Libby's DeShazer wins second straight championship

Cartwheels and backflips were just the beginning of Jace DeShazer’s celebration of his second straight state wrestling championship Saturday in Billings.

The Libby Logger junior 205-pounder pinned his way to the Class A championship with four first-period falls. That dominating run led DeShazer to be named the Outstanding Wrestler.

When DeShazer pinned Fergus senior Jett Boyce in 53 seconds for the title, he celebrated with a cartwheel and a backflip before receiving congratulations from coaches. He nearly took Boyce, ranked second in the state, down 20 seconds in, but 10 seconds later he did and the fall came soon after.

"It was so much fun and Jace wrestled out of this world," dad Doug DeShazer said. "He wasn't scored on and he was on the mat less than four minutes, which was faster than anyone in AA."

DeShazer opened his championship run with a 53-second pin of Havre’s Mason Wilting in the first round on Friday at MetraPark. Lockwood’s Seth Meyer lasted more than 60 seconds with DeShazer but the Logger still scored a pin in 1:41.

Corvallis senior Bryce Weidow did not last half a minute in the semifinals as DeShazer decked him in 28 seconds.

Logger senior 170-pounder James Warner joined DeShazer as the teams’ other state medalwinner.

Warner injury defaulted from the fifth-place match at the 1:49 mark to Hamilton’s Andrew Frederick, but he worked hard to get his hardware after losing a first-round match by fall.

In the first round of consolations, Warner bounced back with a 12-4 win over Polson’s Kyrin Doty. Warner then decked Ronan’s Brady Hout in 1:28.

Warner clinched a medal when he pinned Havre’s Pierce Caplette in 3:42. In the match to reach the third-place bout,Warner lost a 7-5 heartbreaker to Sidney-Fairview’s Kadin Wise.

Hamilton senior Derrick Saltzman, who lost a major decision to DeShazer in last week’s Western A Divisional in Polson, claimed third place with a pin. He was ranked third in the state entering the tourney.