We Pick the Winners: Argos’ Dobson looks to pin panel
A funny thing happened on my way to doing We Pick The Winners this week: I was unable to contact the person I originally picked as the Guest Picker.
And when you’re up against a deadline, time becomes more of an enemy than a friend.
Enter University of Great Falls wrestling coach Caleb Schaeffer, who instantly handpicked one of his young local grapplers, two-time high school state champion Casey Dobson of Great Falls High, as this week’s WPTW Guest Picker.
“We’re going to be pups this year,” said Schaeffer, beginning his ninth year as the Argos’ mentor. “We’ll probably start as many as eight freshmen, most of them redshirts.
“The future looks bright for us. Casey will be taking a leadership role, and we’re expecting him to be on the podium this March in Topeka.”
Dobson redshirted last year after winning back-to-back Class AA state titles at 132 (2014) and 145 (2015) under coach Steve Komac at Great Falls High, and a lot of what Komac taught him has carried over to UGF.
“Coach Komac taught us how to do things right,” Dobson, who will wrestle this year at 149 pounds, said. “He taught us about good team chemistry, having a good work ethic, and what it takes to be successful; a winning mentality.”
Dobson said he used he redshirt year to get a heads-up into what it takes to be successful at the collegiate level. He hopes to be successful at his picks as well.
Last week’s Guest Picker, former Seattle Mariners’ strength and conditioning coach Allen Wirtala, went 12-6 to help boost the Guest into fourth place among the five-person panel. The young pups, Steve Schreck and Grady Higgins, are sluggling it out at the top with identical 76-48 marks, after Schreck scored a 13-3 week while Grady was 12-6. The Old Guy (that would be me) was 11-7 and in third at 71-55.
That leaves our Fearless Leader and head bottle washer, Scott Mansch. He was 9-9 last week, 65-61 overall. If our panel were a freight train, he’d still be in the yard.
But I digress ...
We know where Dobson’s loyalties lie, especially when it came to picking the winner of Friday’s Bozeman-CMR game. After all, not only was he a Bison wrestler, he was also a Bison on the gridiron.
So that explains “why I absolutely, positively could NOT pick CMR.” No further explanation required.
He admitted that his selection of Glasgow over Malta in the District 2B final was “just a guess,” but had a more scientific reason for picking Eastern Washington to beat Montana State: “Eastern has won their last three meetings with the Cats.”
I can’t argue with that.
On Twitter: @GFTrib_LVernoy