Justin Bowen is entering a whole new world. Six years ago, Bowen began working out on a wrestling mat with his father, Joe. Since then, Bowen the younger has rolled over the competition, picking up state and regional wins every step of the way.

Soon the 14-year-old Bowen will be facing a new arena of competition as he begins high school as a freshman at Brewer High School. But the fact that he will be facing older, more experienced high school wrestlers in a few months doesn’t appear to faze Bowen.

And with good reason, the 6-foot, 234- pound Bowen has been blowing away wrestling competition from here to Pennsylvania.

Earlier this year, Bowen won the junior high heavyweight title at the New England Regionals held at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. He followed that one week later by winning the Maine state junior high championship at Marshwood High School in Eliot. Two weeks later, Bowen placed an impressive third in Greco-Roman and third in freestyle at the Northeast Regionals held in East Strasbourg, Pa.

“Justin qualified for the nationals at Fargo, North Dakota in July but he had pulled a groin muscle and we chose not to go,” Joe Bowen said.

Joe Bowen is Justin’s father and the primary force behind Justin’s development. Wrestling is in the Bowen blood.

Joe wrestled at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and then tried out for both the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams and San Diego Chargers at walk-on camps.

“Justin has been working at this for six years. His training is just phenomenal. He takes his training very seriously,” Joe Bowen said.

This year Justin will be taking a step up in competition to the high school level. But he isn’t concerned about it.

“Not in the least I find it more competitive. I should do all right. I wrestled some of them in the summer,” Justin said.

Additionally, Justin believes traveling helps wrestlers become better on the mat.

“In order to get better you can’t just stay in Maine. You have to travel,” Justin said.

In an odd twist, Justin wrestled competitively for Ellsworth Middle School and played football for Brewer Middle School’s undefeated football team last year while attending Dedham Middle School.

Because Dedham Middle School didn’t offer either of the programs, Justin was able to choose where he would play the sports.

“Brewer didn’t offer a sanctioned middle school wrestling program,” Joe Bowen explained. “So Justin wrestled in Ellsworth.”

Justin has chosen to attend Brewer High School because of familiarity. He is entering his fifth year of playing football in the city. He played three years in the Brewer Police Athletic League and then followed that by playing at the middle school.

“I picked Brewer because I wasn’t entering a whole new environment. I originally had friends in Brewer,” Justin said.

And his father likes the direction the Brewer High School wrestling program is headed. Entering its fifth year, the program will be funded by the school department for the first time this year.

“[Brewer coach] Perry Boudreau has such a mindset for what the program should be all about,” Joe Bowen said.

But that will come a few months down the road. For now Justin works out with other wrestlers at his father’s Penobscot Wrestling Club and lines up at center and defensive tackle on the Brewer freshman football team.

“[The wrestling club] is primarily made up of kids from the Brewer wrestling team,” Joe Bowen said. “I work with them because Perry can’t during certain times of the school year. Any kid who is interested in wrestling has a home with us.”

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net