Skowhegan's Samson Sirois, Gardiner's Peter DelGallo among wrestlers heading to New Englands
BY STEVE CRAIG PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
SANFORD — The Maine qualifier for the New England wrestling tournament was created to make sure the state’s best wrestlers made it to the meet.
Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium, the tournament also provided second chances.
Six wrestlers who did not win state class titles won individual crowns and will be Maine’s top seed at the New Englands on March 6-7 at North Andover (Massachusetts) High: Samson Sirois of Skowhegan (113 pounds), Aiden Whitis of Cheverus (132), Justin Stacy of Marshwood (152), Maliek Geiger of Oxford Hills (182), Trevor Henschel of Fryeburg Academy (195) and Pierce Knorr of Mt. Ararat (285).
Bradley Beaulieu, the Class A champ at 126, beat three-time Class B and 2013 New England champ Peter DelGallo 2-1 in three overtimes.
With loud bipartisan vocal support as background, Beaulieu held his top position — called “riding out” — for the entire 30-second third overtime to earn the decisive point.
“I’ve been working on riding with Cody Hughes in practice,” Beaulieu said. “It hasn’t been strength but I knew if I could ride Cody I could ride anyone in the state.”
His other point came when DelGallo was called for stalling.
It was DelGallo’s first loss to a Maine wrestler and just the third of his high school career. Last season DelGallo beat Beaulieu in three close matches.
“I’m not in as good a shape as I wanted to be,” DelGallo said. “I didn’t want to stall. The problem was I wrestled his way. He tries to keep it close and then win the last point, make the late move.”
DelGallo, coming back from an elbow injury, edged Skowhegan’s Tyler Craig, 4-3, in the semifinal. Craig earned his 200th career win in the consolation final.
Stacy shocked unbeaten Dominick Day of Biddeford with a reversal and two back points in the final five seconds to win 7-5. Stacy finished third at the regional and state meets, losing 15-5 to Day at the states.
Day broke a 3-3 tie with a takedown with 40 seconds to go, then tried to turn Stacy to his back.
“That’s a sign of him being a good wrestler. He’s always pushing it. That’s why (Day) took sixth at New Englands last year,” Stacy said. “But it did give me a chance. It was a good thing he didn’t stall.”
Henschel avenged his Class B final loss in his home gym to Kalo Littlejohn of Camden Hills with a second-period pin.
“I felt like I let everyone and myself down last week,” Henschel said. “I didn’t even think I would wrestle today until Wednesday and then I just decided that would be a stupid way to go out. I’m thankful I didn’t skip this meet.”
Several wrestlers did not attend. None of the potential 12-man brackets were filled. The 120-pound division had the most with 10.
Knorr, like Stacy, had finished third at both the regional and state tournament. He upset Class A runner-up Elias Younes of Cony 2-1, then pinned his next two opponents.
“I guess I decided to dig deep. Or maybe I had a good day today,” Knorr said.
Sirois beat Scarborough’s Jeremy Sendrowski, 8-6. Sendrowski beat him 8-5 in a Class A final.
Whitis had finished fourth at the Class A meet. He won his final by injury default.
Geiger did not get a second chance at beating Marshwood’s Brett Gerry in his final. Gerry defaulted due to injury. Gerry is expected to be back for New Englands as one of the seven Marshwood wrestlers advancing.
Hughes, the four-time champ, rolled to the 170-pound title and was named the Dennis Bishop Outstanding Wrestler.
“I really think (the OW) should have been Justin Stacy,” Hughes said. “He was the outstanding wrestler on our team.”
Also winning to back up state titles were Cody Craig of Skowhegan (106), Austin Shorey of Noble (120), Zeko Caudill of Cony (138), Dagen Berenyi of Ellsworth (145), Jackson Howarth of Marshwood (160), and Michael Curtis of Wells (220)
Howarth, the four-time Class A champ and unbeaten this season, needed a late reversal to edge Mt. Ararat sophomore Robert Heatherman, 7-5. Curtis remained unbeaten with a decisive pin of Class A champ Mike Risti of Massabesic.