ELLSWORTH — With four pre-tournament top-seeded wrestlers sidelined, the Ellsworth Eagles turned in a third-place showing at the Penobscot Valley Christmas Tournament on Saturday in Howland.
Trent Goodman had a dominating performance, pinning both of his opponents to claim the 171-pound title.
Goodman pinned Bryce Salsbury of Dexter in 3:17 in the final.
Jeff Weeks also earned the title in the 182-pound class, taking control early to best Billy Brock of Foxcroft Academy 10-3 in the final.
Dagan Berenyi and Peyton Cole lost for the first time this season as each was edged by a single point in their championship finals.
Brooks Law of Foxcroft Academy nipped Berenyi 8-7 and Cole fell 5-4 to Zachary Caron of Dexter.
At 160 pounds, Ellsworth’s Tyler Hardwick wrestled the five-match limit, placing fourth with his only loss coming to Jacob Hesseltine of Dexter in the consolation final.
In earlier action at a six-team meet at Ellsworth on Wednesday, Dec. 17, the host Eagles notched a pair of wins in improving their record to 6-1.
Ellsworth downed the Bucksport Golden Bucks 45-18 with eight of 11 matches decided by forfeit.
On the matt for the Eagles, Cole downed Brady Boynton by a technical fall at 138 pounds, Jack Weeks pinned Joseph Mann at 145 pounds and Dagan Berenyi scored a major decision over Matt Stewart at 160 pounds.
For the Eagles in a 38-24 win over the Penobscot Valley Howlers, Joshua Wright scored a major decision over Sophia Carson at 132 pounds and Connor Petros scored a major decision over Dylan Kruger at 152 pounds with other wins coming via foreits.
In other action, the Golden Bucks nipped Penobscot Valley 36-30 with only one match decided on the mat.
Bucksport’s Kanepest Hilaire pinned Justin Ringuette at 220 pounds.
The Mount Desert Island Trojans fell to the Howlers 33-12, with their only two victories coming via forfeits.