FRYEBURG — The Wells High wrestling team captured its third straight Class B South regional championship in dominant fashion on Saturday as the Warriors crowned five champions and qualified 11 wrestlers for the state meet.
“We have never done it before,” said Wells coach Scott Lewia on winning three straight regional titles. “I thought this year was going to be a little bit of a rebuilding year and we actually scored more points than we did last year and the year before. Even with five new teams in our region, the kids just stepped up to the challenge and wrestled really well.”
Leading the way for the Warriors were champions Mikey Ducharme, Jacob Scott, Josh Burgess, Nathan Curtis and Jonah Potter.
Ducharme spent under three minutes on the mat at regionals as he won the 106-pound title. The freshman standout pinned Fryeburg’s Graham Blood in the finals.
Scott, a junior, scored a pair of pins on his way to the 120-pound final. He would then pick up a 5-2 decision over Mt. Valley’s Matt Miles to earn the title.
At 132 pounds, Burgess would fight to the championship from the No. 2 seed. The junior picked up an 8-7 win over top seed Zoe Buteau of Lisbon/Oak Hill in the title match.
Curtis won the regional crown at 170 pounds with a 2-1 win over Lisbon/Oak Hill’s Daniel Bolton. The senior earned a pair of pins to reach the finals.
Potter was dominant at 182 pounds as he pinned his way to the title. The sophomore ended his championship run by sticking Lisbon/Oak Hill’s Cam Bourget in the finals.
Travis Foster (126), Devin Chace (145), Evan Cash (160) and Morgan Welch-Thompson (195) all came home with second-place finishes.
The Warriors will also send Danny Marquis (113) and Devin Bickford (220) to the state meet as both wrestlers finished third on Saturday.
Wells won the team title with 216.5 points. Medomak was second with 143 points and Lisbon/Oak Hill finished third with 122.
Lewia credits his youth and middle school programs with helping his team continue to reload year after year.
“It’s huge. My freshmen coming in aren’t normal freshmen. They are a step above other freshmen,” Lewia said. “They’ve been through it plenty of times with big meets so they have that experience of wrestling in a big tournament. They just stepped up to the challenge and wrestled to their ability.”
The Class B state tournament will be held this Saturday at Mattanawcook Academy in Lincoln.
— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or at 780-9017. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.