State B-C Wrestling: Huntley Project cruises to three-peat, Forsyth takes Class C title

BILLINGS – The Huntley Project Red Devils were a step above the rest at the State B-C wrestling tournament this weekend.

As a matter of fact, it’s been that way for the Red Devils for three straight years now. On Saturday evening, Huntley Project made it a three-peat as it was crowned the Class B team champions.

The Red Devils finished with 206 team points, 82 points ahead of second-place Eureka (124). Conrad came in third with 103.5 points.

The team score was wrapped up early in the day for Huntley Project, with six of its wrestlers advancing to the finals. Three of those wrestlers won individual titles, giving the team more individual champions than any other program in the B-C bracket.

Baylor Burton (120) and brothers duo Blake (113) and Hayden Ramaeker (160) won state titles for Huntley Project.

While it’s the third team title in a row for the Red Devils, each season is its own journey and they finished it in style.

“From where we started the year out to where we ended the season, we’re a totally different team. They put a ton of work into it, they buy into their personal goals and our team goals,” Huntley Project head coach Tim Raczmarek said.

Becoming a program capable of a three-peat doesn’t happen overnight.

For many of Huntley Project’s wrestlers, it began at a young age. And now the hard work and dedication has paid off with the programs ninth overall team title.

“It starts when these guys are little, coming through our AAU program. We got good coaches in there and good families, they buy into the system and it makes it easy when they get into high school,” Raczmarek said.

And the bad news for the rest of Class B is that the Red Devils don’t have any plans to slow down. All three of their individual champions return next season, along with others who placed at state.

They will enjoy the three-peat for now, but next year they will be looking to be on top of the podium once again.

“We’ve got a good group of guys coming right now, a lot of young guys. We lose a couple of good seniors, but we should be doing good next year,” Hayden Ramaeker said.

Winning individual B-C titles were: 103, Richard Schmidt, Cut Bank; 113, Blake Ramaeker, Huntley Project; 120, Baylor Burton, Huntley Project; 126, Asher Clayton, Choteau; 132, Riley Davis, Baker; 138, Kohner Schipman, Malta/Whitewater; 145, Kanon Branch, Cut Bank; 152, Khye Gamas, Glasgow; 160, Hayden Ramaeker, Huntley Project; 170, Chris Graham, Conrad; 182, McCoy Banner, Fairfield; 205, Brady Armstong, Jefferson; 285, Aidan Miller, Anaconda.

Forsyth back on top

The Dogies made their first season in Class C a special one, winning the team title with 61 points. Circle took second place with 33 points and Fort Benton came in third with 29 points.

Three wrestlers placed for Forsyth, including a pair of finalists. Trey Starcher (113) and Payne Reilly (132) were both runner-ups, and Ryan Wiggins (113) took third place.

It is the first team title for the Dogies since 2013, when they won the Class B trophy for the third year in a row.

For a town with a rich wrestling history, bringing a first-place trophy back to Forsyth is something special.

“It’ll be nice to bring home another team trophy and put another banner up in the gym. It’s going to bring that enthusiasm to town,” Forsyth head coach Ben Reilly said.

It’s been a long time coming, but Ben Reilly has had a pretty good feeling about this team for a while now.

The Dogies individual success led to a team title, and now they'll hope it continues in years to come.

“We’ve been working on this for years. We knew what we had with these guys as seventh and eighth graders,” Reilly said. “Just keep building on it from here.”

Twice is nice

A trio of wrestlers won back-to-back state titles on Saturday, and it happened in three straight matches.

It started with Huntley Project’s Burton, who had to defeat a fellow defending champion on his way to a second straight. Burton defeated Eureka’s Timothy Schmidt – the 113-pound champion last season – in a grueling 1-0 match.

Burton won it all at 103 last season, and his success again this year was a big part of the Red Devils’ success.

In the next match, Choteau’s Asher Clayton defeated Conrad’s Blaine VanDyke with a pin in the first period. It was Clayton’s first title in Montana, but he was the state champion in Alaska last season.

For Clayton, winning back-to-back titles in different states was special.

“That means a whole bunch to me. It’s really surprising to me that I got back-to-back wins, especially in two different states with totally different competition. It’s very difficult to get a state championship in the first place, let alone twice in different states,” Clayton said.

Following up Clayton was Baker’s Riley Davis, who won a state title at 132 pounds in consecutive seasons.

Davis defeated Forsyth’s Payne Reilly 7-4 to finish off his high school career with a pair of first-place finishes.

As for being a back-to-back champion, it’s a title that makes Davis smile.

“I like it. I like the sound of that,” he said after standing on top of the podium.

One loss, no problem

While no B-C wrestlers finished the season completely unscathed, a pair of state champions wrapped up their seasons with just one defeat.

In the first championship match of the night, Conrad’s Chris Graham won the title at 170 pounds and ended his season with an overall record of 47-1.

Graham’s state title came in dramatic fashion as he trailed Eureka’s Caden Pecora 4-0 entering the final two minutes. Starting the third period on top, Graham had to turn Pecora to his back and that’s exactly what he did.

In the final minute, Graham won by pin to start the evening with a thrilling victory.

“It’s unreal, it feels amazing. I still can’t believe what just happened, it’s probably going to take a while to process what just happened,” Graham said.

But with a first-place trophy and just one loss all season, Graham thinks he could do even better.

So, next season the goal for the Conrad state champion will be to finish the season unblemished.

“Could be better. One more win and that’s a perfect record so that’s what we’re going to be aiming for next year, be perfect,” Graham said.

The only other wrestler to finish his season with one loss was Jefferson’s Brady Armstrong.

The junior won the title at 205 pounds, defeating Eureka’s Wes Banks with a pin in the first period. Armstrong ended the year with a title and a 45-1 overall record.

And that feeling of getting his hand raised and hearing the Metra crowd boom nearly left him speechless.

“It was like no other. It was just like the best feeling that I’ve had in a long time. I just looked up in the stands, it was just the best,” Armstrong said with a wide grin.