Northwest Notes: Oct. 29, 2026

Lovett wins 

RAF Lightweight title

Ridge Lovett, the former Post Falls High and Nebraska star, claimed the Real American Freestyle Wrestling Light Heavyweight title on Friday, beating Jordan Oliver by technical fall 13-2 at Fontainebleau in Las Vegas.

Lovett (2-0) scored a takedown late in the second period to take a 6-2 lead. Leading late in the final period, Lovett got a takedown with nine seconds remaining and turned Oliver with two seconds left to secure the win. 

Lovett won at the U.S. Open wrestling championships in April. 

Lovett won four state wrestling titles at Post Falls, going 169-0. 

Real American Freestyle Wrestling is an American freestyle wrestling promotion, founded in 2025 by Chad Bronstein, Izzy Martinez, Eric Bishoff and Hulk Hogan. 

Competitors include current and former high school wrestlers, collegiate wrestlers, Olympic wrestlers and mixed martial artists. 

NIC men open at

Region 18 soccer today

North Idaho College opens the Region 18 men's soccer tournament today against Utah State-Eastern at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman, Utah, starting at 1:30 p.m. PDT.

NIC (15-1-3), the tournament's second seed, faces the Eagles (10-4-4) in the second semifinal. The teams played to a 2-2 draw last Thursday in Price, Utah. Earlier this season, NIC beat Utah State-Eastern 4-0 at the Marimn Health Coeur Center in Worley on Sept. 24.

Top-seeded Salt Lake (14-0-3) faces fourth-seeded Snow (9-6-3) in the other semifinal today. 

Today's winners play on Saturday for a bid to the NJCAA Championships Nov. 15-21 at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, Kan.

Eight regional champions will qualify automatically, with four at-large teams also to be selected for nationals, where teams will play in four pools of three teams.