Oceanside’s Maddie Ripley, top, advanced to the final of the 113-pound division at the Class B state championships last year before losing to Mattanawcook Academy’s Deegan Tidswell. This year, she enters the state meet as one of the favorites in the 106-pound division as she tries to become the first Maine girl to win a title at the open state championships. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
As so often happens when it comes to high school wrestling in Maine, many of the story lines entering the Class A and B championship meets Saturday have family connections.
Perhaps most prominent are the Ripley twins, who will represent Oceanside in the Class B meet at Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln.
Maddie Ripley, the South champ at 106 pounds, is vying to become the first girl in Maine to win an individual state title in the open tournament. A junior, Ripley was the Class B runner-up last season at 113 pounds. She is 36-3 this season after edging Nick Allen of Wells in the regional final, 4-1. Her only loss this season at 106 pounds was to Class A North champ Brody Simons of Hampden Academy.
While Maddie Ripley tries to make history, her brother, Gavin, will be looking for his second Class B crown, wrestling at 132 pounds after winning at 126 last season. He’ll have to get past Dyllan Davis of Wells for a second straight week. Ripley pinned Davis with 38 seconds left in the regional final.
Davis and his step-brother, Karter Crosby (126-pound regional champ), are key members of a loaded Wells team. The Warriors won the Class B South regional with 244.5 points. York was a distant second with 128. Wells qualified 11 wrestlers for the state meet, including regional champs Crosby, Calvin Chase (120), Griffin Brickett (138), Brody Maxon (145) and Eli Potter. Brickett is a two-time state champ. Wells also had five wrestlers place second at regionals: Allen, Davis, Dominic Capello (160), Isiah Martinez (220) and Nathan Malloy (285).
The Class A meet will be held at Sanford High, and the host Spartans, who were second to Noble in the South regional, have an outside chance at the team title.
But on paper, it looks like it will come down to Noble or North champion Camden Hills. Both qualified nine wrestlers. Noble had four regional champs; Camden had three. There’s a possibility of Noble vs. Camden Hills championship finals at 126 and 138 pounds. At 126 pounds, Julian Henderson of Camden Hills was the North champion and won the 120-pound state title last year. Noble counters with South champ Cody Marchand. In the 138-pound division, Noble’s Kaden Dustin and Camden’s Michael Rollins are regional champions.
Camden’s other regional champion is Landon Pease at 132 pounds. Noble’s other regional champions are freshman Brady Ouellette (106) and senior Derek Cote (152). Cote is a two-time state champion who will be trying to match his older brother, Josh , who won three state championships from 2018-20 and was a senior when the 2020-21 season was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Derek Cote was a sophomore that year.
Standing in Derek Cote’s way could be North champ Dash Farrell of Mt. Ararat/Brunswick, the younger brother of senior Shea Farrell, the North champ at 170 pounds. Shea Farrell has been a top performer for Mt. Ararat since his freshman year, when he was the state runner-up at 132 pounds – to Josh Cote. Last season, he was third at 160 pounds. This year, Shea Farrell has been among the top wrestlers in the state since recovering from a football injury. In his first two tournaments of the year, he rolled to titles at the Noble Invitational and the Spartan Wrestling Annual Tournament in Sanford.
Windham/Gray-New Gloucester/Westbrook finished second in the North team standings, just 12 points behind Camden Hills. Windham features Ayden Cofone, a sophomore looking for his second state title at 120 pounds, and Scott Ingalls, who won the 182-pound regional title.
The top four finishers in both the Class A and Class B championships are eligible for the New England Qualifier next Friday at Camden Hills. In between the open state tournaments and the NEQ, Wells will host the girls’ individual championships on Tuesday.
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