Brandon Carroll, Brian Smiley and Patrick Kelly each pinned their opponent, and Matt Darling fought hard to prevent a pin to lead Scarborough to a 30-29 victory Saturday over Windham in SMAA wrestling action.
The Red Storm also squared off against Marshwood and Deering, a pair of quality programs, and held their own, winning some matches. The Hawks topped Scarborough, 48-12, while the Rams won 59-18.
“I think in the level of competition, the kids have been making great strides,” said coach Ryan Hutchins, who is in his first year of coaching a program in only its third year at the varsity level. “For the first time we have a couple of kids who could make the state tournament, as long as they continue to work hard, whereas in past years we didn’t have anyone at that level. Now we have to make bigger strides in numbers.”
The squad fields only eight grapplers, but Hutchins sees promise in the near future.
“It’s headed in the right direction,” he said, “and we’ll probably have four or five freshmen next year, where this year we had two. More kids will think about wrestling as a winter sport.”
Carroll, a sophomore who wrestles at 171, is one of the athletes who have the potential to reach the state tournament. In December he won the Bonny Eagle Holiday Tournament.
On Saturday Carroll dropped a match to Marshwood’s Garrett Cooley, but bounced back to top Deering’s Kyle Masse and Windham’s Naveed Ahmady, both via pin.
“I’ve done better than last year. I’ve got quite a bit more wins,” said Carroll. “I definitely want the program to grow, and I think it’ll be a lot bigger next year because we’re getting a lot of freshmen.”
Tony Sciarra, a team captain, said that he likes getting on the mat and giving it everything he’s got, with the outcome dependent on himself alone.
“There’s no one else there,” Sciarra said. “Your teammates help you in practice, but when you come down to it, it’s you.”
In his only match of the day, the Red Storm 103-pound junior pinned Deering’s Chris Muise.
Freshman Brian Smiley won a pair of matches, edging the Rams’ Jacob Fink in a 19-15 decision at 112 pounds and then pinning the Eagles’ Jess Irish. Matt Darling also topped Deering’s Jason Barriault, 13-11, and Patrick Kelly pinned Dan Bickford of Windham.
Hutchins came to the sport by accident in high school and got hooked.
“What drew me is that wrestling is a great mix of individual and team sport,” the coach said, “and it’s a great lesson on how to rely on yourself.”
Hutchins noted that Darling’s individual struggle to avoid being pinned ended up being the difference in his squad’s one-point victory over the Eagles.
“We won a match by a point against Windham because one guy refused to get pinned. You don’t have to win every time to learn a great lesson from the sport.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
