Bulldogs ready to dethrone Hawks, reclaim district crown

SANDPOINT — Sandpoint wrestling is tired of second place.

Lakeland has held on tightly to the 4A Region 1 title for 12 straight years, but this winter the Bulldogs believe they have what it takes to dethrone the Hawks and reclaim glory.

Head coach Jake Stark sees it, but the biggest question is can Sandpoint overcome the mental block and avoid looking at Lakeland as unbeatable?

And with no fans expected to be in the gym this winter, things will certainly look and feel different when the league rivals meet on the mat.

“I think we got them,” he said. “It’s just going to be us and them looking each other in the eye and saying let’s go.”

Why is Stark so confident? Because his team has plenty of experience.

Six state qualifiers from last season are back — Forest Ambridge (98), Jacob Albany (98), Trevan Adam (138), Blake Sherrill (145), Tag Benefield (220) and Matt Thurlow (220).

Last winter, Stark had a talented group of freshmen, with about five seeing significant time in the varsity lineup. Now that class is a year older and a year tougher and Stark expects six to seven to be in the mix on the varsity lineup.

The sophomores are the future of Bulldog wrestling.

“They got thrown to the wolves last season, but now they are going to come back stronger this year,” Stark said. “When they get to be seniors they are definitely going to be the top dogs out there and a force to be reckoned with.”

The Bulldogs had their offseason plans shook up due to the pandemic, but the team was able to break away and take part in the Montana Intensive Wrestling Camp.

The camp followed strict health and safety guidelines and Stark said he took nine high schoolers with him and it really sharpened their skills.

“We were just happy we could go to a camp,” he said.

Sandpoint is just two weeks into practice, but so far, so good.

“I’m really happy with how we’re looking,” Stark said. “We’re a pretty veteran crew.”

Stark, who is also a coach on the JV football team, delayed starting wrestling practice this winter until after the Sandpoint football team wrapped its state run. A good chunk of Stark’s wrestling team is on the football team and he didn’t want the kids trying to focus on two sports at once.

“There’s a lot of these guys that weren’t playing football and I know that for a fact they were working out and getting stronger,” Stark said.

Adam, a senior, was one of those athletes that was a part of the Bulldogs’ journey back to the state semifinals in football. Adam said he is still working his way into wrestling shape, but he’s ready for a strong season after putting in a lot of time this summer.

Sandpoint lost eight seniors from last year’s team including captains Brady Nelsen and Isaiah Caralis, who were the soul of the team.

Those two are tough to replace, but Stark believes the Bulldogs have the pieces to do so and leading the way are two of the team captains — Adam and Benefield.

Last season, Benefield had one for the record books. Benefield went 5-1 at state to claim third place at 220 pounds. The showing came just five months after he tore his meniscus during his junior season of football.

Because of the injury, Benefield started competing for the Bulldogs last year just a few weeks before state. This winter, Stark said Benefield won’t have the same opportunity and he will have to grind through the demands of a full season.

“It’s going to be different because he’s not just going to be coming in and having to make a push for it,” Stark said. “His mentality is going to have to be strong and it should be because he’s a senior.”

Stark has high expectations for Benefield and he believes he can be on the mat for the state title bout at 220 in February.

Stark said Benefield is a natural born leader and his physicality is tough to match.

“You get in a match with him once, you don’t want to get in a match with him again,” he said. “He just breaks kids.”

Senior Isaac Webb is wrestling again this season after taking last year off. Stark said Webb brings a positive attitude to the team and he thinks his addition will help the team in the long run.

“He works hard everywhere,” Stark said. “He’s just a good kid to be around.”

Adam said he thinks wrestling is the hardest sport out there because it’s so mentally draining. He said it takes a special type of person to be a member of the Sandpoint wrestling team, but he enjoys every second of it.

“These are the only 30 that will do it,” he said about the team.

Junior Blake Sherrill shared a similar sentiment.

“I just love wrestling practice,” he said. “It sucks, but I just love working hard with my teammates. It’s a lot of fun.”

Sherrill is fresh off a strong finish on defense for the Sandpoint football team. Sherrill stepped up in a big way for the Bulldogs during their playoff run and he said he is feeling extremely confident heading into wrestling.

Sherrill made it to state at 145 pounds last year, but he is looking to move to either 160 or 170 this season while in pursuit of a district title.

Currently, the Bulldogs have 38 wrestlers on their team and senior Kayelin Johansen believes this team has a lot of potential.

“I feel like COVID has blessed us in a way with a lot more people coming out because they just want something to do,” she said. “I can’t remember a year in high school where we would have gone full-on-live matches the first week of practice and I feel like we’re a lot more prepared than usual.”

Last year at the second annual Idaho Girls Wrestling Finals, Johansen tied for third at 106 pounds. The event is the unofficial state championship for girls wrestling and Johansen is gunning for a title at 112 pounds this year.

But next year, there will finally be a girls wrestling state tournament sanctioned by the Idaho High School Activities Association. It’s been a long time coming as the sport has grown exponentially. Johansen is glad the IHSAA is finally recognizing girls wrestling, but she’s a little disappointed she won’t ever get a chance to compete in it.

Originally, Johansen was set to graduate from SHS in 2022, but after plenty of hard work, she’s departing a year early.

Johansen is a Greco-Roman, Freestyle and Folkstyle state champion and recently announced she has committed to wrestle at Corban University, a NAIA school in Salem, Oregon.

Johansen said Corban wasn’t on her radar until she visited the campus earlier this year. She said it was everything she’d imagined and more, and she believes Corban will be one of the top programs in the country at this time next year.

This offseason was strange for Johansen. She is used to wrestling year round and only getting a few weeks off, but this summer she was forced to spend months away from the mat.

Johansen joined the swim team this fall to get in better shape for wrestling and she believes it paid off.

“I just feel more relaxed than I usually do,” she said.

Johansen, who will wrestle at 120 for varsity, plans to leave her mark on the other girls on the team this year because next winter, the Bulldogs could start having a full girls squad.

“I just want to prepare the other girls on the team as much as possible for what’s to come,” she said.

Besides the names already mentioned, Stark is also expecting big things from Thurlow, Jordan Birkhimer, Calvin Hinds, Raphael Eldridge, Darrian Resso, Carson Laybourne, Tanner Dickson and Sherrill’s younger brother, Shane.

Stark said Dickson, a senior, is “one of those kids that’s paid his dues.”

“Dickson really flipped over a new leaf,” Stark said. “He kind of had a rough end to the year last year, but he just started on such a positive note this year … I can see in his eyes he wants it this year.”

Adam is looking at moving up from 138 to 145 this winter and he knows he will likely have to face Lakeland’s Riley Siegford at some point if he wants to reach his goal of grabbing a district title.

“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “I want to take him down because he’s a competitor.”

Last year, Sandpoint sent nine wrestlers to state. Stark said he is hoping to take more this year and he thinks the Bulldogs will surprise some people with the amount of depth they have.

Stark said his kids have a great attitude right now and he’s glad he can give them some hope by having a season during such a tough time.

“I’m really thankful for the opportunity to keep doing this,” he said.

Sandpoint will hold its annual red and white scrimmage on Wednesday at 5 p.m. before hosting Priest River on Friday, Dec. 4.