Windham’s wrestling team had an impressive performance in Saturday’s home meet, piling up 123 points with victories against Cheverus (42-18), Lake Region (39-27) and Fryeburg Academy (42-40).
Justin Woodbury and Tony Kostopoulos were the Eagles’ top performers on the day. Woodbury scored two pin-fall wins in the 189-pound class, one against the Lakers’ Chris Cutting and the other against the Stags’ Max Haslam.
Meanwhile, Kostopoulos was able to pull out some close wins, with the most exciting coming against Lake Region’s Steve Chadwick.
That match was in the 275-pound weight class, and these giants started with a scoreless first period. In the second, both athletes remained conservative, not wanting to fall into a mistake. The score was tied at one heading into the final frame.
Kostopoulos started the third period on the mat, trying to escape from his opponent’s grasp, but that looked to be a difficult task.
The Eagles grappler struggled, and Chadwick grunted and squeezed tighter. Halfway through the period Kostopoulos escaped and scored three points. Chadwick responded and scored another point but Windham’s big man won the match, 4-2.
Windham coach Chris O’Brien was planning to use the meet as a turnaround point.
“We’ve had an up and down season, but today was a good day. We got three wins,” O’Brien said. “We don’t usually fair well against the better teams, but I’m hoping for a good showing at the Southern Maine Classic. We could have a couple champions.”
Lake Region scored 75 total points, and beat Cheverus 35-18. Lakers coach Paul St. John knows his team is a little inexperienced.
“We’re coming around, but we’re young,” he said. “There are pluses and minuses, but the important thing is to eliminate the mistakes.”
Lake Region’s Robert Hawkins edged Billy Hustus, a Windham junior, 11-9, and teammate Brett Jauss achieved a pin-fall win against Eagles wrestler Naveed Ahmady.
Chadwick was resilient and defeated Fryeburg’s Jesse Sawin, building a 4-1 lead when, with 21 seconds left in the first period, he scored a pin-fall win.
“We have a goal of getting better off bottom and not giving up back points,” O’Brien said. “We’d like to get as many kids as we can to qualify for states.”
The Eagles travel Saturday to Scarborough, along with Deering and Marshwood. Lake Region hosts Massabesic and Fryeburg on the same day.
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