BILLINGS — The match over, his high school career over, Zach Morse looked up to the Billings West fan base cheering him on from the First Interstate Arena seats, shrugged and then held up four fingers.
It’s become the way for those who have won four consecutive individual state wrestling titles to acknowledge the MetraPark crowds, and Morse had just become the 42nd in state history to achieve the feat.
He did so by beating Billings Skyview’s Danny Green 4-1 in the 118-pound championship on Saturday, giving Morse titles at 103, 113 and 120 pounds. His shoulder shrug may have given the impression of nonchalance on the part of Morse, but he’s talked openly in the past about the pressure and the weight he’s felt in pursuing what every wrestler dreams about.
Morse admitted, while holding court as he held his paperboard bracket memento, that other than school, winning a fourth title was “all I thought about” during the past year.
Now, he can finally relax.
“I got super nervous, to be honest,” Morse said. “The match didn’t go the way I wanted it to, but it’s a dream come true and I feel amazing.”
Amazing is an apt word to describe not only Morse’s accomplishment, but what the Golden Bears have done as a team for the past three seasons.
The Bears put eight wrestlers into Saturday’s finals and won seven of them. Though they started the championship round with a slim 2.5-point lead over Kalispell Flathead — the Bears’ morning ‘blood round’ consolation matches didn’t go their way, allowing the Braves to close what was nearly a 100-point gap to start the day — the title tsunami pushed West to 278 points.
Flathead finished second with 243.5 points, followed by Great Falls in third (175 points) and Butte in fourth (171).
Results: 2025 Class AA boys state wrestling - Day 3
The team championship is the third in the row for the Bears, and it’s the first three-year run for a team since Great Falls won titles in 2013-15.
West finished with seven state champions and 11 placers.
“It’s what these kids bring to the table,” West coach Jeremy Hernandez said. “They know when they come into the room, and that starts with our club kids, that you have to be ready to go, you have to be bought in. You have to compete. There’s no other option but to get better.”
In winning this year’s title, the Bears pretty much followed last year’s script. Last season at state they built a big cushion in points, had a four-time state champ in Keyan Hernandez (Jeremy’s son) and had Morse as a three-time champ waiting in the wings.
Makael Aguayo is now the Bear awaiting his four-time chance. The junior won the 138-pound title Saturday in a 15-1 major decision over Great Falls’ Gage Clothier, who was making his second straight finals appearance.
“It’s an amazing feeling that hasn’t sunk in yet,” Aguayo said.
The championship round started at 165 pounds with Kalispell Glacier’s Nico Coles pinning West’s Baden Bentley in 4:27.
What followed was a parade of Bears champions: Gabe Rosales won 14-6 in a major decision over Loki Bigras of Flathead; Anthony Garcia edged last year’s 182-pount title-winner Cole Graham of Helena Capital 4-3 at 190 pounds; Colby Reichenbach had a late takedown to out-brawl Billings Senior’s Woodrow Shirley 10-6 at 215 pounds; and Christian Allie nudged Isaac Tolen of Great Falls 3-2 at 285.
Photos: Champions crowned at 2025 state wrestling tournaments
Butte’s Keegan Hunt then interrupted West’s proceedings with a pin of Billings Senior’s Hunter Beeman at 103 pounds. Hunt won the Quick Pin Award with four pins in 4 minutes, 56 seconds.
Jackson Roby resumed the Bears’ win total at 110 pounds with a sudden pin of Belgrade’s Cody Westlake in 1:29. Westlake was the 103-pound runner-up last year.
Then Morse and Green took to the mats, and the pair sized each other up for much of the match. It was still tied 1-1 early in the third period before Morse took control in the late stages of the match.
At 126 pounds, Cael Floerschinger of Great Falls defeated Nolan Brown of Belgrade with a 14-2 major decision. Floerschinger, a sophomore, won the 113 championship a year ago.
Billings Skyview’s Chris Grossman, who lost a tight title match to Morse last year, got his own championship at 132 with a 10-2 victory over Billings Senior’s Bayden Fandrich.
Cody Hatzell of Butte claimed the 144-pound title with a pin in 3:18 of Flathead’s Aiden Downing, and Senior’s Chris Acuna followed with a 15-3 major decision over Glacier’s Jerin Coles.
Fittingly, it seemed, the day ended with Great Falls’ Kale Baumann winning the 157-pound championship. Baumann, a senior, had reached three consecutive finals before but wound up second in all of them. This time he went out in style with a 2:16 pin of Will Stepan of Butte.
For West’s Hernandez, it was a physical day, crouching, jumping and squatting through the Bears’ eight championship matches, including five in a row.
“I’ll feel it tomorrow, I’m getting old,” said Hernandez, who speed-chomped a piece of gum throughout the day, as well. “Sometimes I need to relax, but the energy kicks in. I’m sure my knee will hurt or my face … I don’t know … but you know what? It’s all worth it.”
