PTWL MS Wrestling

By Bob McPhee

 AUGUSTA-the depth of a team can never be under estimated and Mountain Valley Middle School certainly proved the theory correct en route to winning the Pine Tree Wrestling League championships last Saturday at Cony High School.

Mountain Valley scored 135.50 points led by individual champions Anthony Mazza Jr. (87-pounds) and Ian Brennick (240) to fend off runner-up Troy Howard MS 118. The Hawks who led wire to wire won their first PTWL crown since 2010.

Host Cony (94) came on strong for third to edge out Oxford Hills 86. Dirigo (78) rounded out the top five behind champion Dalton Berry at 195.

''I've said it before that in order to win a tournament like this a team needs consolation wins,” MV coach Anthony Mazza said, who placed eight wrestlers in the top four of each weight class. “We had 11 wrestlers here today compared to other teams with seven or eight, so (depth) was a key. Every one of our wrestlers scored points. We had lost to Cony in a dual meet early in the season and it served as an eye opener for this team. They have been dominate ever since.''

Mazza Jr. breezed in the finals match with a 10-0 major decision against Austin Merrill of Skowhegan. Mazza, fifth grade, had battled back to win  8-6 overtime in quarterfinal match, finished 27-0.

Brennick, started wrestling three weeks ago, executed two escapes in a 2-0 decision to upset previously unbeaten and Avery Bradeen of Dirigo. Breeden set a school record with 24 pins in the first period.

The Hawks Evrit Roy (81), Nate White (99) and Isaac Therrien (155), each were finalists. White lost 4-0 to Samson Sirois of Skowhegan.  ''I'm really proud of these kids," coach Mazza said. ''This is the hardest working team I've ever coached. They weren't the most talented, but they worked and really stepped up.''

Dylan Desroches (110) and Michael Arsenault (170) each placed third and Isaac Voisine (137) was fourth.

Berry, unbeaten seventh grader, pinned Jared Taylor of Oxford Hills, in finals. Cougar teammate' Jon Wainwright lost 3-0 to Russell Damon of Oxford Hills in the 105 finals. Damon fended off a head-pry attempt by Wainwright that was whistled out of bounds.

''We hadn't seen many of the East teams, but we knew they had some (quality) wrestlers,'' Dirigo coach Dana Whittemore said. ''Dalton had his toughest match in the semi-finals (Jared Smith of Hancock. Still, we placed five of six wrestlers and a goal was to score over 70 points.''    Nolan Degroot (155) and Victor Verrill was fourth at 75. Verrill had decisioned Vinny DeRoche of Mountain Valley in the con-SF.

Oxford Hills was competitive with finalists Dylon Cobbett 123 and Dawson Stevens 155. Justin David was fourth at 111.

''We had a strong day,'' Oxford Hills coach Tony Stevens said. ''I can recall six years ago when there was three wrestlers on the entire team. Things are coming slowly and we still have some work to do.''

Cony edged out Oxford Hills with champions Noah Dumas 75 and Aaron Lettre 111. The Rams are coached by Nate Gurney who was on the 1996 Dirigo High School state championship team; the Cougars was then coached by his father Glenn Gurney.