Mountain Valley captures state crown Falcons end Camden Hills’ six-year championship run; Belfast takes third

BANGOR – The Mountain Valley of Rumford wrestling team celebrated its share of the 2005 Class B wrestling state championship in obscurity – earning that tie days after the meet ended when a scoring error was corrected.

On Saturday, all of the Bangor Auditorium was a stage for the Falcons, who ended Camden Hills of Rockport’s six-year championship run by the narrowest of margins.

Mountain Valley finished with 171 points, 1.5 better than the Windjammers (169.5), while Belfast was a strong third with 148 points and a meet-best five individual champions.

“We talked about that during the week, that we didn’t get to get up on the podium last year and show everybody that we were state champions,” said Mountain Valley coach Gary Dolloff.

“This year that’s what we worked toward. All year long we looked at the polls and we were fifth, sixth, or seventh. Camden Hills is a great program, but to knock them off their six in a row streak is sweet as hell, I can tell you that.”

The Falcons entered the championship finals with a 7.5-point lead, but wins by Joe McGowan at 125 pounds, Jake Berry (140), and Hank Simpkins (152) – all in head-to-head matchups against Mountain Valley – gave the Windjammers a 6.5-point edge with four finals remaining.

But Belfast’s Logan Kelley became the ultimate spoiler and was named the meet’s outstanding wrestler by outlasting two-time state champion Harry Pearson of Camden Hills in a 10-8 overtime thriller to win the 171-pound title, and Mountain Valley finally got a head-to-head win over the ‘Jammers when Tyler Child edged Ollie Bradeen 6-5 at 189 to cut the gap to 2.5 points.

Camden Hills had no more finalists, while Mountain Valley had two. When the Falcons’ Brendon Bradley won the 215-pound crown, that provided the four points needed to put Mountain Valley over the top.

“Camden Hills has won a lot of tournaments and been ranked No. 1 in the state most of the season, but when it comes to the states, anything can happen, and today proved that,” said Bradley.

For Camden Hills, it was a disappointing finish to a challenging season, among those challenges a teammate who died unexpectedly before the season began and one key wrestler who failed to make weight for the state meet.

“We came with 10 guys to wrestle. Every guy who came here placed, and we put eight in the finals,” said Windjammers coach Patrick Kelly. “That’s a very dominating team that can do that. The kids wrestled with heart, with Camden Hills pride, and there’s nothing more that I could ask from them.

“We ended up short, but that’s sports.”

The championship finals started in dramatic fashion, with Camden Hills sophomore Kristi Pearse trying to become the first girl in Maine and just the second in the nation to win a state individual title.

Undefeated Caribou sophomore Carlin Dubay, who decisioned Pearse 5-2 at the Eastern B regional a week earlier, again was the opponent.

This time the two battled scoreless through three two-minute rounds, one one-minute overtime, and one 30-second OT before Dubay finally earned the first point of the match on an escape early in the second 30-second overtime. He followed that with a takedown and then a near-fall to win a 6-0 decision.

“There was a lot of pressure,” said Dubay, the smaller of the two contestants at just 96 pounds, “because everybody was pulling for her to win. I just tried to wrestle and do the best I could.”

And while Camden Hills and Mountain Valley spent the rest of the finals battling for team gold, Belfast dominated the proceedings, with all five of its finalists winning titles.

Tony Gilmore led the way, winning at 130 pounds for his third state championship in four years. Kelley, Josh Robbins (112), James Spencer (119), and Travis Spencer (160) also won their weight classes.

“That’s a pretty special day for us,” Kelley said. “Josh Robbins, our 112-pounder, set the pace for us.”