AUGUSTA – The Class A state wrestling championships were notable for Noble’s seventh straight championship and some outstanding individual performances, but they were just four seconds away from being historic.
The Knights sent 14 wrestlers and all 14 had a hand in the 165.5 points they collected at the Augusta Civic Center Saturday night. Marshwood finished second with 140.5 points. The rivals each placed six wrestlers in the finals, but, trailing by 32 points, the Hawks needed to win all of their matches and needed the Knights to lose all of theirs to pull off the upset.
“We only ended up winning one of them, but some of their kids got beat too,” said Noble coach Kip DeVoll. “It worked out right for us. We built up a big enough lead throughout the day and that’s all we needed to finally finish it off.”
Bonny Eagle (65), Sanford (63) and Deering (61.5) rounded out the top five.
Mt. Blue (56) finished sixth, thanks in part to Shane Webber defending his crown at 135. Oxford Hills (36) placed 10th with the help of Cory Smith’s championship in the 189 class.
Marshwood’s Deanna Rix (130) missed out on becoming the first female in Maine to win a state title by just a hair. Her match went to double overtime and Sanford’s Shane Leadbetter escaped with just four seconds left to earn the title.
Rix’ second place finish is still the highest finish for a female at the state meet, eclipsing Jen Wormwood of Oxford Hills, who finished third in 2001.
Webber finished his high school career with a 10-7 decision over Noble’s Mike McCrillis.
“I just wanted to stay aggressive on my feet, control the match at my own speed and whenever he scored, make sure I got some more back to counter it,” Webber said.
“He’s so tough on top,” said Mt. Blue coach Shane McNear. “He’s aggressive on his feet but he’s so tough on top because he stays so tight to people’s hips. He doesn’t give them a lot of leeway to move around and get off bottom.”
Webber’s younger brother, Sam, a freshman, made it to the finals at 112 pounds but lost to Deering’s Chris Smith, 7-3.
“I’m just really happy for him,” McNear said of the younger Webber. “He wrestled solid matches coming through and into the finals.”
Smith, the Vikings’ only finalist, executed a takedown on Jack McDonough of Bonny Eagle inside the final five seconds of the match two walk away with a 7-5 decision.
“It’s just a shock right now. I can’t believe it,” he said. “At the last second, getting that takedown, it couldn’t have been better.”
“(McDonough) is wicked strong,” he added. “I tried to stay away from him, keep him an arm’s length away. That way he couldn’t get his muscle into me.”
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