BUCKSPORT, Maine — Amid the effort by the community to redefine itself in the aftermath of the closing of its paper mill comes a return to tradition.
That’s the case at Bucksport High School, where a Golden Bucks’ wrestling program that not long ago flirted with elimination is experiencing a renaissance.
In a sport that is experiencing declining participation statewide — enough so that wrestling’s three classes were reduced to two last winter — Bucksport has gone from a roster numbering in the single digits two years ago to a healthy, 25-member contingent able to fill all 14 weight classes this season.
And while individual standouts will emerge throughout the winter, second-year head coach Dan Ormsby is selling the team concept as pivotal to wrestling success at his alma mater.
“You make it a culture. You make wrestling like a club where everybody wants to be part of something greater than themselves, and that’s what’s drawing kids to the team,” Ormsby, a 2000 BHS graduate who won the Class C 275-pound state championship as a senior, said.
“We have a lot of fun, too. And if you make wrestling about team instead of just something individual, then everyone has something to work toward.”
That includes the pursuit of individual state titles for some wrestlers, but smaller successes can be just as important to team success, Ormsby said.
“We talk a lot in the room about even if a guy is 1-7 if it gets to tournament time, and he’s able to keep himself off his back (not get pinned) or is able to make that extra effort, those are team points he’s able to keep away from other people.
“Instead of just wrestling for himself, he’s wrestling for his 25 teammates and the coaches who are there, and it’s exciting for everybody.”
Ormsby, who coached at Ellsworth High School before taking the Bucksport post in 2015, acknowledges the physical demands of the sport during his recruiting efforts.
“Wrestling is not an easy sport, and part of putting that out there is to make kids feel good about the fact that they’re doing what I believe is the hardest sport a high school offers,” he said. “You are the elite of the elite when it comes to athletes in your school, and I think kids are proud of that and want to be part of it.”
Ormsby and his coaching staff of other former Bucksport wrestlers Shawn Costigan, Rob Perkins and David Gross also are working together to develop the youth and middle-school ranks — 40 kids in grades five to eight wrestled last winter — into a cohesive program.
Gross, who along with Costigan also won individual state championships during their wrestling days at Bucksport, is the middle-school head coach.
“We’re trying to set up the program so it’s one solid team from the time they’re in youth wrestling all the way through high school,” Ormsby said.
Several top members of last year’s 14-member high school team that placed fourth at the Penobscot Valley Conference championships are back to lead the squad. They include senior captain Brody Boynton (160 pounds), junior captain Foster Ashmore (120), sophomore captain Ricky Perkins (138) and junior Devin Darveau (145).
Among newcomers to the program are freshman David Gross, the son of the assistant coach and a middle-school state champion last winter, who will compete at 275 pounds.
Bucksport aspires to vie for top honors in the PVC and Class B North this winter against the likes of defending state champion Foxcroft Academy of Dover-Foxcroft and neighboring Ellsworth along with Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference contenders Winslow and Belfast.
Ellsworth boasts a pair of two-time state champions in senior Trent Goodman and junior Peyton Cole, while Foxcroft graduated four individual state champions but return such state-meet placers as juniors Brandon Weston and R.J. Nelson.
The Golden Bucks are hosting the Class B state championships on Feb. 18, 2017, an event Ormsby sees as not only beneficial to the Bucksport program but also as another chance for the community to capitalize on an influx of people to the area.
“Bucksport has a strong tradition of wrestling,” Ormsby said. “It’s amazing now that the team’s starting to get bigger I’m starting to see faces that were here when I was wrestling coming back to watch the meets.
“Hopefully all those people show up at the state championship meet, and we can do something special here at Bucksport.”
