Nokomis finishes 2nd, Skowhegan 3rd behind champion Oxford Hills
By TRAVIS LAZARCZYK
Staff Writer
AUGUSTA — With four wrestlers reaching the championship round of the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference meet Saturday, things looked good for the Skowhegan Area High School wrestling team.
While the Indians went 4 for 4 in those final matches, it wasn’t enough to vault Skowhegan over Oxford Hills and Nokomis for the Class A conference title. The Vikings took the crown with 165 points, while Nokomis was second with 149. Skowhegan was third with 136.
The Class B team title went to Medomak Valley with 89 points. Mount View was second with 60.
While Skowhegan’s expectations were to compete for the title, senior Jon Bell felt the third-place finish would be motivation for the upcoming Class A North regional championship.
“We didn’t do as well overall as a team, but that sets us up to be one of the top teams at regionals,” said Bell, who earned an 11-2 win over Alex Vokey of Camden Hills.
Also earning conference titles for Skowhegan were Jake Craig at 106-pounds, Richard Oberg at 120 and Samson Sirois at 138.
As the final seconds of the second round ticked away, Bell tried to get Vokey pinned, and glanced at the scoreboard. Bell said he was surprised to see his lead in points was larger than he thought.
“I’ve never wrestled him before, but I knew he was a tough opponent,” Bell said.
A freshman, Craig earned his first conference title with a pin of Calvin Peck of Nokomis. Craig cruised through his day, pinning each of his four opponents. It wasn’t about overpowering opponents as much as outthinking them, Craig said.
“You have to have a Plan A, and Plan B, and Plan C,” Craig said, noting that Plan A seemed to work just fine throughout Saturday’s matches. “Don’t stop moving and you’ll have success.”
Oberg survived a three-round match over Nokomis’ Josh Brown, 11-8. Sirois survived a close match with Mark Ward of Mount View, winning 7-6.
Winslow’s Ryan Fredette won at 182-pounds, beating Aaron Lettre of Cony via pin with 19.3 seconds left in the first round.
Erskine’s Michael Sprague defeated Dawson Allen of Camden Hills in the 126-pound final, 6-4. Cony’s Noah Dumas won at 113 pounds, pinning Caleb Carrell of Nokomis. Cony’s Nic Mills took a second-round pin victory over Jeff Worster of Oxford Hills in the 195-pound final.
At 220-pounds, James Boyd of Nokomis beat Belfast’s Brian White with a first-round pin. In the final championship match, Erskine’s Jake Peavey pinned Cony’s Mitchell MacFarland with 2.8 seconds left in round one.
Mt. Blue’s Tucker Nichols fell to Oxford Hills’ Dawson Stevens in the 160-pound final, when Stevens earned a pin 25 seconds in. Stevens was named Class A Most Outstanding Wrestler. Eli Miller of Medomak Valley was Class B Most Outstanding Wrestler after winning the 152-pound title.
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