By Mike Whaley
Marshwood senior Brett Gerry, top, is gunning for his third state title, while the Hawks are looking for a fourth consecutive Class A crown. (Whaley/Democrat photo)
SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — The road to the Maine Class A wrestling state championship today at Mt. Ararat High School will go through Marshwood High School.
The Hawks dominated last Saturday’s regional event, which they hosted, winning their fourth straight title (242 points to 218 for second-place Noble). Now they set their sights on a fourth consecutive Class A crown.
“If Marshwood wrestles like they did Saturday, it won’t matter what we do,” said Noble coach Kip DeVoll.
Maybe. Maybe not.
The Knights had a very good regional performance, highlighted by a trio of regional crowns, all from sophomores. All told, Noble had 11 wrestlers advance, and eight were underclassmen.
Contrast that with Marshwood, which advanced 13 wrestlers, including six seniors. Five Hawks won regional titles.
Today’s championship starts at 9:30 a.m. with preliminary matches. To beat tonight’s blizzard, the consolation and championship finals will be run simultaneously starting around 2:30 or 3 p.m.
“We got the kids we really needed to advance,” said Marshwood coach Matt Rix.
Zac Schluntz, back, is one of 11 Noble wrestlers competing at the Maine Class A championship today in Topsham. (Whaley/Democrat photo)
The five regional winners were seniors Cody Hughes (170 pounds), Jackson Howarth (160) and Brett Gerry (182), sophomore Bradley Beaulieu (126) and freshman Kyle Glidden (106). Hughes’ title, his fourth straight, included his 200th career win. He has 201, and should break the state record today of 203 held by first-year Noble assistant coach Peter Bronder. Bronder wrestled for the Knights from 2005 to 2009.
Hughes and Howarth are going for their fourth straight state titles, while Gerry is eyeing his third in a row. Hughes is unbeaten in Maine.
Other teams to watch in Marshwood’s shadow are Noble and third-place Massabesic from the West, and Eastern champ Skowhegan.
On the Noble side, the sophomore trio of Austin Shorey (120), Bailey Coull (132) and Josh Grenier (138) claimed regional crowns. Four other Knights were runners-ups. Seven of the team’s scoring wrestlers were sophomores and freshmen.
“We knew we had a good group of younger kids,” DeVoll said. “They’ve gotten good leadership from the seniors.
After three subpar state showings since winning the 2011 title, Noble is hoping to be in the championship mix today.
“We’ve talked about it,” DeVoll said. “For whatever reason we didn’t do well once we got there those other times. We were doing fine up until then. We have the talent to do well.”
Two seniors, Robert Worell (195) and Jamal Durrani (182) lost their consolation final matches by injury default, but DeVoll expects them to be back at it today.
“We need to catch some breaks,” DeVoll said. “You’ve got that many kids it’s easy to catch some. Once things happen your way it seems to snowball. We know we’ve got to get going right off.”
Noble’s four runners-up were freshman Eric Pilcher (285), sophomore Jake Martel (126), junior Otto Keisker, and senior Zac Schluntz (220).
Marshwood really controls its own destiny. Rix noted that at last year’s state meet, 10 Marshwood wrestlers won first-round matches by pin, so double the points.
“We made a statement in the first round,” Rix said. “It puts everybody on guard. It’s all about the momentum.
Rix sees tough competition for some of his guys coming from Skowhegan at 106 and 126 with the Craig brothers, Cody and Tyler. Tyler Craig, at 126, is going for his fourth straight state title. Beaulieu, who wrestled last year and won at 120, bumped up to 126 because Rix felt it was a tougher weight class and they had no one else who could make the grade like Beaulieu.
“We knew Brad would come through,” Rix said.
Although Connor Lapointe (120), Killian Murphy (132), Sam Hebert (145) and Justin Stacy (152) all had subpar performances last Saturday, Rix feels they could elevate today.
“We’re wondering whose going to be our Shamus McManus this year,” Rix said.
McManus was the surprise of last year’s tournament. A three-year JV wrestler, his first-ever tournament win was a state title at 145. He received the event’s top wrestler award.
“The first matches are tough for everybody,” Rix said. “Sometimes No. 1 overlooks No. 4.”
Rix is comfortable with Hughes and Gerry, but did note that Howarth only beat Mt. Ararat’s Robert Heatherman (Eastern champ at 160) by one point at the Essex Junction (Vt.) tournament.
Since Bonny Eagle won the 1996-97 Class A crown, it’s been either Marshwood, Noble or Massabesic at the top. Noble won 11 of 13 championships from 1998 to 2011, including eight straight at one stretch.