Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Gladstone’s Chandler Liebold (bottom) fights for position with Menominee’s Aiden Smith during Thursday’s match at Gladstone. Looking on is official Dave Gagnon.

GLADSTONE — Freshman Cooper Helman provided the Gladstone Braves with a little bit of early excitement here Thursday night, helping them post a 66-12 wrestling victory over the Menominee Maroons.

Bark River-Harris also defeated the shorthanded Maroons 60-15. The Braves followed with a 57-18 triumph over BR-H.

Helman pinned Menominee’s Wilbert Ortega with just four seconds remaining in the opening (103-pound) match.

Ortega led 7-2 late in the third period before Helman got a reversal and the pin.

“That was Cooper’s first win this year on the mat,” said Braves coach Jeff Brazeau. “Cooper never wrestled before this year. It was great to see that. That was a confidence boost for him. That got the whole team going.”

The Braves gained a 24-0 advantage on three consecutive forfeits before Aiden Smith (135) got the Maroons on the board by pinning Chandler Liebold at 3:07.

Gladstone finished with nine pins against the Maroons, who had just four available wrestlers.

The Braves grabbed an early 15-0 lead against BR-H. Freshman Drew Allgeyer then pulled the Broncos within 15-12 by pinning Andrew Sargent 2:59 into the 145 bout.

Gladstone answered with three straight pins, gaining a 33-12 cushion on Blake Servant’s pin of Jacob Wandahsega in 65 seconds at 171.

BR-H’s Austin Kleiman (189) pinned Riley Starnes 1:16 into the next match before the Braves sealed the deal with four consecutive pins.

“We mixed things up a little tonight,” said BR-H coach Joe Racicot. “Wrestling against bigger schools only makes our guys better. Brenden (Siedlecki) had a very exciting match. Just to see him hang with Eli (Terrien) is a positive. We performed better over here than we did two weeks ago. We’re happy with where we’re at.”

The Broncos also took nine forfeits from Menominee and Kleiman needed only 15 seconds to pin Pedro Montoya.

Menominee’s Joe Gimbel (171) won both of his matches, pinning Gladstone’s Henry Hansen in 1:19 and Wandahsega at 2:44.

“I thought the meet went good,” said Brazeau. “Bark River-Harris has a good group of kids and Menominee does well for the few kids they have.”

Esky, Gladstone and three BR-H wrestlers are entered in Saturday’s Northern Michigan Championships at Gaylord.

Nine more BR-H grapplers will compete in the Manistique Super Duals Saturday and Katie Viau heads to Adrian for Sunday’s girls’ state finals.

Gladstone 66, Menominee 12

103 — Helman, G, pinned Ortega, 5:56

112 — Brazeau, G, forfeit

119 — L. Matzke, G, forfeit

125 — Solis, G, forfeit

135 — Smith, M, pinned Liebold, 3:07

140 — Frizzell, G, forfeit

145 — Sargent, G, forfeit

152 — Potier, G, forfeit

160 — C. Hansen, G, forfeit

171 — Gimble, M, pinned H. Hansen, 1:19

189 — Starnes, G, pinned Montoya, :27

215 — Noblet, G, forfeit

285 — Boudreau, G, forfeit

Bark River-Harris 60, Menominee 15

112 — Corrigan, BR-H, forfeit

119 — Riley, BR-H, forfeit

125 — Viau, BR-H, forfeit

135 — Smith, M, forfeit

140 — Eichhorn, BR-H, forfeit

145 — Allgeyer, BR-H, forfeit

152 — Racicot, BR-H, forfeit

160 — Bartoszek, BR-H, forfeit

171 — Gimbel, M, pinned Wandahsega, 2:44

189 — Kleiman, BR-H, pinned Montoya, :15

215 — F. Chartier, BR-H, forfeit

285 — O. Chartier, BR-H, forfeit

103 — Ortega, M, dec. Siedlecki, 12-11

Gladstone 57, Bark River-Harris 18

119 — Matzke, G, dec. Corrigan, 7-3

125 — Solis, G, pinned Dani, :39

135 — Liebold, G, forfeit

140 — Eichhorn, BR-H, pinned Frizzell, :36

145 — Allgeyer, BR-H, pinned Sargent, 2:59

152 — Potier, G, pinned Bartoszek, 3:58

160 — Hansen, G, pinned Racicot, 3:00

171 — Servant, G, pinned Wandahsega, 1:05

189 — Kleiman, BR-H, pinned Starnes, 1:16

215 — Noblet, G, pinned Kern, :42

285 — Boudreau, G, pinned O. Chartier, 2:24

103 — Terrien, G, pinned Siedlecki, 5:26

112 — Brazeau, G, pinned Riley, :29.