SKOWHEGAN — Brooks Thompson has been involved with Skowhegan wrestling for the better of his life.
The 29-year-old co-head coach of the Skowhegan Area High School wrestling team, Thompson says he began wrestling when he was 4- or 5-years old and continued all the way through high school. After graduating he began coaching in the program, ultimately working his way up to head coach with fellow Skowhegan alumnus Tenney Noyes.
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WHAT: Eastern A championships
WHERE: Oxford Hills High School
DEFENDING CHAMP: Skowhegan
In all his years with the Indians, Thompson cannot remember a season where Skowhegan finished the regular season undefeated — until this one.
Snow and cancellations made for a somewhat anticlimactic close to the regular season for the Indians, but this has nonetheless been one of the best in program history as they enter Saturday’s Eastern A championships at Oxford Hills with an unblemished 22-0 record.
“There have been a lot of seasons up there where we’ve had one loss — three or four times we’ve had one loss and had a lot of good wins — but this is one of the better seasons I would definitely say,” Thompson said.
According to Thompson, Skowhegan’s success this season is a result of not one singular reason.
“It’s tough to say. We have a really good feeder program for the most part. A lot of these kids have been wrestling for a lot of years,” Thompson said. “Outside of this we have some guys that do a lot of work in the offseason. Bob Craig works with them year-round. He’s one of the parents so that’s a big help. On top of that, they’re just really hard-working kids. They’re willing to put the time in and work tough.”
Craig’s sons — Ty, a senior, and Cody, a sophomore — have each played key roles in helping the Indians get to where they have. A three-time defending state champion, Ty Craig is the team’s lone senior starter and has amassed a 31-1 record at 126 pounds this season.
The thought of going 4-for-4 on state titles certainly has served as motivation for him this season.
“I’m kind of excited that I could get my fourth (state championship),” Ty Craig said. “It would be the first in Skowhegan history to do that, but at the same time I am definitely a little nervous just the fact there is so much pressure on you to seal the deal. It’s a mix of excitement and a little bit nervousness, but I’m ready.”
Cody Craig, meanwhile, is 32-0 this season wrestling at 106 pounds and has yet to lose a match in his high school career in the state of Maine. The sophomore standout credits wrestling with his older brother over the years for helping him get to where he is — even if he has yet to pin him.
“I wouldn’t really be where I am now (without him),” Cody Craig said. “Instead of wrestling people my own size that were at my same level, I had him. All growing up he was always a little bit better so the whole time I got going with him I would see really rapid improvement, rather than what I see out of some people. It’s made a really big difference.”
The Craigs are not the only ones pulling their weight this season though. Julian Sirois — a team captain along with Kameron Doucette, Logan Stevens and Ty Craig — is 32-1 at 138 pounds, while his brother Samson is 29-3 at 113 pounds.
Stevens has amassed a 30-3 record at 160, Doucette is 29-3 at 152 and Jon Bell is 27-4 at 120.
“It really helps having this group of kids that wrestles year-round together. They really push each other,” Thompson said. “… We’re really deep and a couple of our freshmen are probably good enough to be starters on a lot of teams.”
That depth has certainly been put to the test over the past few weeks. Primarily due to the weather, the Indians have not had a match in three weeks and have had to rely on ramping up their training in practice to prepare for Saturday.
“We’re ready, but there’s not a really clear way to gauge with all the snow days,” Ty Craig said. “It’s kind of tough to measure if we’re really fired up because it’s kind of been bad news after bad news where it’s like this is canceled, this is canceled.”
Many would consider Skowhegan the favorite, although that is not how the Indians are approaching the tournament. Thompson has been around the sport long enough to know no win is ever guaranteed in wrestling.
“I would say a lot of teams think we’re the favorites but there are a lot of good teams out there too,” Thompson said. “I try to take one match at a time and really stress to these kids that there’s a difference between cocky and confident, and I want them confident and not cocky.
“I want them going out there knowing that wrestling is a unique sport. You can go out there and get pinned at any time. You could be ready to tech fall a guy and get pinned so anything can happen.”
Evan Crawley — 621-5640
ecrawley@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @Evan_Crawley
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