Isaac Boulard of Massabesic checks the clock while keeping control of Owen Gray of Noble in a 113-pound consolation bout Saturday during the Class A South regional at Kennebunk High. Steve Craig photo
KENNEBUNK — Noble High’s wrestling team went into the Class A South regional with a best-scenario plan.
The Knights met their own expectations Saturday to win the regional title and also set themselves up with the best chance among southern Maine teams to claim the state championship next Saturday at Sanford High.
“All our coaches told us exactly what we needed to do, and I felt each and every piece did an excellent job of completing their assignments,” said Noble senior Derek Cote, the 152-pound champion.
“I think it was even more than planned, to be honest,” said Cody Marchand, a Noble junior who won the 126-pound division with a first-period pin against Sanford’s Gabe Roberge. “For me, it was pretty nice to finally win a final. This was my fourth final this year and I’ve been second so many times, and I’m proud I could finish.”
Also winning individual titles for Noble were Brady Ouellette at 106 (first-period pin) and Kaden Dustin at 138. Dustin beat Bonny Eagle senior Trevor Perkins, 9-3.
Noble scored 176 points and had nine wrestlers qualify for the state meet by placing in the top four.
Sanford finished second with 157 points and will have six wrestlers advancing, including three individual champions. James Blood battled through an apparent leg injury and a tough effort from Biddeford/Thornton Academy’s Austin Sirois to pull out an 11-6 win at 113 pounds. Angel Zea won at 182 pounds with a first-period pin in the final. At 132, James Chaplick defeated Domenick Smith of Biddeford/Thornton, 5-1.
For Chaplick, the win was especially satisfying.
“This year, I kept losing matches that I should win, or that in my opinion I believed I should win,” said Chaplick said, who thought he was being overpowered by stronger wrestlers in those defeats. Chaplick said he’s been hitting the weight room and doing extra training.
“Hard work pays off,” he said.
Massabesic placed third with 150 points and will send seven wrestlers to states. But coming off an impressive win at the Class A Team Duals a week earlier, the Mustangs were looking for a stronger performance.
“It was a rough day. We had matches not go our way that we should have won,” said Massabesic Coach Joe Eon.
Among the tough losses was at 113 pounds in the consolation semifinals. Isaac Boulard, the third seed, had already lost earlier than expected on an injury default because he was not feeling well. Then, in a tight consolation semifinal, against Noble’s Owen Gray – the match that determines who will be going to states – Boulard had to stop because of illness. He resumed the match and persevered to win 4-2 despite two other injury stoppages, but after a lengthy discussion between coaches and referees, it was determined that Boulard had lost because of using too many injury timeouts.
Massabesic did have three individual champions. Nicholas Chenard controlled the action from start to finish to beat Sanford’s Mason Van Geisen, 4-0, in the 120-pound final. At 16o, Dom Bubar held on despite being docked two points for stalling in the third period, beating Kennebunk’s Tucker Kennedy, 4-2. Jared Breton won the 220-pound title with a pin over Bonny Eagle’s Kaden Cyr.
Kennebunk, the defending regional champion, had another strong showing in its home gym, putting seven wrestlers into the state meet while placing fourth with 135 points.
Rams senior Owen Bourque capped the meet with a first-period pin in the 285-pound class. Bourque, coming off a two-week absence because of a concussion, ran his in-state record to 23-0.
“It felt good to win in my gym for the last time this season,” Bourque said.
One of the highlights of a day of competitive wrestling came in the 195-pound class when Deering juniot Pedro Lombi was able to knock off the top seed, previously unbeaten Canton Hill of Sanford, securing a 6-3 win with a late takedown. Deering placed 10th among 13 teams, but after scoring a single point last season, the Rams scored 40 this year.
Lombi, a second-year wrestler, is Deering’s first regional champion since Chris Solo in 2017. He said he had studied the video of his two earlier losses to Hill.
Other individual champions were Cody Bubier of Marshwood at 145 and Henry Spencer of Portland/South Portland at 170.
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