ZoomMike Whaley/foster’s daily Democrat Marshwood High School’s Jackson Howard (left) battles Sanford’s Jake Dexter at 152 pounds during Western Maine Class A wrestling action Monday in South Berwick, Maine.
By Mike Whaley
SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — The Marshwood High School wrestling team does not believe in letdowns. Monday it turned belief into practice.
Coming off a huge win at the 20-team Michael J. Baker Wrestling Classic this past Friday and Saturday in Essex Junction, Vt. — which included Maine rivals Massabesic and Noble — the Hawks handled two Class A opponents in their final home meet of the regular season.
Marshwood, the defending Class A champion, pinned Biddeford, 57-19, and Sanford, 69-9. Biddeford beat Sanford, 42-36.
"We've beaten both these teams before, so we knew we had a pretty good shot," said Brett Gerry, who went 2-0 at 182 pounds and was one of the Hawks' two winners in Vermont, also at 182 (Cody Hughes was the other winner at 152). "We needed to not mess up. We had some tough matches. We basically had to do our job, don't screw up and give them any matches."
Multiple winners of contested matches for the Hawks included Gerry, Eric Glidden (120), Jackson Howarth (152), and Luke Howarth (170).
Marshwood jumped out quickly in both matches. They led the Tigers 57-3, before giving up the final 16 points. Against Sanford, the Hawks led 45-0 before the Spartans registered their first points, a pin at 195 pounds by Andrew Moriarty.
"We didn't wrestle well today," said Sanford coach Nate Smith. "We're young. I have four freshmen in the lineup, so hopefully they learn. It's not that we lost tough matches, we lost against (Biddeford) kids we can beat. We gave a better fight against Marshwood. Sometimes we wrestle at the level of our opponents, instead of wrestling tough against easier teams. We're wrestling kind of loose."
Marshwood had 10 pins against Sanford: Biruk Moore (113, 54 seconds), Glidden (120, 3:30), Owen Foye (126, 5:24), Killian Murphy (132, 1:00), Mason Lynch (138, 1:07), Nick Janes (145, 5:00), Hughes (160, 3:13), Luke Howarth (170, 1:47), Gerry (182, 4:31) and Eric Pratt (220, 2:42).
Jackson Howarth won at 152 over Jake Dexter, 6-0.
"We came out and did the same thing that we always do," Janes said. "We were really aggressive, and then when we get kids on their backs, we keep them there."
Sanford's other win came at 285 when Zach Courcy stopped Marshwood's Jeremy Perschy, 5-2.
Marshwood had six pins against Biddeford, coming from Elliot Allen (113, 3;12), Glidden, Tyler Davidson (126, 1:31), Sam Hebert (138, 3:36), Jackson Howarth (42 seconds) and Luke Howarth (1:25).
Gerry won a tight match over Biddeford's Derek Vermetti, 6-4. He needed a third-period takedown to pull out the win.
"It was close. He's a tough kid," Gerry added.
Marshwood bumped up a few kids and had some JVs wrestle well.
"I thought our guys wrestled well," Marshwood coach Matt Rix said. "Sanford was at that tournament. I think they looked a little tired. I was able to get some JVs in and rest up some kids who were banged from the weekend. They wrestled well. Our JV team took second place over at the Southern Maine Classic on Saturday."
Hughes, last year's outstanding wrestler at the Class A meet, is getting healthier, but is still wrestling with a mask to protect his mouth. He loosened some teeth in the preseason running into a wall.
Marshwood finishes up the regular season Saturday against the host Rams, Massabesic and Noble. On paper it looks like it could be a must-see meet coming one week before the regional meet set for Feb. 2 at Marshwood.
"I'm hearing they're sending their B teams," Rix said. "Those are league matches and they should come first."
Rix was also disappointed that Marshwood did not have scheduled dual meets on a Wednesday with either Noble or Massabesic.
"Those are the duals that we should be having," he said. "When you make a schedule, you say these are the matches that need to happen — just for spectator purposes. It's not doing the sport any good. (Massabesic or Noble) would be a great dual, win or lose."