Saturday’s Western Class A regional wrestling may have turned into a two-team showdown by the time the finals rolled around, but, in the shadows, teams not named Noble or Massabesic were settling for smaller victories.
When the points were added up, Noble had beaten Massabesic, 180.5-160, with Bonny Eagle finishing third (79). Looking deeper than those point totals, though, you’ll see that 56 wrestlers – at least one from each of the 14 schools represented – qualified for next week’s state meet in Bangor.
Bonny Eagle coach Brooks Clark wasn’t happy with the way his team started the day, but the Scots bounced back to place six wrestlers in the state meet.
“We didn’t wrestle the first round particularly well, but we’ve come back in the consolations,” he said. “It was just, I don’t know, the importance of the event and so forth, thinking about it all year long, a lot of youth. But I hope today helps us (get ready for the state meet.)”
The Scots got consolation finals wins from Dalton Groeger (103), Jack Lovell (130) and Jared Stiles (145). Dan Santos (125) and Max Dunzik both qualified by making it to the consolation finals, and Bobby Dedovic (119) got in by virtue of his second-place finish.
Dedovic pinned Scarborough’s Pat Kelly in the quarterfinals. He then went on to beat Noble’s Jake Badger in overtime (7-2) to advance to the finals against Deering’s Allen Stein. Dedovic’s run came to an end with an 8-2 loss in the finals.
As the consolation matches were getting underway, Westbrook coach Brandon Judkins was optimistic about his team’s chances to send multiple wrestlers to the state meet.
“Our goal was probably to send at least four kids to states, so hopefully we will,” he said.
At the time, the Blue Blazes had Alex Emery (145), Andrew Howe (152), Ray Barnhart (171) and Tony Gato (215) in the consolation semis. As it turned out, Howe was the only wrestler to advance. He beat Biddeford’s Josh Scott, and then took down Noble’s Heath DeVoll with a 5-2 decision to claim third place and a spot at states.
Scarborough coach Ryan Hutchins didn’t have a specific number in mind, he just wanted to send a wrestler to the state meet.
“Scarborough’s never sent anyone to states before, so our goal was to break that barrier,” said Hutchins.
Mission accomplished. Tony Sciarra (103) qualified with his fourth-place finish. He lost to Bonny Eagle’s Groeger, 10-4, in the consolation finals. The Red Storm had a chance to get a second wrestler in at 171, but Brandon Carroll couldn’t get past Sanford’s Russell Gray in the semis.
Hutchins is excited about the program’s future.
“This is only our third year with a varsity program, so we’re dealing with a numbers issue all year long, but the kids that we’ve had, even though we’re dealing with a numbers issue, they really have started to bond and build a solid nucleus,” he said. “We don’t have any seniors right now so everyone will be back next year. So we can build on the success that we had this year.”
Jonathan Lavallee knows what it’s like to be dealing with a numbers issue. Because Cape Elizabeth doesn’t have a team, Lavallee, a junior, and his brother Nathaniel, a freshman, both wrestle with Biddeford.
Jonathan wrestled with Scarborough last year, but moved over to Biddeford when Ted Reese left for Bonny Eagle.
“I decided to go to Biddeford because my brother wrestled down there and he knew all the kids and the kids were nice, so it would be an easier transition for me,” he said.
The move paid off. Jonathan (275) finished fourth to earn a spot at the state meet, while his brother Nathaniel (215) also finished fourth.
“There (was) kind of a lot of pressure because my dad already rented hotel rooms up there expecting us to win,” said Jonathan.
Thornton Academy’s Alex Decker also wrestles with the Biddeford team – even if kids at school sometimes think he’s a traitor. Decker advanced to the finals in the 130-pound weight class, but lost to Noble’s Ben Lewis, 11-2.
“It’s pretty cool, my first time going to states as a freshman,” he said.
Windham coach Chris O’Brien was hoping to get three wrestlers to the state tournament, and when Matt Larrivee (130) and Justin Woodbury (189) won their consolation semifinal matches the Eagles, had done just that. Heavyweight Tony Kostopolous, who was already in the finals, beat Kennebunk’s Matt Foley, 5-1, to become the regional champion.
“It’s just been long days of practice,” said O’Brien. “We’ve got to get them physically ready. They’ve been there before, at long tournaments, so they knew what to expect.”
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