Bucks’ Pelletier has had success in nine classes

Jon Pelletier’s high school wrestling career featured the variety of spanning nine weight classes over four years but also a consistency of success throughout that physical growth.

The Bucksport High School senior, who during his freshman year was one of the top 119-pounders in the Class C wrestling ranks, hopes to cap off his senior season as one of the best at 171 pounds.

And so far, so good, after Pelletier earned his third consecutive Penobscot Valley Conference individual title Saturday by outpointing Jeff Sanford of John Bapst 6-5 in a hard-fought championship match at Mount Desert Island High School in Bar Harbor.

“He came at me real aggressive, and I just waited for my opportunities,” said Pelletier, now 37-4 overall this winter. “When they came, I took them.”

Pelletier recently set a school record for career victories and will take a 147-21 four-year mark into Saturday’s Eastern Maine Class C championship meet at Penobscot Valley High School in Howland.

A title there would be Pelletier’s third straight regional crown, having won at 130 pounds as a sophomore and at 140 last winter. He placed second in the 119-pound division as a freshman.

A top-four finish at the Eastern C meet would send Pelletier back to the state meet, where he finished second at 119 as a freshman, won the 130-pound class as a sophomore and placed second at 140 last February.

This year’s Class C state meet is scheduled for Feb. 16 at Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft.

Pelletier’s decision to jump from 140 to 171 this winter was based as much on competitive common sense as sheer growth, given that the 6-foot-1 senior was too big to wrestle at 140 again and defending state champion Josh Harvey of Dexter and three-time state champ Jerod Rideout of Foxcroft Academy were competing in the 152- and 160-pound classes.

“It was more or less choice,” said Pelletier. “I knew who was wrestling where, and with Harvey at 152 and Rideout at 160, my best chance was at 171.”

Pelletier wrestled at both 160 and 171 this winter in preparation for the postseason, and gives away several pounds when competing in the heavier division. For the PVCs, for example, Pelletier weighed in at just 162.5 pounds.

“Kids are a lot bigger at 171, so everything’s got to be flawless,” said Pelletier. “When I’m on bottom, it’s a lot harder to move. If I’m not moving first, once they get a chance to get their weight on top of me, then I’m stuck.

“When you’re that much smaller, you have to be quicker, because if they land on you, it’s a lot tougher to get up.”

Austin leaves Oxford Hills post

Bob Austin, varsity football coach at Oxford Hills of South Paris for the last three years and a longtime assistant with the Vikings, has announced his retirement from coaching.

Austin’s teams went 8-17 during his tenure as varsity coach, including 3-5 last fall while narrowly missing a trip to the Eastern Maine Class A quarterfinals.

Before taking the top job, Austin served five previous Oxford Hills head coaches – Keith Lancaster, Mike Haley, Frank Stoutamyer, Ted Moccia and Paul Bickford – as an assistant.

Austin’s retirement brings to at least three the number of head coaching vacancies in Eastern Maine high school football, along with Old Town and Nokomis of Newport in Class B. Nokomis is expected to name a head coach when the SAD 48 board of directors holds its next meeting on Tuesday.

eclark@bangordailynews.net

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