Hannah Perro, right, and Parker Theriault of Mattanawcook/PVHS size each other up during a 100-pound preliminary round match at the girls state wrestling championships. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

FARMINGTON — Joe Eon couldn’t calm his nerves.

His Massabesic team was the favorite entering the Maine State Girls Wrestling Championship on Tuesday afternoon at Mt. Blue High, but the Mustangs still needed to get the job done on the mat.

“I was nervous all day, just checking that (team) score,” said Eon, the team’s head coach. “Just making sure that we would control what we could control. There were some matches that didn’t go our way that we made up for in the consolation rounds.”

The Mustangs scored 127.5 points to win the team championship, holding off Mt. Blue (107) and Belfast (83.5). Massabesic is the state’s second team champion for the tournament, which began with competition for individual wrestlers in 2019. Noble (74), which finished fourth Tuesday, won the inaugural team title last year.

“It’s awesome, it feels great,” Eon said. “We’ve been working all year for this, and we knew we had the lineup and the (talent) to do it. We just had to perform, and they performed awesome.”

The Mustangs were led by sisters Nevaeh and Sophie Grunhuvd, who won the 132-pound and 138-pound championships. Both juniors, the sisters moved to Maine from Montana last year.

“It’s good (to win), it feels really good,” Nevaeh Grunhuvd said.

Nevaeh Grunhuvd beat Kylie Biter of Oxford Hills by a second-period pin to win the 132-pound championship, using a half nelson for the victory.

“(I treated it) like any other match, just going one point at a time,” Nevaeh Grunhuvd said. “Just keep it simple, don’t do anything crazy. I did get a little ahead of myself and started speeding up, sliding all over the mat … I just had to go one point at a time, and knew I could get there.

“We were very confident (as a team),” she continued. “Coming in as a team (to states), seeing how far they had come from last year to this year, I knew we’d do really well.”

Minutes later, Sophie Grunhuvd beat Maxine Spencer of Erskine Academy by a second-period pin, using a chicken wing maneuver to turn Spencer on her shoulders, where she was unable to escape.

“I had wrestled (Spencer) a few times during the season,” Sophie Grunhuvd said. “I was going to try out some new moves (on her) during my match.”

Massabesic also had second-place finishes from junior Savannah Thyng (120) and senior Olivia Goodrich (152).

Mt. Blue put up a good chase. The Cougars picked up two individual titles, one by freshman Kaydn Hansen — daughter of head coach Mike Hansen — who beat Ciara Farias of Gardiner with a 15-0 technical fall for the 114-pound championship.

“I know a lot of girls on the Massabesic team,” Hansen said. “When they came in, I knew Massabesic was the heavy favorite. Of course, I didn’t go around parading that to everyone, but I knew. They’re a great team, worthy opponents, and they made us work our butt off to chase them down. We knew what we were up against, and the team performed how they should have, so I’m happy with it.”

Minutes later, Mt. Blue junior Brooklynn Webber won the 126-pound title in the match of the day, holding off Piper Leone of Belfast by a 13-8 score. Leone, a sophomore, trailed 11-2 entering the third period, but reversed a pin attempt from Webber and nearly pulled off a reverse half nelson pin of her own. Webber managed to break out of the hold just before the end of the period. It’s the second straight title for Webber, who won the 114-pound division last year.

“(Webber) likes to make it stressful for me, that’s for sure,” Hansen said. “Two-time state champion. She’s the leader of our team so we expect her to perform, and she did really well. She made it risky at the end but she still got it done.”

Belfast had a state champion in sophomore Zady Paige, who won the 165-pound title for the second straight year, beating Izzy Bertocchi of Maine Central Institute by a second-period pin.

Noble had repeat champions in Hannah Perro (100) and Delaney Frost (120). Perro, chosen as the meet’s outstanding wrestler, pinned Abigail Garland of Mt. Blue in the first period, and Frost beat Thyng by technical fall.

Other state champions included Catori Watson (107) of Mountain Valley, Martina Gili Fernandez (145) of MCI, Ava McGinnis (152) of Nokomis, Grace Jean (185) of Caribou and Lillian Soper of Bucksport (235).

There were 105 wrestlers, the highest in the tournament’s history, beating last year’s mark of 97.

“It’s a testament to the desire of the girls that want this (sport) to grow,” Hansen said. “Years ago, (the talk was), ‘There’s not enough girls, there’s not enough numbers.’ They’re here. We opened the door; we provide the opportunity and they are going to show up. And it’s only going to build. This is a girls sport, we just don’t tell them. Now they know.”