OLD TOWN – By his own admission, Joe Dana has been a pretty good wrestler since he started five years ago.

But that was when he was living in Beverly, Mass., and winning league championships with The Landmark School’s varsity wrestling team.

This year, his family moved back to Old Town, where Dana grew up. But the wrestling is still young – the Indians are in their first year of their own varsity program.

Dana may be the strongest wrestler on the new Old Town team. He lost his first bout in the 140-pound weight class but came back to win three straight in the consolation finals and helped the fledgling program finish seventh in the first Greater Bangor Wrestling Tournament on Saturday at Old Town High’s MacKenzie Gym.

The traditional powers did well during the exhibition tourney that drew 12 area teams looking for a preseason workout against some of the toughest competition in Eastern Maine.

Perennial EM Class B power Bucksport won the meet, scoring 240 points. Defending Class C state champion Dexter took second place with 206 1/2 and Maine Central Institute of Pittsfield racked up 118 points for third place.

After an opening loss to Bucksport’s Andy Shorey put him in the consolation bracket, Dana came back with a vengeance. He pinned Brewer’s Scott Phillips in 46 seconds to advance to the consolation semifinals and routed Travis Bannister of GSA in Blue Hill 13-0 for a berth in the final. He had a harder time in the final against Shorey but managed to win by a 12-7 decision.

“I thought this tournament was going to be easy but they gave me a run,” Dana said after his consolation win.

Dana is the most experienced wrestler on the team and on a squad with mostly freshmen, the senior must wrestle coach Keith Holland in practice. But those titles in Massachusetts didn’t help him in the first match against Shorey.

“I wasn’t focused,” Dana said. “I was trying to take it easy. But I realized that I have to be more aggressive and go for the pin. [In the final against Shorey] I knew what was coming and I think I had the advantage because I knew what he was gonna do. He was gonna try to wear me out but he couldn’t.”

Dana may turn some heads this year. But when it comes to area wrestling, Bucksport and Dexter have been two of the best. Based on the Bucks’ performance Saturday, coach Michael Carter is eager for the start of the regular season Dec. 11.

“This is the largest team we’ve had in last four or five years with about 35 kids,” Carter said just before the championship finals started Saturday. “We’ve got some freshmen that have an awesome chance to be tested today. Dexter’s certainly one of the best teams in state and for [the freshmen] to get into the finals, we’re pretty happy. We’ve got some upperclassmen who have worked hard and we’re hoping that they’ll have a good year.”

Those two freshmen – Travis Pelletier and Josh Pelletier – won the 112 division and the 125 division, respectively. Other Bucksport victories included Greg Burrill in the 103 weight class, Shawn Costigan in the 130 division and Destin Allen in the 145 division.

Another reason for Carter’s excitement came during the 215-pound final, where his son Josh won the title with a narrow 8-6 decision over defending Class C state champ Jon Wilbur of Dexter. That match was the last of the day and had fans that lined the mat cheering as the two wrestlers went back and forth until time in the third period expired.

“What was my strategy? My strategy was, he beat me twice year and I wasn’t going to let him win again,” Josh Carter said with a laugh.

Dexter’s Joey Turner and Adam Paige won the 152 and 171 divisions, respectively. Cooper Page took the 189-pound class.

Fort Kent’s Robby Nadeau was named Outstanding Wrestler of the Meet. Nadeau had it easy in the first two rounds of the 140-pound division with a 30-second pin in the quarterfinals and a 13-0 decision in the semis. He then eeked out a 6-5 win over Dexter’s Kevin Armstrong in the final.