Westbrook’s Andrew Drouin won the 215-pound championship at Saturday’s Class A state wrestling championships, held at the Augusta Civic Center. The Blazes tied Deering for eighth place in the team standings, tallying 40 points.

To get to the championship finals, Drouin pinned Cony’s Mike Fraser in 49 seconds, then pinned Mt. Ararat’s Frank True at 3:26. In the finals, he defeated Erskine Academy’s Alex Wood by an 8-1 decision.

Westbrook coach Ryan Hutchins said a loss in last year’s state finals motivated Drouin to work even harder heading into this season.

“He works hard in the practice room, with weights and with conditioning, and it shows on the mat,” Hutchins said. “Weight-wise, he is one of the smaller wrestlers in the 215-pound class as he only weighs in the low 190s, but he is one of the strongest kids out there and he refuses to give up anything.”

Drouin, a junior, compiled a 38-2 record this season, and has a 98-26 mark in his career.

“He has come a long way from a tough, but raw, middle schooler to become one of the top wrestlers in the state,” Hutchins said. As the champ, Drouin is invited to compete in the New England tournament on March 6-7 in New Haven, Conn.

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Bonny Eagle scored 69 points to take fourth place, behind Noble (170.5), Massabesic (155) and Cony (90). Skowhegan (54) rounded out the top five in a field that included 23 teams registering points.

It was the ninth championship in 11 seasons for Noble, which won eight in a row from 1999-2006 before finishing as runner-up to Massabesic the past two seasons.

Bonny Eagle’s Dalton Groeger finished as runner-up at 130 pounds and Stephen Martin did the same at 171 to lead the Scots, who also had three wrestlers in the consolation finals.

Groeger was pinned by Noble’s Jake Bagley at 2:39 in the championship finals. To reach that match, he breezed past Brewer’s Nate Davies, posting a 16-0 win on a technical fall. Next, he dispatched Erskine’s Aaron Taylor with a 13-2 major decision. Groeger won the West A regional title at 130 a week earlier.

Martin, the regional champ at 171, lost a narrow 6-5 championship-round decision to Morse’s Tyler Russell. He defeated Erskine’s Evan St. Jean by technical fall (17-2) in his opening match, then won a 9-3 decision over Mt. Ararat’s Zach Chandler to earn a spot in the finals.

Ryan Cook finished third at 119 for the Scots, topping Massabesic’s Peter LePage in a 4-0 decision in the consolation finals. Harrison Strondak of Westbrook took third at 152, winning a 6-3 decision against Massabesic’s Andrew Tripp in the consolation finals.

Dale Cabral (103) and Kevin Kinahan (140) both placed fourth for the Scots, losing close decisions in the consolation finals.

Also competing in Augusta for Bonny Eagle were Patrick Gallant (125), Troy Severance (145) and Tyler Meikle (285). All three wrestlers won at least one match on the day.

Cole Larrivee (140), Steve Sawyer (171) and Glenn Emery (112) all wrestled for Westbrook. Each also posted at least one victory. Larrivee upset Jake Oh of Mt. Ararat, the Eastern Maine champ, in his first match, before succumbing to a late pin by eventual runner-up Ben Valencia of Noble in his second match. Emery, after winning his first match in the consolation bracket, had to withdraw from the tournament at his coach’s urging because of a shoulder injury.


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