Wrestlers start off season at Forsyth

Seven athletes are out for the Broadus High School wrestling team this year, including 9th graders Riggin Schaffer, Alex Edwards, and Cale Emmons, 11th graders Seth McDowell and Dakota Holbrook, and Seniors Gavin Severeide and Kyle Minow.

Broadus Head Coach Frankie Schoonover returns to coach the Hawk team for another season, with a new assistant coach bringing a new perspective to the team, Wyatt Williams.

The Hawks have been busy in practice over the last month, bringing a level of intensity to their practices that Schoonover described as "overpowering" once the team hit the mats against their first opponents of the season, last Friday in Forsyth.

"The team wrestled amazing for their first competitions of the season. They showed the intensity we had trained for in practice. The team was aggressive, and simply in better shape than their competition."

Present at the Forsyth Mixer were wrestlers from Wolf Point, Harlem, and Baker, along with the Forsyth and Broadus wrestlers. Schoonover said that the competition allowed Broadus to see wrestlers they would face at Divisionals. In "normal" years, Broadus would face a number of wrestlers early in the season from Class A and other states, which often upped the competition level but might not include wrestlers Broadus would see further down the road. This difference may be a blessing and a curse – it gives the wrestlers better ideas on their competition within the division, but may not give them as much experience with the top level competition they will see at a venue like the State Meet.

Due to COVID-19 protocols, the wrestling season looks different than in previous years. Wrestler are only able to compete in mixers or duals instead of full on tournaments, and they are only allowed to wrestle two competitors per competition, changing out their singlets and taking showers between matches.

On Saturday, the team traveled to Baker, facing much of the same competition they saw in Forsyth, and helping with their experience.

Schoonover described the wrestler's performances: "Seth McDowell, wrestling at 132 lbs, controlled the tempo of his matches, and wrestled at a level we didn't see last year.

Riggin Schaffer, wrestling at 138, showed what hard work and determination can accomplish, as in Forsyth he came out and pinned Xavier Kemp from Wolf Point, then saw the level he needs to be at as he faced former State winner Cameron Reilly.

Alex Edwards, wrestling at 160 lbs, began his wrestling career on Friday, and wrestled some tough kids. He showed a no quit attitude, and used what we told him to improve on Saturday. That shows improvement, and is what I like to see in a wrestler.

Cale Emmons also began his wrestling career in Forsyth, wrestling at 170 lbs. He was able to take what he learned in a loss on Friday and apply it to the same opponent in Baker, pinning the opponent in the third period after a grueling match.

Gavin Severeide, wrestling at 205, was another first time wrestler. He let his nerves get the best of him in the first match at Forsyth, but was able to use his physicality and aggressive nature in the second match. On Saturday he found that he needs to slow down and wrestle the match his way. I see him improving as the season progresses.

Dakota Holbrook, wrestling 170 lbs, has shown he has the capabilities of a leader so far this year, as he's helped to shown the more inexperienced wrestlers how it's done. Dakota is a physical wrestler and he came out in Forsyth and dominated his opponents. He's really showing his maturity this season.

I bumped Kyle Minow up to 182 from 170 at Forsyth, and Kyle showed he was there to compete as he pinned both of his opponents in dominating matches at Forsyth. Kyle has also shown himself to be a leader on the team."

Broadus will now travel to Circle this Friday, and Sidney on Saturday, where Schoonover expects to see some much tougher competition. The matches will be available for viewing on the NFHS Network.

Schoonover concluded: "Now that the competition has seen what we're made of, they'll be out to match our level of intensity. We've been working on our mental toughness in practice, and that's something we'll continue to improve on throughout the season."

Here are the results from the Forsyth matches. Data from Baker was not available through Trackwrestling at the time of printing:

High School 138/145

Seth McDowell's place is 3rd and has scored 8.0 team points.

• Round 2 - Seth McDowell won by major decision over Xavier Kemp (Wolf Point) (Maj 20-7)

• Round 3 - Cameron Reilly (Forsyth) won by fall over Seth McDowell (Fall 2:38)

High School 138/145

Riggins Schafer's place is 2nd and has scored 12.0 team points.

• Round 1 - Riggins Schafer won by fall over Xavier Kemp (Wolf Point) (Fall 5:33)

• Round 2 - Cameron Reilly (Forsyth) won by fall over Riggin Schaffer (Fall 1:11)

High School 160

Alex Edwards's place is 3rd and has scored 0.0 team points.

• Round 1 - Jessie Brawley (Baker) won by fall over Alex Edwards (Fall 0:28)

• Round 3 - Teajay Fulton (Forsyth) won by fall over Alex Edwards (Fall 0:20)

High School 171

Dakota Holbrook's place is 1st and has scored 7.0 team points.

• Round 1 - Dakota Holbrook (Powder River) won by fall over Sophia Dulin (Baker) (Fall 3:04)

High School 171

Cale Emmons's place is 3rd and has scored 0.0 team points.

• Round 2 - Sophia Dulin (Baker) won by fall over Cale Emmons (Fall 2:55)

High School 182

Kyle Minow's place is 1st and has scored 9.0 team points.

• Kyle Minow won by fall over Josh Bushman (Wolf Point) (Fall 1:41)

• Kyle Minow won by fall over Jordan Davis (Wolf Point) (Fall 0:43)

High School 205/285

Gavin Severide's place is 4th and has scored 6.0 team points.

• Round 1 - Chance Smith (Wolf Point) won by fall over Gavin Severide (Fall 1:52)

• Round 2 - Gavin Severide won by injury default over Marcos Gellegos (Baker) (Inj. 1:20)