State wrestling: Flathead's Kohen Rilley reigns at 215

Feb. 22—BILLINGS — It was over, then it wasn't, then it was again. Flathead junior Kohen Rilley went three rounds — and six seconds — to take a 10-9 victory over Billings West's Peyton Cicero to win the 215-pound title at the All-Class State Wrestling Tournament at First Interstate Arena Saturday. "Everything I have done leading up to this moment has been worth it," Rilley said. "It's a great feeling to finally achieve something as great as a state championship in high school and the only thing I can look forward to is learning again next year. It's all up from here." Rilley's thrilling victory looked complete as he had his hand raised to the crown, but the officials called the wrestlers back to the mat for 6 added seconds with Cicero, from the bottom position, needing one escape point to tie the match. Rilley fought off the escape attempt and took the victory again, this time for real. "What a crazy match, Braves coach Jeff Thompson said. "At the end of the match, he wins 10-9, gets his hand raised, he is celebrating, just one of those emotional highs. Then they have to pull them back wrestle the last six seconds again and the heart that Kohen had to do that and basically to win that state championship twice in a matter of seconds." Thompson noted that the last six seconds were added back due to a rule where after a second stall call, the wrestler — in this case Cicero — is allowed to choose his position. "The only words I could say were 'oh s**t,' " Rilley said of the third round. "The first and second period I was feeling pretty good, the third period hits and your gas tank just crashes." Glacier's moment of the tournament came at 118 where Anthony Coelho and Aiden Sweat battled and assured the Wolfpack of a 1-2 finish. In the end, Coelho prevailed thanks to a second-round escape in a 1-0 decision. Sweat fought to the end, looking for an escape in the third round, but Coelho held on — figuratively and literally — for the win. "I feel amazing. I am coming off of an injury, kind of with all odds against me. I haven't wrestled in a year," Coelho said. "I moved out to Kalispell in December, got on the team and I have been grinding hard in practice." Coelho and his family moved to the Flathead Valley from Clovis, Calif. The pair of Wolfpack seniors led a group of four placers for Glacier, who finished ninth in the team standings with 102 points. Matthew Ahner placed third at 175, while Zander Fuehr was fourth at 126. Billings West claimed its fourth-straight team championship with 237 points, while Gallatin brought home second with 208.5. Flathead still takes home a trophy as third-place finishers at 196. "It wasn't a perfect tournament and overall, we did our best and we are bringing back a trophy to Kalispell, maybe not the color we anticipated, but what a great group of young men," Thompson said. The Braves had 12 placers, including Kellen Downing and Hunter Arriaga, who finished as runners up at 132 and 144. Downing fell in an 8-0 major decision to Belgrade's Cody Westlake, while Arriaga dropped a 12-4 major decision to Billings Skyview's Danny Green. West was spearheaded by Makael Aguayo at 150, who became the 43rd wrestler to win four consecutive individual championships.