
Wells senior Nathan Curtis stands on top of the podium after winning the 170-pound title at the Class B state wrestling tournament on Saturday at Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln. Studio on the Hill by Sue DeGroot
LINCOLN — The Wells Warriors continued to dominant the Maine Class B wrestling world on Saturday as they cruised to their third straight team championship at Mattanawcook Academy.
Three Wells wrestlers captured individual championships to help the Warriors rack up 161.5 points, which was well ahead of second-place Dexter (99) and third-place Medomak Valley (89.5).
“I think it makes the kids realize that the hard work they put in pays off,” said Wells coach Scott Lewia on winning a third straight title.
Freshman Travis Foster, sophomore Jonah Potter and senior Nathan Curtis would all climb to the top of the podium on Saturday as individual champions.
“It was pretty fun and exciting to be a part of it,” said Foster on winning both an individual and team crown.

Wells’ Travis Foster celebrates his 126-pound state title on top of the podium on Saturday. Studio on the Hill by Sue DeGroot
Foster would avenge a loss to Lisbon/Oak Hill’s Jack Tibbetts in the 126-pound final as the freshman rolled to a 15-0 technical fall win in Saturday’s title match.
“I was focused. I was mentally prepared for the match … I wasn’t going to lose again,” said Foster, who was pinned by Tibbetts in the regional final.
Lewia was impressed with his freshman standout’s performance.
“That was huge. He wrestled awesome. He really just went right at him and didn’t stop,” said Lewia.
Potter made his second straight trip to the finals and this time around he was able to bring home the title.
“I remember last year thinking, ‘just get to the finals.’ And this year it was more like ‘alright, you’re in the finals, lets win it,’” said Potter, who fell to four-time state and 2018 New England champion Ryan Fredette of Winslow last year.
Potter’s pin of Lisbon/Oak Hill’s Cam Bourget in the 182-pound final would put him in the exclusive state champion club with his older brother, Nolan, who won a pair of titles for the Warriors.
“That was a really cool feeling, especially with Nolan there,” said Potter.
Lewia was thrilled to see Potter cap off the Warriors’ day with a championship.
“He wrestled great. It was a good way to end the day. Jonah was the last one to wrestle for us and it kind of put an exclamation point on the whole day,” said Lewia.
While the Potter brothers are now in the state championship club together, they weren’t the first set of siblings to pull off that feat.
That honor would go to Curtis, who pinned Lisbon/Oak Hill’s Daniel Bolton in the 170-pound final to win his first championship and join his brother — three-time state champion Michael Curtis — on the list of state champs from Wells.

Wells sophomore Jonah Potter stands on top of the podium after winning the 182-pound Class B state title on Saturday. Studio on the Hill by Sue DeGroot
“That was an awesome feeling. I had my whole family there and my brother (Michael) played a big role in that. He was talking to me before all my matches. I just didn’t want to leave without a title. It’s kind of cool to have the first set of brothers on the board at our school for state titles,” said Curtis.
Lewia was happy to see Curtis win a title in his final opportunity.
“It was huge. He’s had a really good year. He’s kind of been on top the whole year … just to put it all together and end his senior year going out on top was extra special,” Lewia said.
The Warriors would get runner-up finishes from three standouts as Mikey Ducharme (106), Danny Marquis (113) and Jacob Scott (120) would all end the day in second place.
The six finalists will be joined at this Saturday’s New England Qualifier by third-place finishers Josh Burgess (132) and Morgan Welch-Thompson (195) and fourth-place finisher Evan Cash (160).
The three championship performances were key to Wells winning the team title, but one major reason why the Warriors have their third straight crown is their success in the early rounds.
The Warriors won nine of 12 matches in the opening round, including eight by pin.
“That put us up by 18 and we just never looked back. It was like round after round after round we did the job that we should have done,” said Lewia, who got team points from all 12 of his state qualifiers.
“It was huge. The past couple years it has been pretty tight going into each round … right off the bat this year we had several pins. It gave us an early lead and we just kind of kept the ball rolling,” added Curtis.
The nine Warriors will compete in the New England Qualifier at Oxford Hills High School on Saturday. The top three from that meet will advance to the New England Championships in Providence.
“The goal is to always go out there and wrestle the best I can, but definitely the goal for me is I want to go to New Englands and keep wrestling for as long as I can,” said Potter.
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 780-9017. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.
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