WELLS — The Marshwood Hawks cruised to the team title at the annual Atlantic Invitational on Saturday, but the host Wells Warriors were able to pull off a comeback to finish second as a team.
The Warriors crowned four champions — including Most Outstanding Wrestling Jonah Potter — as they rallied past rival Kennebunk to finish in second place.
Marshwood won the title with 165 points, while Wells was second with 123.5 and Kennebunk finished third at 123.
Wells was able to complete the comeback thanks to a 4-for-4 performance in the finals.
“That’s probably one of the best finals we’ve ever had in this tournament. Four in the finals, two of them were freshman, and then Jonah’s only a sophomore, so three underclassmen,” said Wells coach Scott Lewia.
The strong finals showing started with freshman Michael Ducharme picking up a 10-9 decision over Mountain Valley’s Grant Carrier at 106 pounds.
In the 113-pound final, Danny Marquis pinned Kennebunk’s Sean Radel to grab some crucial team points.
Wells senior Nathan Curtis kept the Warriors’ hot streak going with a first-period pin of Kennebunk standout freshman Trevor Fecko at 170 pounds. Curtis was honored with the Sean Sheehy Award given to the top Wells wrestler.
Potter capped off a strong tournament with a third-period fall over Marshwood standout Dylan Strong at 182 pounds.
“It’s huge for him. I think he knows now that he can compete with that upper level,” said Lewia on Potter beating Strong, who was a Class A state runner-up last season.
“That was huge for me because he’s such a great wrestler. I knew going into the match that obviously he’s got a ton of experience under his belt and it felt really good to pull off a win,” added Potter.
While Potter was thrilled to do his part on Saturday, the sophomore credited teammate Morgan Welch-Thompson with helping the Warriors grab the runner-up finish.
“Morgan Welch-Thompson beat a Kennebunk kid at the end which was huge for us,” said Potter of Welch-Thompson’s 8-6 decision over Kennebunk’s Chase Lamontagne in the 220-pound third-place match.
The third-place Rams were led by Alden Shields, who won the title at 126 pounds with a pin of Marshwood’s Carsen Goodwin.
Radel, Garrett Dickinson (120), David York (132) and Fecko all finished second for Kennebunk, which got a third-place finish from Eli Soule (106) and fourth-place finishes from Cam Fenderson (145) and Lamontagne.
Biddeford, which finished eighth as a team, got a first-place finish from Devon Whitmore at 152 pounds. Josiah Garcia finished second at 138 pounds and Coby Downs was fourth at 120.
Other champions on Saturday were Marshwood’s Sean Moriarty (120), Aydin Rix-McElhinney (132), Liam Coomey (138) and David Spinney (145); Medomak’s Elias Miller (160) and Erik Brenner (220), Mountain Valley’s Darin Buono (195) and Nokomis’ James Boyd (285).
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 780-9017. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.