BUCKSPORT — Wells rode its depth to its first Class B state wrestling championship in 21 years Saturday at Bucksport High School.
The Warriors, the South regional champion, qualified 12 wrestlers for the state meet and 10 of them scored at the state meet.
Wells scored 100 points to easily win their first title since 1996. Ellsworth and Winslow tied for second with 73.5, followed by Mountain Valley 70, Foxcroft Academy 69 and Dirigo 63.5.
“We wrestled well today, all of my kids did,” Wells Coach Scott Lewia said. “They’ve worked all season, and you can’t ask for anymore than that.”
The Warriors had a 14.5-point lead over Ellsworth going into the consolation finals. They increased their edge to 23.5 after six of their wrestlers won in that round.
“That’s where we usually don’t do well is in that round, and it was like a perfect round,” Lewia said.
Added Foxcroft Academy Coach Luis Ayala: “(Wells has) been on top all year, and they came and proved today why they’ve been on top all year. We’ve gone to tournaments with them and they’ve done well, so we knew they were going to be tough to handle, and they really stepped it up.”
The Warriors’ only individual title came when Nolan Potter scored a first-round pin over Billy Brock, a two-time state champion from Foxcroft Academy at 182 pounds, in the 195-pound division.
“At the beginning of the year I didn’t think we had enough to win,” Lewia said. “I only have two seniors so I looked at this as a building year. About a month ago, I realized we could do it.”
Oak Hill’s Danny Buteau was named the meet’s outstanding wrester.
Buteau rolled to a 9-1 victory over R.J. Nelson of Foxcroft Academy in the finals of the 132-pound division to capture his fourth consecutive state championship. He became the only the 23rd wrestler from Maine to accomplish that feat.
Ellsworth’s Trent Goodman pinned all three of his opponents to run his record to 38-0 and capture the 170-pound title. He did not allow a point to be score against him this season.
Ellsworth’s Peyton Cole ran his record to 37-0 when he registered a 6-0 decision over Hunter White of Dirigo in the 152-pound final
Ryan Fredette, a junior from Winslow, won his third state title when he scored a second-period pin over Nolan Degroot of Dirigo in the 182-pound final. The previous two seasons, Fredette was the state champion at 170.
Mountain Valley’s Caleb Austin won the 126-pound title and increased his career win total to 202.
Other individual champions were Justin Wing of Dexter at 106, Brenden Bruns of Belfast at 113, Devon Vigue of Winslow at 120, Ethan Boucher of Mountain Valley at 138, Tyler Beam of Dexter at 145, Bryce Whittemore of Dirigo 160, Seth Padelford of Madison at 220 and freshman David Gross of Bucksport at 285.
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