SOUTH BERWICK – If Maine is known for lobster, summer vacations and long winters, Nebraska is equally known for its gently-rolling agricultural fields, diehard college football fans, and the Union Pacific Railroad. But it’s possible that another item should be tacked onto Nebraska’s list – high school wrestling.
Whereas wrestling is a relatively small winter activity in Maine, easily overshadowed by basketball and hockey, Nebraskans are devoted to the sport, and their high school greats participate year-round.
That’s a tradition that hasn’t quite caught on yet in Maine, and it showed yet again this year in the 27th annual Maine-Nebraska Wrestling Exchange. The exchange – 15 Nebraska standouts and three coaches who take turns visiting Maine or hosting a similar group in their own state – wrapped up a week-long tour of the state on Monday at Marshwood High School by taking on wrestlers from southern Maine, including grapplers from Massabesic, Westbrook and Biddeford high schools, and despite having wrestled in three similar mini-tournaments over the last six days, the Nebraska team dominated the results.
“Nebraska kids are definitely tougher to wrestle,” said senior Trent Mertes of Auburn, Neb. “But there still are a lot of good kids in Maine. I didn’t lose throughout this stretch of competitions. Part of the reason I think we have such an upper hand is because we have more population than Maine does – we have four classes instead of three, and more kids to pick from.”
Population certainly might have something to do with it. The state of Nebraska – with just over 1.8 million residents – is just about a third larger than Maine. But the biggest factor in the skill differential, undoubtedly, is that the season never stops for the Cornhuskers.
“One thing that they have as an edge is that they wrestle all year long,” said Glenn Emery, a senior from Westbrook who lost to Nebraska’s Ryan Bauer in a points decision. “I think probably a lot of those kids are year-long wrestlers. Whereas, when you come to Maine, it’s more of a seasonal sport. Before I saw the first matches I imagined that they were going to be a ton more ferocious than us, or that kind of thing – just have more intensity. But we had some good matches, so they are pretty close to us. There is just more skill.”
“It’s kind of like a religion out there,” added Massabesic Assistant Coach Joe Russo, who wrestled in Nebraska when he was in high school. “But I have been here (in Maine) two years and it is starting to grow. The kind of attitude you see towards wrestling is changing: where people are getting more involved, and we’re starting to see more clubs pop up, and more kids get interested in it, which is nice.”
In terms of nitty-gritty on-the-mat tactics, the differences are were a bit harder for the Maine wrestlers to pin down, although they identified some very obvious tactics that the Nebraskans used against them.
“There is a lot more movement from standing,” said Massabesic freshman Tyler Everett, who took home the Class A state title in the under 110-pound weight category. “I did notice that they have very different riding techniques – completely different. Since it’s something different and I am not used to it, it was definitely hard for me to get out of.”
“They just have a lot of tough kids,” added sophomore Deric Vermett of Biddeford. “That’s all they do when they get out there – they come after you. They are patient. They are content just to win by points.”
From the opposing side, Nebraska wrestlers were impressed with the Mainers’ abilities when the latter assumed a more dominant position. Nebraska sophomore Clay Cobb, who Everett took down by points in a thrilling match, said he believed the approach to the sport was completely at odds with that of Nebraska wrestlers.
“Their style is really different for ours,” Cobb said. “We don’t really have a certain area we try to dominate in, we just try to work it from all directions – neutral, top, bottom. If you can get on top of them, you’re in good shape. But they are really good on top, so you don’t ever want them to get on top, because they will turn you.”
As for whether or not they felt like they were more representing their schools or Maine as a whole, responses were unanimous from the local competitors that the state came first.
“I think it’s more for Maine,” Emery said. “I was just cheering on guys that during the season I would have been rooting against. It was kind of funny that way.”
“I know when other people asked about it, I said I was wrestling for Maine,” Everett said. “It’s kind of a state team thing. But it did feel good to win while wearing school colors.”
For local schools, individual results were as follows: Everett defeated Cobb 2-1; Massabesic junior and two-time state champion Ethan Gilman fell to Mertes 7-5; Emery was defeated by Bauer 6-0; Massabesic senior Peter LePage lost to Eric Knight 5-4; fellow Mustang senior Justin Dumond fell to Jacob Oertle 3-1; Massabesic senior Colby Adams was defeated by Jake Brown via a pin with seconds to go in the third round; Manny Vincent of Westbrook was defeated by Cody Merchant in the second round with a pin, and Vermett lost to Seth Clafin 6-2.
Out of breath just after his match but still all smiles, Vermett was resolute when asked if he would consider traveling to Nebraska next summer.
“Yeah, I definitely want to go,” he said. “I expect wrestling like this during the off season is going to help us during the regular season big-time.”
“Watching this today, I think that in the next couple of years we’re going to be able to catch them, and this event will be more competitive,” added Russo.
Tyler Everett’s match against Nebraska sophomore Clay Cobb was
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