HOWLAND – Dexter rallied from early losses and rolled through the middle weight classes, racking up 180 points to earn the Penobscot Valley Conference championship Saturday at Penobscot Valley High School.

Bucksport, the defending PVC champion, scored 1651/2 points, good enough for second place at the 17-team conference meet. Foxcroft Academy was third with 78 points, Ellsworth finished fourth with 72 and George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill scored 56 points to take fifth place.

Dexter defeated Bucksport to win last year’s Class C state championship, while the Golden Bucks topped the Tigers for the Eastern Maine Class C title last year. Dexter beat Bucksport for the PVC crown in 1999.

The Tigers’ PVC title is their fourth under nine-year coach David Gudroe.

Dexter had four wrestlers win their respective weight classes. Ross Palmer took the 140-pound class, Kevin Armstrong was first in the 145 group, Aaron Thomas won in the 152 division and Cooper Page was the winner of the 215 group.

The 140, 145 and 152 wins were all pins, which gave the Tigers some momentum. Dexter needed those pins, especially because the Bucks had an early edge.

Bucksport’s Kyle Perkins started out with a win in the 103 weight class and Dave Maguire picked up another for the Bucks at 125. Then, at 130, Josh Pelletier of Bucksport won a decision over Dexter’s Vinney Greene and 135-pounder Shawn Costigan gave the Bucks another win.

Gudroe said he got a little worried at that point.

But the following matches gave the Tigers some room. Palmer pinned Mattanawcook of Lincoln’s Cory McDonald, Armstrong pinned Bucksport’s Adam Bourgon, and Thomas pinned Craig Caron of Fort Kent.

“Those matches really got things going for the rest of the team,” he said. “That helped Cooper as much as anything else.”

Page earned a 3-1 decision over Bangor’s Ziko Tzolos.

“It was a real tough match. Cooper wrestled very smart,” Gudroe said.

Dexter got a late boost from Mike Burton, who pinned Nokomis of Newport’s Jeff Nickerson in the 275 division’s consolation.

“We would have liked to see him in the championships, but he wrestled very well in the consolation,” Gudroe said.

Other top Tiger performances came in the 112 weight class, where Keith Thompson finished second to Ellsworth’s Matt Burns in the final match, and Josh Bishop’s second-place run at 160, where he lost to Penobscot Valley’s Keith Champion.

Dexter’s Josh Patterson and Matt Berry took fourth in the 119 and 125 classes, respectively. Travis Thompson was fourth at 135.

Bucksport’s Adam Carter won a major decision over John Bapst of Bangor’s John Robinson in the 171 championship.

Dexter and Bucksport will meet again next Saturday at the Eastern Maine Class C championships in Fort Kent.