Depth powers Lisbon to title; Foxcroft third Ponies’ Pelletier wins at 275

BANGOR – Foxcroft Academy’s two-year hold on the Class C state wrestling champion was ended by a familiar foe at the Bangor Auditorium on Saturday.

Lisbon, which had won three straight titles before Foxcroft broke through in 2004 and 2005 and also edged the Ponies in the 2005 Class C football final, used the quality of its depth to hold off both Foxcroft and Western B champion Dirigo of Dixfield.

Lisbon advanced eight wrestlers to the championship finals and won four individual titles to amass 183 points. Dirigo was second with 148, followed by Foxcroft (143), Dexter (115), and Bucksport (91).

“It started [Friday] night, when 10 of the 11 kids won a match, and then they did the same thing [Saturday] morning, when eight of 10 kids won again to get to the finals,” said Lisbon coach Mark Stevens. “That really helped out in the points.

“We were thinking Dirigo and Foxcroft had quite an advantage because of how they were set up from winning the regionals,” said Stevens. “But what happened was a matter of all the matchups and then us winning some pretty close matches.”

Lisbon picked up individual championships by Joe Cossar (103 pounds), Tyler Clark (125), Andrew Dubois (152), and Nic Adams (160) and second-place finishes from Dan Cornell (130), Ryan Guisto (135), Mark Stambach (215), and Elijah Trefts (275).

That strength in numbers proved decisive, as Dirigo sent just five wrestlers to the finals and Foxcroft four.

Dirigo got firsts from Derek Daley (119), Jon Smith (135), and Kyle Miele (171) to go with seconds from Josh Palmer (145) and Devin Brann (160).

Foxcroft’s Josh Pelletier scored his third straight individual title by edging Trefts 3-2 in the 275-pound title match, while teammates Jerod Rideout and James McPhee became two-time champs.

Rideout, a sophomore named the meet’s outstanding wrestler, pinned Wiscasset’s Connor Walsh at 1:59 of the 140-pound final, while McPhee stopped Stambach at 5:36 to win at 215.

“We really worked very hard, but kids have on days and off days,” said McPhee of his team’s third-place finish. “I think we hit our stride last weekend instead of this weekend, but I’m proud to be part of this team.”

Dexter’s day featured the individual championships won by junior Jeremiah Barkac at 112 and senior Billy Greene at 145. Barkac, undefeated against in-state competition through three years with the Tigers, won his third consecutive state title with a pair of pins, the last one at 1:50 of his final against Aaron Gagnon of Penobscot Valley of Howland.

Greene, the 140-pound champ last year, won his first match by pin before edging Lisbon’s Mike Bolduc 6-4 in the semifinals and Dirigo’s Palmer 10-6 in his title match.

Bucksport also had a pair of champions, Jon Pelletier at 130 and Adam Tweedie at 189.

Pelletier, second at 119 as a freshman, took an early lead to defeat Cornell 6-3 in his final.

“I got the first takedown, and for me I struggle on my feet so it’s a real big confidence booster to get that first takedown,” said Pelletier. “Once I got that, I felt like I was in control of the match.”

Tweedie, a senior who won at 160 as a sophomore, needed just 3:51 to pin his three opponents, including a 1:08 victory over Madison’s Dan Kalagher in the title match.

In Class A, Noble of North Berwick won its eighth consecutive championship, scoring 150.5 points to earn a comfortable victory over second-place Massabesic of Waterboro (113.5). Marshwood of South Berwick, despite qualifying just four wrestlers for the state meet, placed third with 71 points, with Oxford Hills of South Paris (65) and Kennebunk (60) rounding out the top five among the 23 scoring schools.

Brewer senior Justin Bowen closed out his career in solid fashion, going 3-1 to finish third at 275 pounds. Bowen’s only loss came in a 5-2 decision to eventual weight-class champion Matt Foley of Kennebunk, and he rebounded to defeat Tony Kostopoulos of Windham 3-0 in the third-place match.