PORTLAND — Three Kennebunk wrestlers won by fall on Wednesday night as the visiting Rams cruised to a 39-24 win over Portland.

“The kids wrestled pretty well today,” said Kennebunk coach Steve Young, who thought his kids came ready to wrestle. “We had one of our best practices I’ve had as a coach in three years on Tuesday night, so that gave me a lot of confidence coming in today with what they could do on the mat … I’m very happy.”

The bout started at 138 pounds and Cam Fenderson would get the Rams off to a strong start as he picked up a pin in 3:18 to open a 6-0 lead.

Portland’s Zach Elowitch would answer as he picked up a fall at 145 pounds to tie the score at 6-6.

The host Bulldogs would then take their first lead of the match as they received a forfeit at 152 pounds to make it 12-6, but Kennebunk would answer right away.

The Rams tied the match at 12-12 with a fall from Jared Dyer at 160 pounds in 2:31.

Portland answered right back as Clautel Buba won by fall at 170 pounds to make it 18-12 in favor of the Bulldogs.

That would be the last time the Bulldogs would hold a lead as Kennebunk took advantage of three straight forfeits – accepted by Griffin Broughton (182), Pat Saunders (195) and Chase Lamontagne (220) – to take a 30-18 lead.

Following double forfeits at 285 and 106 pounds, the Rams would put the match out of reach thanks to a pin from freshman Alden Shields at 113 pounds.

Young was impressed with Shields, who had bumped up from his normal 106-pound weight class to wrestle Portland’s Omar Daud.

“He’s a tough kid, he’s a freshman, so we have him for three more years, which is great,” said Young of Shields. “He’s normally our 106, but since they didn’t have one, we bumped him (up) to wrestle a pretty good 113 that they have and he wrestled him very well.”

Following another double forfeit at 120 pounds, the Rams picked up their last win of the night when Cole Dickinson picked up a 5-2 victory over Qasim Abdullah to extend the lead to 39-18.

Portland closed out the match with a win by fall from Ben Levine at 132 pounds.

Young has been impressed with how well his underclassmen – including Shields, Fenderson and Dickinson – have stepped up this season.

“Being so young, it’s nice to see how the kids have really grown from the beginning of year to where we are now,” said Young, who believes his team is peaking at the right time. “The kids are finally falling into their weights and really doing some good things for us.”

With the regional tournament less than two weeks away, Young is hoping that his kids will continue to wrestle up to their potential.

“I think we are competitive, especially with how young we are and with the weight classes we are missing. I can see us, if they wrestle the way they can, in the top five, but definitely top six or top seven,” said Young of his team’s chances at the always tough Class A South regional meet. “It all depends on what Kennebunk kids show up. If they show up like they did today, it could be a very good day for us.”

Kennebunk will close out the regular season at Bonny Eagle on Saturday morning in a tri-meet with Windham.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @ JournalTsports.