SOUTH BERWICK — Marshwood and Noble may have dominated the team race at Saturday’s Class A South Regional Wrestling Championships, but wrestlers from Biddeford, Kennebunk, Massabesic and Sanford made plenty of noise and 19 local grapplers will be heading to the state tournament.

Massabesic led the local contingent as Leo Amabile and Matt Carroll both won individual crowns to lead the Mustangs to a third-place finish behind the champion Hawks and runner-up Knights.

Amabile pinned his way into the 106-pound regional final as his first two matches lasted just over one minute combined.

The Massabesic standout would continue his pinning ways in the finals as he decked Noble’s Duncan McGilvery in 3:41 to capture his first regional title.

“It feels pretty good … hard work paying off, finally,” said Amabile, who thought getting quick pins in the quarterfinals and semifinals was key to his regional title run. “I think it went well. Getting the pins early, and getting on and off the mat, was really crucial for the finals, just to save my energy.”

Massabesic coach Rick DeRosier wasn’t surprised to see Amabile roll through the regional tournament.

“He’s a leader and a captain,” said DeRosier. “He knows what it takes out there on the mat and he does a lot of wrestling in the offseason, so he’s a true varsity wrestler.”

Amabile will be one of the favorites – along with Class A North and two-time defending state champ Cody Craig of Skowhegan – at Saturday’s state tournament.

“The goal is to just take it one match at a time, try to win every match and hopefully come out on top,” said Amabile.

The Massabesic junior is thrilled to be going to states with six teammates.

“It feels good that we can do it as a team and hopefully, as a team, progress and hopefully get up into the top five,” said Amabile.

Carroll also pinned his first two opponents on Saturday to earn a trip to the 195-pound final against Biddeford’s Shayne Welch.

The two locals were locked in an intense battle before Carroll was able to put Welch on his back and get a pin at the 4:31 mark.

“That was a really good match. He wrestled smart,” said DeRosier of Carroll.

The Mustangs also had five wrestlers capture third-place finishes to advance to Saturday’s state meet.

Kevin Nguyen (113), Ethan Huff (126), Noah McGrath (132), Logan Martin (152) and Noah Schneider (182) all dropped one match at regionals, but would battle back to finish third.

DeRosier was happy to get seven wrestlers through the tough Class A South regional – and the longtime coach knows that qualifying for states is half the battle.

“Once you get there, anything can happen,” said DeRosier of the state meet.

Sanford came home with a fourth-place finish on Saturday despite only qualifying three wrestlers for the state meet.

The Spartans were led by sophomore Nick Works, who captured the 220-pound title with a pin of Marshwood’s Zach Eastman in just 54 seconds.

“It feels good,” said Works, who is hoping to make some noise at states. “I’m going to shoot for the finals.”

Sanford coach Nate Smith gave credit to assistant coach Brent Coleman for helping Works perfect the throw, which he used to get the pin in the finals.

“My assistant, Brent, has been working with him on those throws all year … that’s what he does, he’s been getting better and better at those throws, having coach drill with him has helped him out quite a bit,” said Smith.

Also advancing for the Spartans were Sam Anderson, who finished second to Marshwood’s Justin Stacy at 182 pounds, and Milton McCabe, who was fourth at 145 pounds.

Biddeford had a solid showing as the Tigers finished fifth as a team and will send five wrestlers to Saturday’s state tournament.

Leading the way for Biddeford were runner-ups Welch and freshman Josiah Garcia, who made an impressive run to the finals of the 132-pound bracket.

“It’s really big,” said Biddeford coach Steve Vermette of Garcia’s performance. “He’s a tough kid and he gets better week after week after week. I have been really impressed with him this year.”

Vermette was also happy with Welch’s regional performance and believes his 195-pounder could turn the tables on Carroll at states.

“I think it could (have gone) either way, so if they see each other again, I think it will be a good match,” said Vermette.

Dwayne Dyer (138), Trey Burnham (220) and Chris Lantagne (285) all finished third to qualify for states.

“It feels good. I went to states last year and it was kind of like a stepping stone kind of deal,” said Dyer, who is hoping to use the experience from last year to earn a spot on the podium this season. “Hopefully (I can) place, so I can continue to All-States and just to continue to wrestle my best.”

Dyer, who is hoping to close out his senior year strong, credits the Tigers’ wrestling room for preparing him for this moment.

“We have a hard wrestling room, everyone comes and wrestles their best,” said Dyer.

Kennebunk’s young squad also had a strong day at regionals with freshman 106-pounder Alden Shields and junior 195-pounder Pat Saunders leading the way with third-place finishes. The Rams will also send fourth-place finishers Cole Dickinson (126) and Jared Dyer (160) to states.

“We had a couple disappointing losses today, a couple kids that I thought would make it that aren’t going, but all in all, I thought the kids wrestled pretty well. We have four going next week, which is a lot better than we did last year,” said Kennebunk coach Steve Young.

Shields, who locked up a near-side cradle to pin Marshwood’s Liam Coomey in the third-place bout, is thrilled to be heading to states in his first varsity season.

“I’m definitely really excited. I think it’s a huge accomplishment to be able to go to states as a freshman,” said Shields.

Young was impressed with how Shields kept his composure despite trailing Coomey throughout the entire match.

“The thing with Alden, he was kind of getting ahead of himself in a couple situations, but in the end, he finally put it together, finally got to where he needed to go, locked up that nice cradle, put him to his back and got the stick. In the end, it doesn’t matter what the score is, if you get that pin, the pin is going to win the match and he gutted it out,” said Young.

The other Class A South champions were Marshwood’s Kyle Glidden (113), Gardiner’s Peter Delgallo (120), Noble’s Jake Martel (126), Marshwood’s Brad Beaulieu (132), Marshwood’s Aiden Whitis (138), Noble’s Josh Grenier (145), Portland’s Zach Elowitch (152), York/Traip’s Josh Smith (160), Noble’s Otto Keiser (170) and Deering’s Michael Darling (285).

The Class A tournament will start at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at Noble High School in North Berwick.

— 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.