Westbrook won its first team tournament championship since 2003 at the Tiger Invitational in Gardiner Saturday.

The Blue Blazes had three individual tournament champions, two second-place finishes and two thirds. With 134.5 points, they edged second-place Erskine Academy (132.5) and third-place Mt. Blue (112.5).

“We went in just planning on wrestling well,” said first-year Westbrook coach Ryan Hutchins. “I knew the kids would do well, but winning it was awesome. Everyone pulled together and every point mattered. The kids really stepped it up and rebounded from a rough performance last Wednesday and responded with a great deal of heart and came out on top.”

Westbrook led the tournament heading into the late rounds, but fell behind during the consolations.

“We had five wrestlers heading to the finals, but unlike the other teams near the top, we did not have many in the consolation rounds where most teams pick up a lot of points,” Hutchins said. “Erskine Academy did just that and moved ahead of us, while Mt. Blue, Cony and Morse all moved in closer.”

Trailing by 14 points heading into the finals Westbrook needed three wins of its own, some bonus points and some losses by Erskine. They got just that.

Senior captain Andrew Howe pinned Adam DelGallo of Gardiner in the 152-pound division and fellow captain Ray Barnhart did the same to Erskine’s Alex Wood at 171. Sam Gato was victorious at 215, defeating Dave Atchison of Erskine.

The championship was Howe’s second of the season. Barnhart and Gato’s tourney titles were their first.

Freshman Harrison Strondak (125) finished second, losing in the finals to two-time state runner up Sam Webber of Mount Blue at 125 pounds. Nick Marchant (160) fell in the finals to Cony’s TJ Vallee.

Crucial to Westbrook’s championship were wins in the consolation finals – third-place finishes – by freshman Andrew Drouin and junior Danny Redmond. Both were victorious with pins, worth two bonus points.

“The four extra points they picked up were critical to keeping us within striking distance of first,” Hutchins said.

Also helping Westbrook were senior Matt Larrivee and freshman Caleb Depalma. Neither placed, but Larrivee had a pin and Depalma got a win – his first in high school – to contribute points.

Freshman Kyle Watts, who just started wrestling last Monday, only lost to the tournament champion and the third-place finishers.

“We are a young team and are just getting to really know each other,” Hutchins said. “It’s tough to tell how they will react to situations. They showed me a lot about who they are and what Westbrook wrestling has to look forward to in the future.

“We are very proud of them. It’s a long season, and there will always be ups and downs for any team, but Saturday was a good day to build from and I know we will have more days like it in the future.”

Westbrook will host an alumni meet on Friday, Dec. 29, at 6 p.m. in the school gymnasium. Any Westbrook wrestling alumni is welcome to attend.

*****

The Bonny Eagle wrestling team took part in a quad-meet this past weekend with Marshwood, Sanford, and Traip Academy.

The Scots easily defeated Class C Traip by a 51-18 score; they edged Sanford 42-36; and they tied an always tough Marshwood team 36-36.

Several Scots earned wins against Marshwood: Dalton Groeger won by pin at 103, Bobby Dedovic won by pin at 130, Jared Stiles won by decision at 145 (7-4), Max Alfiero won by decision at 152 (11-10), Tyler Meikle won by pin at 215, and Dan Avery won by pin at 285.

Groeger went up a weight class to win by in at 112 against Sanford; Dedovic earned a pin with five seconds left in his 130 match; Max Dunzik won by pin at 135; Stiles won by pin at 145; Alfiero won by pin at 152; and Leyte earned a pin at 189.

Alfiero, Stiles, Dedovic, and Groeger all went 3-0 in non-forfeit matches.