HOWLAND, Maine — Developing quality depth has been at the core of a generation of wrestling success at Foxcroft Academy.
But the Ponies may have taken that skill to a new level Saturday while capturing their third consecutive Penobscot Valley Conference championship at Sereyko Gymnasium on the campus of Penobscot Valley High School.
Foxcroft churned out 174 points to top second-place Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln by 40 points in the 14-school field. Ellsworth (128), Dexter (117) and Bucksport (60) rounded out the top five.
Thirteen of the 14 Foxcroft wrestlers who competed earned top-four finishes in their respective weight classes, including two junior varsity wrestlers pressed into varsity duty just this week.
Sophomore Jake Ireland’s fourth-place finish at 145 pounds and freshman Sam Robinson’s fourth at 170 magnified the numbers game that has combined with considerable individual talent over the years to key the Ponies’ consistency near the top of the Class C and now Class B rankings under veteran head coach Luis Ayala.
“Going in we had no idea what to expect,” said Foxcroft senior R.J. Nelson, who pinned his three opponents on the day to win the 132-pound class and now has more than 150 career victories for the Ponies. “We had some setbacks during the week so we weren’t at full strength but we had a couple of JV guys step up that normally aren’t in the starting lineup and they placed, they did a great job.
“We thought it was going to be close, but we made it happen.”
Ireland dropped his opening match to three-time defending state champion Peyton Cole of Ellsworth but came back through the consolation bracket to win two matches before falling to Caribou’s Evan Michaud in the third-place bout.
Robinson similarly dropped his first match to eventual tournament runner-up Josiah Brown of Washington Academy in East Machias before rebounding to reach the consolation final at 170.
“Here we were looking at kids we really weren’t counting on today and they really stepped up,” said Ayala. “It was great to see. We’re a very young team but we’ve really come a long ways. I can’t tell you how proud I am of these kids.”
Nelson and Isaiah Ames at 182 pounds won individual championships for the Ponies while Rico Ayala (113), Dustin Simmons (160) and Joshua Whittemore (195) captured runner-up finishes.
The Ponies got third-place efforts from Austin Jackson (106), Grady Reardon (120), A.J. Atkinson (152) and Jared Atkinson (285) and additional fourths from Brandon Weston (126) and Garrett Cooley (220).
Mattanawcook and Ellsworth each had a meet-high three individual champions on the day. MA got firsts from Deagan Eastman at 126 pounds, Dominic Libbey at 152 and Ben Fiske at 285, while Ellsworth’s individual champions were Cole at 145, Logan Lord at 138 and Christopher Barnes at 195.
Second-place finishes by Travis Mushero at 132 and Dakota Page at 220, along with a third from Clyde Carr at 113 and a fourth from Dakota Doane at 138 helped Mattanwcook edge Ellsworth for second place.
“To be honest, Dexter and (Foxcroft) were watching each other so I hoped we could be that darkhorse that slipped in between without anybody seeing us, and we did all right,” said MA coach Matt Lindsay. “It was a good motivational boost for my guys. The last few weeks we’ve been plagued with some injuries and I had one still out today with a concussion, so I thought we wrestled really well today.”
Ellsworth also got a second from Landon St. Peter at 106, thirds from Andrew Brown (160), Sam Horne (170) and Chuck Hughes (182) and a fourth from Matt Reid (113).
Dexter and Penobscot Valley each crowned two individual champions, with Caleb Weeks (120) and Tyler Beem (160) victorious for Dexter while Codi Sirois (113) and Joseph Tuulima (220) topped the podium for PVHS.
Other weight-class winners were Travis Hutchinson of Bucksport (106) and Zachary Wilson of Piscataquis of Guilford (170).
Bucksport’s Devin Darveau, who finished second to Cole at 145 pounds, secured his 100th career victory earlier in the meet.
The PVC wrestling teams will move on to the Class B North regional next Saturday at Mount View High School in Thorndike, with the Class B states to follow Feb. 17 at Wells High School.
