Camden Hills claims sixth straight ‘B’ crown Pearson, McGowan, Bragg, Laite lift ‘Jammers

AUGUSTA – For six minutes Saturday evening, Old Town High wrestler Dan Hatch had no bigger fan than Harry Pearson.

Pearson, a junior from Camden Hills of Rockport, had just won his second straight individual state championship at 160 pounds.

But for Pearson and his Windjammer teammates to celebrate a sixth consecutive outright Class B team title, they needed Hatch to survive his 275-pound title match against 2004 state champion David Smith of Mountain Valley of Rumford without getting pinned.

A Smith pin would leave Mountain Valley and Camden Hills tied in the team standings, and with no tiebreaker available, they would have been crowned co-champions.

Hatch obliged. The Eastern Maine champion didn’t defeat Smith, but didn’t get pinned either. Smith won 5-0, and Camden Hills held on to win the team title 166.5-164.5 at the Augusta Civic Center.

“It was unbelievable,” said Pearson. “I never would have thought [Hatch] would have lasted past the first period. I guess the wrestling gods were shining down on us today.”

Camden Hills and Mountain Valley were tied entering the championship round, with each team still having seven wrestlers alive for individual titles.

Murphy McGowan (103 pounds), True Bragg (119), Cody Laite (140), and Pearson each won his weight class to give Camden Hills the lead, while Mountain Valley lost its first four finals.

Mountain Valley needed three pins in its final three finals to tie the match, and Class B most outstanding wrestler Chris Smith (189) and Brendan Bradley (215) each scored pins in less than a minute to set up the Smith-Hatch match and ultimately Camden Hills’ narrowest of victories.

Joe McGowan (112), Derek Young (130), and Oliver Bradeen (189) added seconds for the Windjammers, while a third from Gibby Bryant (215) and a fourth from Matt Creamer (171) provided key additional points.

“This was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but we really stepped it up,” said Pearson, whose team was without freshman standout Jacob Berry, a championship contender at 125 pounds sidelined by a concussion. “We had a lot of hardships this week. I think a lot of teams would have folded, but we came through and won and had some individual champs. It was awesome.”

Belfast placed third with 136 points. The Lions matched Camden Hills’ four first-place finishes, including Norman Gilmore (130) winning his third state title.

“Today I was real nervous,” said Gilmore. “I didn’t want to mess up my senior year by losing today and not getting the third state title, but once they called my name to go on the mat, I felt more confident.”

Kyle Bonin (112) and Tony Gilmore (125) became two-time state champs for the Lions, while Ben Dunham won at 145 pounds.

Ellsworth’s Tom Burns (152) won his second straight state title, taking the lead late in the third period to edge Aaron Arsenault of Mountain Valley 7-2.

“[Arsenault] approaches it more from strength, and I’m more of a technical wrestler,” said Burns. “When those styles meet you’re going to either have a lopsided match or it’s going to be close to the end, and that’s what happened today.”

Burns’ victory and third-place efforts by John Gordon (103), Jason Fox (119), and Brad Wing (125) helped the Eagles finish fifth with 57 points. Wells (75.5) finished fourth.

In Class A, Noble of North Berwick used its depth to claim its seventh consecutive crown.

The Knights had only one individual champion in Zack Doucette (119) but used 12 top-four finishes to top Marshwood of Eliot 165.5-140.5.

Mt. Blue of Farmington was the top Eastern Maine team, placing sixth with 56 points thanks to a first and second from brothers Shane (135) and Sam (112) Webber.

Dylan Wentworth of Skowhegan was named the meet’s outstanding wrestler after winning the 140-pound class.

And Deanna Rix of Marshwood’s bid to become the first girl to win an individual state title fell short. Rix reached the 130-pound final against Sanford’s Shane Leadbetter, but Leadbetter earned a 2-1 victory with an escape late in the second overtime.