains’ Taylor Angle, who was locked in a tight points battle versus Arlee freshman Jeremy Martin, scored a two-point reversal that put her ahead 5-4. With the clock ticking away, Taylor managed to out-muscle Martin and pinned him to the mat as the Plains fans erupted.

The Plains girls traveled to Anaconda Friday night to participate in an all-girls meet, then returned home before heading to Superior the next day to compete in the prestigious Bob Kinney Classic.

The Plains boys will also take part in the Bob Kinney, a day-long event featuring top teams and wrestlers from throughout the region.