Survival School, Billings post strong results 

The final match of the day of last Friday’s Greater Montreal Athletic Association (GMAA) wrestling championships was the one that elicited the biggest reaction from those still in Howard S. Billings’ gymnasium late Friday afternoon.

It was the gold medal match between two heavyweight-class wrestlers, Kahnawake Survival School (KSS)’s Deyogawehe’ Horne and Ayden Chase-St-Sauveur from Heritage Regional High School.

Chase-St-Sauveur, who is much bigger than Horne, held the advantage throughout; he would shoot the legs against Horne, bringing him down; he would push him outside, and suddenly, with less than a minute left in the second round, the KSS wrestler found himself down 9-0 - one more point would seal the deal for Heritage.

As the two got up after Heritage’s ninth point, Horne went for the legs after the referee’s signal. He brought down his opponent, scoring two points of his own.

But he didn’t let go, grabbing Chase-St-Sauveur’s waist and pushing. Suddenly, as time ticked down, and Horne kept pushing his opponent and turning him onto his back, the realization of what was happening started to dawn on the coaches first, and then the crowd assembled around the mat: Horne wasn’t just trying to get the pinfall win, he was going to succeed.

With 14 seconds left, the referee signalled the pinfall, and the crowd erupted in cheers.

“That’s the best comeback I’ve ever seen from KSS wrestling,” said wrestling head coach Brandon Stalk following Horne’s gold medal win.

Stalk said the win was extra special for Horne, because his high school career is coming to an end.

“He’s in grade 11. This was his last chance. He came in second last year, and today, he’s a champion,” said Stalk. “I’m super proud of him, and I’m super happy that he’s a GMAA champion.”

KSS finished third overall in the standings this year, with five wrestlers winning medals. Stalk said he did not have any expectations going into the day for the KSS team, which has many rookies, to not add stress to himself and his squad of 16 wrestlers - the most KSS has had in a very long time, according to Stalk.

“One thing that I learned early on in my coaching career was to try to stay relaxed. It makes you be able to coach better when you’re relaxed, and it keeps the guys a little bit calmer too. If you’re getting mad and you’re yelling your head off all day, by the end of the day, you have no more voice, you have a headache, and you feel like you probably didn’t have that much fun,” said Stalk, who added that while good results are a positive, he first and foremost wanted the team to enjoy the experience of competing at a high level.

“I’m glad our team got some wins. They got some losses, too, and they are learning. I’ve seen them be good teammates, supportive of each other, and have a good time. I’m proud of all of them, and I’m happy that our team is in the spot that it’s in now,” said Stalk.

Slade Two Rivers won bronze for KSS in the 145 lbs. class, and as a first-time GMAA competitor, he was happy with how his day had gone.

“I unfortunately lost my first match. The guy had more experience, but if I were to have a rematch, I think I would win it,” said Two Rivers.

Going into his bronze medal match, he was on a winning streak, and felt as though he would have the upper hand - which he did, after a long, back-and-forth match.

“Towards the end, he almost got me in a pin, and I had to do everything to get out of that. Once I did, and I found out he was tired, I knew the match was mine,” said Two Rivers.

Ken’nikahrhá:sa Cross also won bronze for KSS, competing in the 132 lbs. class. Cross is in his second year wrestling for KSS, but missed last year’s GMAA due to suffering a concussion.

“I feel like I did a really good job. It’s my first year here, so a lot of these people, I haven’t wrestled them before, so it’s all new to me,” said Cross.

He said that losing the match to take him out of gold medal contention was tough for him, but the way he quickly dispatched his opponents after that and won bronze lifted his spirits.

“I really just want to go for the pin. That’s all I look for. I’m not trying to score points or do any fancy moves. I just want to pin,” said Cross.

“I felt really bad that I wasn’t able to get silver or gold, but I’m happy with bronze.”

The other two medalists for KSS were Atiewatón:ni Homer, who won silver in the 103 lbs. class, and Tehaténies Stacey, who won silver in the 95 lbs. class.

This year’s GMAA was the biggest in more than 30 years, according to Peter Montour, head coach of the Billings wrestling team - and that’s despite the fact that the championships were moved to Friday instead of the original date of Thursday, February 13, due to the snowstorm.

They had originally been rescheduled for Tuesday, February 18, but midway through the week it was changed for Friday as Tuesday was a school outing for Billings.

“A lot of people were upset about it. But in reality, while we did lose a couple of kids, everybody’s here,” said Montour.

The championships necessitated four mats, with 14 teams and more than 200 wrestlers in attendance, along with coaches and the family and friends of the wrestlers.

“It’s a great atmosphere. We’re just really hoping everybody has a good time and a great tournament,” said Montour.

Billings repeated as the winners of overall girls’ championship, winning 10 medals. The boys finished fifth overall, and with only eight wrestlers, Montour said it was quite a feat to finish that well.

Wrestling will be back at Howard S. Billings this Saturday, starting at 8 a.m., for the provincial championships.

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