Under the overhead spotlight that lit up the wrestling mat below, three area teams battled it out in Thompson Falls last Tuesday evening in a showcase of Western Montana wrestling talent.

Teams from Florence, Plains/Hot Springs and Thompson Falls staged a tri-dual meet, with Class A Florence coming away with a pair of wins thanks to a large and solid contingent of grapplers.

Florence opened the meet, in which all lights in the Thompson Falls High School gym were turned off except for the overhead spotlight, with a 45-24 team victory over the host Blue Hawks.

The Falcons then bested Plains 45-30 to emerge as the top team in the meet that featured a host of forfeits due to lack of wrestlers in all weight categories. The home-standing Blue Hawk fared well despite dressing only nine wrestlers, a lack of numbers that contributed to their 0-2 team mark.

Plains, which used four forfeits to defeat the Blue Hawks by a narrow 36-34 margin in the best matchup of the event, also had a good showing.

Plains lost to Florence in team points by a 45-30 score to go 1-1 on the night.

The star of the meet was Thompson Falls lower middleweight Trae Thilmony, who won both of his matches by pin. Thilmony, the Blue Hawks defending state champion from last year, pinned Plains’ 132-pounder Mason Elliot 53 seconds into the second round of their bout.

He opened his night with a second-round pin of Florence 138-pounder Adyn Meinzen, the fall coming one minute, 22 seconds into the second period.

Against the Falcons, who brought a full squad of 16 wrestlers to the meet, Thompson Falls also had four matches for a total of 24 points awarded to Florence via forfeit.

The Blue Hawk grapplers also picked up a win by forfeit in the match with the Falcons.

In addition to Thilmony’s win, Thompson Falls got a win by pin from freshman 160-pounder Max Hannum, who stopped the Falcons’ Colton Rice at the 1:23 mark of the first round. The Blue Hawks also got six points from 182-pound senior Dane Chojnacky, who overwhelmed and pinned Dallas Blair 1:22 into the first round.

Chojnacky joined Thilmony as a double winner when he won by pin versus his opponent from Plains in the final dual of the evening.

In the Plains/Hot Springs-Florence matches, there were five total forfeits, including three by Plains and a pair by the Falcons.

Horsemen wrestler Taylor Angle won one of her two bouts by forfeit, then lost a tough battle with the Falcons’ Jacob Prescott by pin in the opening round of their match at 113-pounds. Angle would rebound in a non-scoring exhibition match with a pin in just 43 seconds of the first round.

The Horsemen’s Carey boys won both of their bouts against Florence, with Drew Carey pinning Falcon 120-pounder Seth Wilson 1:40 into the first round, while Peter Carey dispatched his Florence opponent Oliver Post 32 seconds into the second round at 126-pounds.

Peter Carey was also a double match winner on the night, his second victory also coming via fall over Thompson Falls wrestler Westin Brown in the event’s final dual.

The other winner for the Plains-Hot Springs wrestler was Hot Springs student Jesse Uski, who pinned Blair at the 1:43 mark of the opening round in the 182-pound division.

The Plains/Hot Springs-T Falls match was the highlight dual of the evening for Sanders County fans.

In addition to Peter Carey’s win and a win by forfeit for Drew Carey, the Horsemen got a victory from Will James-Courville, who stopped the Blue Hawks’ Walker Morefield by first round pin at 138 pounds.

Blue Hawks winners against the Horsemen included Elijah Ratliff, who stopped Brendan Vanderwall in the first round at 145-pounds, Shane Reishus, a 9-0 points winner over Horsemen Bert Detienne in the 152 class, and Josh Baldwin, who won his 170-pound match with Plains’ grappler Steven Yothers, with Baldwin getting the fall at the 1:02 mark of the opening round.

Chojnacky’s win had put the Blue Hawks up by a 34-24 score, but the final two matches, both forfeit wins by the Horsemen gave them 12 points and allowed them to win the dual by two points.