The Erskine Academy wrestling team exceeded coach Patrick Vigue’s expectations by finishing in a tie for second at the Western B regionals on Saturday.

“Going into the tournament I was thinking we might finish in fifth place, so finishing second overall was a pleasant surprise,” said Vigue. “We got what we wanted out of our veterans, and some of our first-year wrestlers scored a lot of points that I wasn’t counting on.”

The Eagles scored 99 points to end in a tie with Fryeburg. Mountain Valley won the regional title. The team scores were extremely close with only 11 points separating the second- and seventh-place teams.

Senior Zack Isbell won his second consecutive Western Maine title by outpointing Winslow’s Patrick Hopkins 14-4 in the 160-pound championship finals. Isbell ran his season record to 25-2.

“Zack is a real hard-working kid,” said Vigue. “He and Cameron Grass (120) are both senior captains who didn’t begin wrestling until ninth grade. They have had a lot of success considering their amount of mat time.”

Grass placed second in the tournament and is 20-3 on the season. He finished fourth at the Class B state meet last season at 106 pounds.

“Cam was a starter as an 85-pound freshman in the 106-pound class,” said Vigue. “He took a lot of beatings that season but has come a long way since then.”

Junior Justin Studholme (138 pounds) also reached the championship finals, placing second. Studholme is a three-time state qualifier, according to Vigue.

“Early in the season, I thought we had a chance at winning the region” said Vigue. “But we lost some key wrestlers due to injury and other issues. Tyler Azevedo, who placed third in the state meet last year, hurt his knee in the December and was done for the year. That was a big loss.”

Derek Dyer (220) placed third, while Mike Sprague (106), Michaela Sprague (113), Gabe Solarzano (132) were fourth.

The seven Erskine qualifiers will compete at the Class B state championships Saturday at Fryeburg Academy.

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Mount View’s season-long problem with injuries continued at the Western B regionals. Chris Cole (285) entered the day as the top seed in his weight class after an early season elbow injury shortened his season. However, Cole’s bad luck continued when he suffered a knee injury during a first round match that he won by pin in 38 seconds

“It was a freak injury,” said Richards. “He fell a bit weird on his takedown or something. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and I didn’t know anything was wrong until after the pin when he couldn’t stand up to shake his opponent’s hand.”

Cole attempted to wrestle in the semifinals against Mountain Valley’s Coyote Freeman, but was forced to default early in the match and couldn’t compete in the consolation rounds. “Exactly what is wrong won’t be known until he has an MRI done” said Richards. “We’ll see. He feels OK but still can’t stand on it. He’s an alternate (to the state tournament) so there’s a slight chance he could get in.

Job Mesaric (195) was also injured during the day and forfeited his consolation finals match. Mesaric finished fourth.

Anthony Barnard placed 2nd at 145 pounds. Jon Lawrence was fourth at 126 pounds.

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Peter Del Gallo’s recovery from a preseason elbow injury continued at the Western B regionals. The two-time state champion from Gardiner dominated the 126-pound weight class, winning each of his three matches by pin. Del Gallo entered the day with only six actual mat matches and is still putting things together, according to coach Matt Hanley.

“He looked pretty good,” said Hanley. “He’s getting stronger every day but is still rounding into shape. A couple of his moves aren’t quite where he wants yet.”

Andrew Doody-Veillieux (182) and Jacob Truman (195) both finished second in their weight classes for the Tigers.