MONTAGUE — Montague coach Kris Maddox thought his team might be in for a dogfight against Holton Wednesday in a West Michigan Conference match when the Red Devils ripped off three early pins, pushing the match to a tie. Luckily for him, sophomore Gibson Sholes provided a spark.
Sholes battled back from an early deficit against Gabe Helms to pull out a thrilling two-point win, sparking a run of Wildcat pins that helped Montague down Holton 60-18 to complete a 2-0 night. The Wildcats also beat Manistee, which only wrestled four athletes, by a 78-6 margin.
The Sholes win, which ended in a 17-15 final score, clearly galvanized the Montague bench, which was invested in his comeback win and cheered with gusto when the first-year wrestler completed the victory. The next three wrestlers - Alex Breed, Gavyn Maddox and Kaiden Jeffery - pinned their Red Devil opponents, and a Fletcher Thommen technical fall and a Michael Jones pin polished off the win.
"Some things you don't see in practice,
you see in matches," Maddox said. "It's exciting to see him fight through (those
things). The kid doesn't give up. That's really what we're looking
for in all our kids, that little fight where you're just not
going to give up position, you're not going to give up a pin,
you're going to fight for the team. That's all you can ask for, really.
It's exciting to watch."
Sholes said his mindset every team he takes the mat is to go hard and push for pins.
"My
matches are (about) strength and I go out 100 percent," Sholes said. "That's what
matters. I want to walk off the mat knowing I did my best and there's
nothing more I could have done."
Isaac French and Brock Hunter also earned pin victories against Holton, and a couple of forfeit wins rounded out the scoring.
Things were not so dramatic in the night's first match against Manistee, which had no one at most of the weight classes. French, Sholes and Jeffery each earned pins on their way to 2-0 nights, and the rest of the Wildcat victories came by forfeit. Zaniya Meza, Ethan Bassett, Mason Bassett and Maverick Osborne each went 2-0 as well.
The inexperienced Wildcats - several first-year varsity wrestlers, Sholes included, are in the starting lineup - have had to deal with early chances to get on the mat being wiped out by snow, but Maddox said the team is displaying the gritty, hardworking qualities he values most.
"We had multiple kids do well and It's good any time we can get on
the mat and be able to get a gauge
for what we've got to work on in practice," Maddox said. "You can obviously only see
so much in practice with our limited numbers, so it's good to see
what's working and what's not and what we've got to build on."
With so many wrestlers still learning the finer points of the sport, Sholes said the team has great camaraderie that's helping them motivate each other in practice.
"We have great sportsmanship and
we're all in it together," Sholes said. "It's just great that we're all in
the practice room. We're all at it together. We're going hard, and
it's a great experience overall."
The Wildcats will have plenty of chances to grow in the coming weeks. Friday, the school will host its first Assembly Dual against Grant during the final school day before winter break, allowing a packed house of students to witness Montague wrestling. Maddox said the dual was not planned prior to the season, but after the team's opening night of competition was snowed out, he and Grant coach Ryan Schultz threw the idea together. The plan is for Montague to do a return visit to Grant for a future Assembly Dual.
In addition to the obvious benefits of the match, Grant is in the Wildcats' individual district this year, so it will give Montague's athletes a look at some of their postseason competition.
"I know they're about like us," Maddox said. "They have a couple of
upperclassmen and then they're fairly young throughout as well. It'll be interesting to see how things work out."'
From there, the 'Cats will have their traditional home holiday tournament, the Jan. 4 Ravenna invitational, and maybe even some rest at some point.
Having some wins already under their belt has given the Wildcats confidence that belies their inexperience, which could serve them well moving forward.
"Every time we go up against a new team, I'm ready and I'm focused on our
past wins," Sholes said. "(It gives me) courage. 'I've done this before. I can do it
again.' I don't get too bad of anxiety, I would say, because I know I
can do this."
