WATERBORO — Never fear, Massabesic High School’s wrestling performance has not suffered from lack of ring-time early in the season. Like many high school sports teams this winter, Massabesic wrestling is getting off to a late start due to snow rescheduling, but the delay hardly seems to hassle this well-grounded wrestling community.

Boomeranging back from the disadvantage of less time in competition early in the season, Massabesic topped visiting Biddeford 51-30 Wednesday night. 

“Actually, for not wrestling that much, the kids looked hungry and they looked ready to wrestle because we’ve been snowed out of a few matches already. I think we’re two to three matches away from where we normally are,” said head coach Richard DeRosier.

Even Biddeford fans raved about Massabesic wrestler Kaysia Carroll’s performance. Carroll pinned Connor Nguyen (Thornton Academy) at 4:32 in the third period of the JV 160 weight. 

The strength of Massabesic wrestling cannot be judged just by statistics, but by the depth of the wrestling family this community has gathered. Out here, they don’t just play the short-term game. These folks are invested for the long haul. 

The Massabesic Youth Wrestling Club (MYWC) has to practice in split-shifts due to the amount of children enrolled in the program. The MYWC trains wrestlers as young as pre-K and the coaches are all volunteers, parents, and community members who donate their time to further the goals of these tiny terrors.

In the interest of preparing both high schoolers and youth wrestlers for the next step, Massabesic Youth Wrestling will host the Alex Holland Pre-Season Tournament on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017, starting at 9:30 a.m. through the afternoon. The tournament is named in honor of late Assistant Wrestling Coach, Alex Holland, who passed on in October. 

The MYWC will donate half the profits to the MHS Wrestling team, who will serve as referees for the tournament for their younger counterparts. 

Coach DeRosier has been coaching Carroll and her brother Mathew Carroll, “since they were knee-high to a grasshopper,” according to Massabesic Assistant Coach Peter Gilman.

There are currently about 50 children in the youth program. The hope is that they all stay together and graduate into the high school team. 

“We try to work a lot with our youth team to make sure they stay with it, come through, and get up to the high school level where they can really achieve something,” said Assistant Coach Peter Gilman.

The Mustangs are building a program with a long-term eye to success with substantial passion invested in their youth.