By Mark Jeanneret, Special to the BDN
FRYEBURG, Maine — Rhett Chase’s last high school wrestling victory might have been his most difficult and definitely his most memorable.
The Camden Hills senior completed a perfect season with his 43rd victory to capture the state title in the 220-pound division while his team captured the state crown in Saturday’s Class B state wrestling championships held at Fryeburg Academy.
What made it more impressive was the fact that he won his final match against Medomak Valley’s Yannick Price-Prevot virtually with one arm.
“Apparently halfway through the second period [in the final match] I hyper-extended my elbow,” Chase said after capturing his first state title. “I stopped feeling it right after I did it but every single break I started feeling it again.
“It turned out to be the toughest match I had all season because of the injury. I just tried to tough it out and it worked in my favor this time.”
In the Class C state meet, Foxcroft Academy edged Piscataquis County rival Dexter to capture the state title.
Camden Hills’ state championship, its second in three years, was somewhat anti-climactic in the fact that it had actually sewn up the victory prior to the championship round. The Windjammers led host Fryeburg Academy 151-96 after the consolation round. With only four wrestlers advancing to the championship round, the most points the Raiders could collect was 36.
Camden Hills, which finished with a winning team total of 169 points, won four of its eight championship matches to ensure victory. Joining Chase as state champions were James Archer (106), Anthony Batty (182) and Brandon Graffam (195).
“I don’t know how to explain the feeling of winning the state title,” said Chase. “I get really happy thinking about it and it’s even better that we did it as a team this year. The last time [2010] we had six point winners. This year it was everyone.”
Fryeburg Academy finished second with 109 points followed by Mountain Valley (93.5); York (73); Morse of Bath (69); Ellsworth (67); Wells (65); Gardiner (58); Belfast (55); Caribou (44); Medomak Valley of Waldoboro (35); Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield (32); Mount Desert Island (24.5); Hermon (18); Lincoln Academy of Newcastle (3); Central (2); Old Town and Gray-New Gloucester (0).
Other Class B individual state winners included Conor Sheehan (Fryeburg Academy) 113; Zach Sheehan (Fryeburg Acadeemy) 120; Gary Stevens (Morse) 126; Brent Waterman (Belfast) 132; Danny DelGallo (Gardiner) 138; Wyatt Brockett (Morse) 145; Zach Faskianos (York) 152; C.J. Bartlett (Fryeburg Academy) 160; Michael Philippon (Ellsworth) 170 and Alex Marcurio (York) 285.
IN CLASS C, Brooks and Forrest Law helped spark a come-from-behind win for Foxcroft Academy.
The Ponies trailed Dexter by five points heading into the championship round before rallying to victory. Foxcroft won five of their six matches in the championship round, including all four head-to-head battles against Dexter.
Foxcroft finished with 157.5 points followed by Dexter at 148.5; Bucksport (128); Dirigo of Dixfield (123); Winslow (65); Lisbon (47); Madison (45.5); Mount View of Thorndike (43); Washington Academy of East Machias (43); Piscataquis of Guilford (25); Fort Kent (24); Calais (18.5); Woodland (14); George Stevens of Blue Hill (12.5); Spruce Mountain of Jay (12); Monmouth (10); Mattanacook Academy of Lincoln (6); and Hall Dale of Hallowell (3).
Brooks Law started the Foxcroft comeback when he upset Dexter’s Tyler Salsbury, the No. 1 seed in the East, in the 113-pound division.
“Freshman Brooks Law pulled out that win and that was unexpected,” said Foxcroft’s Wesley Stinson, who won his second straight state title. “We knew that he was capable of it and that win really sparked up some high hopes and got the team pumped.
“After that me and Forrest knew that we would have to wrestle tough and to our best capability if we were going to have a chance.”
Four matches later Forrest Law matched his brother’s title with one of his own, beating Dexter’s Andrew Adams in the 138 category. The win was Law’s fourth over his rival this year.
“I’m more excited about my brother’s win than mine,” Forrest Law said after earning his first state title. “That was a huge win and really got our whole team going.”
Stinson and Corey Bjornston rounded out the sweep of the head-to-head competition. Stinson, who won at 152 last year, posted a victory over Andrew Levenselor at 145 and Bjornston topped A.J. McLaughlin in the 182-pound division.
Other Class C individual state winners included James Blanchette (Mount View) 106; Zach Stevens (Lisbon) 120; Aaron Webber (Dexter) 126; Caleb Hall (Dirigo) 132; Jacob Stewart (Bucksport) 152; Jordon Fogg (Bucksport) 160; Nicholas Bishop (Bucksport); Corey Bjornston (Foxcroft Academy) 182; Chris Powell (Bucksport) 195; Zach Ragot (Washington Academy) 220 and Aaron Lint (Winslow) 285.