MOSCOW — Many a woodsman has staked a dubious claim to having successfully wrestled a bear in his day, but the St. Maries Lumberjacks have witnesses to their feat.

Moscow played host to St. Maries in a high school wrestling dual which saw the visiting smaller-division program come away with a 43-33 team victory on Thursday at Bear Den.

“We had some really, really good matches where we battled really well,” said Moscow coach Zac Carscallen, who praised St. Maries as a “super-tough” team.

The Bears are now 2-2 in team duals so far this season.

Bears battle back late

Midway through the dual, St. Maries looked to have taken over, winning five consecutive matches to build a 39-18 lead. The Bears found some momentum just in time to make things interesting down the stretch, starting with Max Hain — a freshman 120-pounder who was substituting in — narrowly overcoming the Lumberjacks’ Beau Wentzel.

Hain built a 9-5 points lead by the middle stages of the third period, and a last-ditch effort from Wentzel had him locked in what looked like a perhaps-inescapable hold only for the final buzzer to sound midway through the referee’s count. A 9-7 decision in Hain’s favor broke the Moscow drought.

Next, the Bears’ Marcus Swift folded St. Maries’ Michael Swift leg-to-head to achieve a second-period pin at 126, tightening the scoreboard to 39-27 and opening the prospect that his team could conceivably catch up to the Lumberjacks with two more pins.

Jason Swam, a veteran senior who has qualified for State each of his first three years of high school, seemed untroubled by the pressure of keeping the Bears alive as he repeatedly flipped the Lumberjacks’ Landon Tweedy and bent his arm behind his back before registering a pin on an exhausted foe midway through the second period.

“I went out there feeling really confident,” Swam said. “I was attacking really quickly and was trying to not give him a chance at all to score on me. I think I did really well on my feet and got a good first-period takedown in the beginning there, and I was just working some arm-bar series stuff. That was working really well.”

Swam’s victory added six more points to the Bears’ tally to make it 39-33, such that a potential pin by teammate Sam Young against St. Maries’ Zach David at 138 in the last match of the night could tie the dual at 39 apiece.

Young proves game, but Lumberjacks prevail

The grand finale started with Young and David grappling head-to-head on their feet, feeling each other out through much of the opening period. When a takedown eventually happened, it was David who wound up on Young’s back, pressing his face into the mat and putting him in all sorts of duress while Young doggedly struggled to stay in it and keep his team’s hopes alive, eventually managing to pull free and regain his footing. Young narrowly survived each of the first two periods, and actually seemed to have the upperhand at times in the third, during which Davidsuffered a bloody nose that required a pause in the action. But the Lumberjack came on again in the closing seconds to seal an 11-1 major decision and clinch the dual for the visitors.

“Something I can say about Sam Young is he’s a warrior,” Carscallen said. “He will never back down. ... He’s got no quit in him, and that’s something that’s, I think, really commendable.”

Coach sees the positives

On the whole, Carscallen saw many positives, from the characteristically dominant performance by 170-pounder James Greene to the spirited performances from athletes substituting in above their normal positions.

“I think we had some kids step up,” he said. “We have a few sick and injured kids right now. ... I’m not displeased by anything necessarily, but I think there’s some stuff we could definitely fix.”

The Bears get right back on the mat for the River City Duals event at Post Falls today and tomorrow.

Wendt may be contacted at (208) 848-2268 or at cwendt@lmtribune.com.