SKOWHEGAN – Moments after his victory in the 195-pound final at the Eastern Class A wrestling meet Saturday, Skowhegan senior Andrew Pineo didn’t want to talk about his match. Pineo wanted to talk about the success his teammates had throughout the day.

“Our guy at 106 (Mike Dourant), he cut a lot of weight to get there. He’s never done that before. Great job by a sophomore,” Pineo said. “A lot of us were in the finals, taking home first or second. The team title, that’s always nice. It’s always good to wrestle with a good group of guys, whether we win or lose.”

With 10 wrestlers in the finals and five winning individual championships, Skowhegan had little trouble winning the regional title.

Skowhegan scored 221 points. Defending champion Mt. Blue was second with 136.5 and Nokomis placed third with 108.5.

Pineo was the last of Skowhegan’s five regional champions, pinning Devon Grant of Westbrook 5:38 into their match. Pineo came close to pinning Grant late in the second round, but the feisty Grant held off defeat until the third. Endurance was a key to the match, Pineo said.

“Skowhegan always has the best cardio. I’ve got good coaches and a lot of support here in front of the home crowd,” Pineo said. “It’s always a good match when I wrestle a 195 kid for a championship. It’s not the easiest weight class out there.”

Other Skowhegan winners were Kameron Doucette, who defeated Mt. Blue’s Kevin Moore 3-2 in the 132-pound final; Kaleb Brown, who pinned Mt. Blue’s Drew Blanchet at 2:43 of the 138-pound final; Julian Sirois, who pinned Danny Reed of Mt. Blue at 3:13 of the 120-pound final; and Tyler Craig, who won the 113-pound title with a pin of Cordell Brooks of Oxford Hills at 3:22.

Craig said he tried not to let the moment become overwhelming.

“I just didn’t get too nervous before it. I went out there like it was any other match. I just wanted to perform where I’m supposed to be. That’s the main thing,” Craig said. “To me, it’s been pretty mellow. Just going out there and wrestling.”

Jacob Nichols of Nokomis won the 285-pound title, pinning Windham’s Jake Hodgkins at the 1:22 mark. The closest match of the finals was in the 145-pound class, where Mt. Ararat’s Felipe Gunter beat Logan Stevens of Skowhegan in overtime, 8-6.

CLASS B: Camden Hills got wins from Zach Annis at 106, Connor Winchenbach at 138, Coleman Powers at 145 and Jared Gilbert at 170, and captured the regional championship at Pittsfield.

The Windjammers garnered 182 points, well ahead of Belfast (138.5) and Ellsworth (137.5).

Camden Hills also got runner-up finishes from John Underhill at 120 and Chris Weiss at 126.

 

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