FARMINGTON – A foursome of unbeaten individuals, led by co-captains Travis Child (130-pounds) and Travis Dragoon (189), paved the way as Mountain Valley utilized several quick pins to soar past Mt. Blue 57-21 in a wrestling meet Saturday.

The Falcons proved to be nearly unstoppable as they also beat Lincoln Academy 66-12, Cony 63-18 and Oak Hill 78-6.

Class A Mt. Blue (4-2) also enjoyed a good outing behind brothers Shane and Seth Webber (130 and 135 pounds) in beating KVAC opponents Oak Hill 70-6, Cony 60-18 and Lincoln Academy 57-24.

The most outstanding performances were clearly by Child who won decisions against David Gregory of Lincoln and Shane Webber. The Falcon standout attributed his success this season to a strong conditioning program.

Gregory, a 2002 state champion, tied the match at 4-4 to force overtime and neither could score a takedown. In the second extra session, Child exploded to escape in five seconds for a 5-4 win. Webber had taken a 4-3 lead, but Child used hips to tilt Webber just inside the out-of-bounds line, for a two-point near fall with 30 seconds left in the match.

“I knew that I had to get out,” Child said. “(David) Gregory is a good wrestler and I was very surprised that he took (offensive position). I’ve won a lot of close matches this season, but coach works us hard in practices and it has paid off. In the Webber match, I just kept moving and (Webber) wasn’t as active in the third period.”

Mountain Valley won five of the first seven bouts against the Cougars, including pins by Mike Hanson (flash at 215), David Smith (8-0 at 275), Mike Gilbert (103) and Devon Roberts (125). The Cougars received pins by Chris Embleton (head and arm at 119) and Seth Webber, but the Falcons pulled away.

“Mountain Valley started out strong against us,” Mt. Blue coach Nate Platt said. “We did have a couple kids missing who could have made a difference. We still have room to improve. We’re developing a trust between the coaches and wrestlers because this is our first year and former coach Nate Phillips had done a lot in building the program up.”

Cougar freshmen Kateleen Roberts and Gary Begin pinned opponents at 103 and 112, respectively.

An interesting competition developed at 171 with four wrestlers as Chris Smith (8-0) proved superior. The Mountain Valley state championed pinned Brandon Simmons of LA and Schyler Gagnon of Oak Hill.

Josh Haines of Mt. Blue injured his shoulder while pinning Gagnon who had been previously unbeaten. The Cougars’ Sheldon Allen (160) decisioned Chris Brenick of Mountain Valley 13-12. Brennick came back with his unorthodox style to win twice, highlighted by a come-from-behind 12-7 decision against Oxford Hills’ Cameron Swett.

“It was a successful day for us,” Falcons coach Gary Dolloff said. “We only had one day of practice this week, so I told the kids to be aggressive today. The head and arm was the move of the day for us because we had a lot of pins.”

Class B Oak Hill (2-8) had wins by Nikole Lemay (twice at 112), Joe Wysocki 119 and Swett. Unfortunately, the short-handed Raiders lost four meets.

“It’s tough forfeiting weight classes,” Oak Hill coach Ric Swett said. “Your asking all the rest to win, but the kids that I do have are all working hard.”

The Falcons’ Aaron Arsenault and Ben Madigan won three matches each at 140 and 152. Brandon Bradley used a tight lateral to stick Neil Wright of Lincoln.

Cody Myers of Cony forced Dragoon to go the distance for the first time this season.

“That was a tough match,” Dragoon admitted. “It showed me that I really need to be prepared for every match.”

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