FARMINGTON – Whether he wanted to know or not, everyone made sure Hazen Pingree understood how much his 160-pound championship finals match against Gardiner’s Mike Curry mattered.

With Mt. Blue trailing Mount Ararat 157 points to 156, the scenario was a simple one for Pingree. Win the match and his Mt. Blue Cougars win the Eastern Maine Class A regional championship.

Then there was the hard part. Curry had beaten him in each of their previous three meetings.

Trailing 1-0 in the final period, Pingree found an opening, took it, and pinned Curry to give Mt. Blue the title with 162 points to the runner-up Mount Ararat Eagles of Topsham’s 157.

Joining Pingree on the championship podium were teammates Sam Webber (112) and Shane Webber (135).

Skowhegan finished third with 128 points and Oxford Hills of South Paris was fourth with 100. Brewer was the top Eastern Maine finisher in seventh with 62 points.

Other individual champs were Morse of Bath’s Tom Hall in 103; Skowhegan’s Jeremy Tarpen in 119, Andy Boumil in 130, and Dylan Wentworth in 140; Cony of Augusta’s Cody Myers in 171, Tyler Robinson in 215, and Joey McInnis in 275; Oxford Hills’ Tom Moulton in 152 and Cory Smith in 189; and Mount Ararat’s Ben Cox (125) and Pat Downs (145).

Several Brewer wrestlers also turned in strong efforts to advance to next Saturday’s state meet.

Brewer’s Justin Bowen advanced to the championship round where Cony’s McInnis defeated him in a 6-3 decision.

Alex Smith, Ricky Study and Matt Littlefield recorded third-place finishes for the Witches. Study defeated Mount Ararat’s Theo Marshall in a 10-1 decision in the 135 class. In 112, Smith pinned Mount Ararat’s Kat MacDonald in 53 seconds and Littlefield pinned Mt. Blue’s Collin Gillespie in 4:26 in the 189 class.

The state championship meet for Classes A, B, C is set for Saturday, Feb. 12 at the Augusta Civic Center. Opening ceremonies will begin at 8:45 a.m., followed by the first matches at 9 a.m.

Matches will be held on eight mats.