The Falcons collect four individual titles on the way to a runaway victory.
BY JOHN SWASEYSPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM
Fryeburg Academy’s Patrick Duffy, back, has a firm hold on Justin Studholme of Erskine Academy during their match in the 138-pound division. Duffy helped the Raiders finish in a tie for second place.
WELLS — Led by four individual champions and eight qualifiers for the state championships, Mountain Valley easily won the Western Class B wrestling regional Saturday.
The Falcons finished with 154.5 points, well ahead of Fryeburg Academy and Erskine Academy, which tied for second with 99 points.
“Very talented group. They kept it together the last couple weeks,” Mountain Valley Coach Gary Dolloff said of his team, which also won the Mid-State League championship last weekend.
Mountain Valley’s Ethan Boucher, the reigning Class B state champion at 120 pounds, needed just 51 seconds to pin Erskine’s Cameron Glass in the final. Other regional champs for the Falcons were Brandon Gill at 132, Dakota Jacques at 138 and Ian Austin at 182.
Jacques won a 6-3 decision over Justin Studholme of Erskine.
“The (final) was by far the toughest. the kid was very good on his feet, and very strong, too,” Jacques said of his three matches.
Coyote Freeman took second place for Mountain Valley in the 285-pound division, and Eddie DeRoche finished second at 126. Mike Provencher (145) and Issac Therrien (152) finished third.
The top four wrestlers in each weight class qualified for the state meet next Saturday at Fryeburg Academy.
Connor Smith (145) and Trevor Henschel (195) won regional championships for Fryeburg. Henschel was a state champ last year in the 182-pound division.
Erskine’s lone champion was Zach Isbell, who will be seeking his second straight state title in the 160-pound division.
Wells’ Michael Curtis, a two-time state champion, earned his fourth consecutive Western Maine title with a technical fall against Nathaniel Beckwith of Winslow in the 220-pound class.
Oak Hill finished fourth with 94.5 points and had two individual champions: Danny Buteau (106) and Logan Childs (285). Buteau, a reigning state champion, pinned Jordan Douglass of Morse in the final. Childs took down Freeman 2:32 into the 285-pound final.
Oak Hill’s Zach Cloutier fell to Devin Vigue of Winslow in the 113-pound final by an 8-1 decision.
Other individual champs were Peter Del Gallo of Gardiner at 126, Josh Smith of York at 152 and Ryan Fredette of Winslow at 170.
Smith rolled through the 152-pound class, ending with a pin of Morse’s Hunter Reed. Del Gallo, a two-time state champion in the 113-pound class, recorded a pin just 1:17 into the 126 final, and Fredette pinned Connor Elsemore of York with just 22 seconds left.
An error in seeding forced some matches to be redone and resulted in a longer day for all involved.
“We talked about it as a team. We got together before for the finals and talked about staying focused,” said Dolloff.