FORT KENT – As the wrestlers who made it to the finals of Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class C championship meet watched the action on the main mat and got ready for their own matches, the Dexter wrestlers sat together on a practice mat at the back of the UMaine-Fort Kent gym. Sitting in a row their uniforms looked like a wall of bright red.

There were nine Tigers sitting on that practice mat, getting ready to compete in the finals. No other team had as many in the final round. And with a 36-point lead over Bucksport going into the championship round, Dexter was in good position for its fourth regional crown in five years.

Five of those nine wrestlers won their matches, and the Tigers racked up 2241/2 points for the Eastern Maine championship.

“We did the best we could and that’s the way it is,” Dexter coach Dave Gudroe said.

The Golden Bucks, last year’s EM champ, scored 192 points to finish second and did everything they could in the finals and actually had six wrestlers earn wins (including three over Dexter wrestlers).

George Stevens Academy of Blue Hill was third with 1021/2. Foxcroft Academy finished fourth (1011/2) and Penobscot Valley of Howland was fifth (84.5).

Twelve teams participated in the regional meet. The top four finishers in each of the 14 weight classes will meet their Western Maine counterparts for state championships at the Augusta Civic Center Feb. 10.

Dexter will send 13 wrestlers to the state meet.

Dexter’s individual winners were Keith Thompson in the 112-pound weight class, Josh Patterson at 119, Ross Palmer at 140, Aaron Thomas at 152, and Cooper Page at 215.

Patterson was a pleasant surprise for the Tigers. Seeded third going into the meet, he knocked off No. 2 Andrew Galipeau of John Bapst in Bangor with a 6-2 decision, then trounced Woodland’s Billy Romanelli 16-0 in the championship round.

“I knew what I had to do,” said Patterson, who lost to Romanelli at the Penobscot Valley Conference meet last week. “I had to stay away from locking up with him. … It feels awesome. This is my first time [winning an individual title].”

Bucksport’s winners were Kyle Perkins at 103; Dave Maguire (125); Shawn Costigan, who pinned Tiger Travis Thompson in the second period; Josh Pelletier, who topped Dexter’s Vinney Greene in the 130-pound class with a close 9-4 decision; and Adam Carter at 171, who was seeded third and knocked off top-ranked John Robinson of John Bapst. Robinson had just two losses going into the meet.

As exciting as those matches were for Bucksport, none was more thrilling than Adam Bourgon’s win against Kevin Armstrong of Dexter at 145.

Bourgon came from behind and had an 8-7 lead with 10 seconds left in the third. He was about to take the down position when he briefly lifted his hands up and down, exhorting the Bucksport fans to stand up. Armstrong was awarded a point because of Bourgon’s antics.

The match was knotted at 8-8, but Bourgon regrouped. On the restart he took the down position, escaped from Armstrong with two seconds left and won the match.

“I knew I had to get mad at myself. I had to do something. There was 10 seconds left and I knew if I got the escape it would be over,” Bourgon said.

Bucks coach Joel Pelletier said he could understand Bourgon’s emotional reaction to getting so far against Armstrong.

“I knew if we could get [Armstrong] into the third period that Adam could come out on top,” Pelletier said. “He was trying to get the crowd into [the match]. He knows he’s not supposed to do that but he got caught up in the moment. Other than that I’m a happy camper. We came in second but these guys did a heck of a job.”

Two wrestlers went into the meet with perfect records, and both emerged with their season-long winning streaks intact. Penobscot Valley’s Keith Champion, the top seed at 160, pinned GSA’s Luke Whyte in the second period and will take his 19-0 record to Augusta next weekend.

And Jeff Steinke of Foxcroft left the gym here with a 26-0 mark and defended his 2000 regional title after earning a technical pin over Paul Hall of GSA at 189.

“I’m happy with how I performed today but I’m not quite happy until next week,” said Steinke, the state runner-up as a sophomore last year. “I’ve got a lot of competition in the West.”

Trey Merrill of Foxcroft won the 275 class with a pin of Dexter’s Mike Burton.

Dexter picked up points in the consolation finals thanks to wins from Matt Ward (103), Matt Berry (125), and Josh Bishop (160). Matt Kinney was fourth in the 189-pound class.