When you look back at the beginning of the season, Lisbon wrestling looked like it would have another rebuilding year before they could compete for another state title. Walking into the first practice I saw a lot of things, there were my four fellow seniors, a group of talented juniors, and some promising freshmen. After defeating our three biggest rivals, Dirigo, Foxcroft, and Dexter, in our first meet we knew there was a lot in store for us in the season.
Although things took a big turn after we had people quit and lost others to ineligibility, we were giving up three weight classes every week before anyone took one step onto the mat. As a team we were good, but having to rely on people getting pins in order to win became difficult. However, with the help of our coach, Mark Stevens, we were able to do more than what was expected of us. Going into big tournaments like the Noble Invitational and Essex Tournament in Vermont, not a lot was thought of our small team, but after getting fourth at Noble and fifth at Essex we knew that we had a good team. Following a close loss to Mountain Valley at home, as a team we came together. Although we lost to Dirigo at the Western Maine Class C Regionals, every wrestler qualified for states.
With the leadership of three great coaches we went to Bangor with our sights set on winning the state title. At the end of the first day we were in second by a couple of points, but knew that the next round of wrestling would be huge. Following the end of the semi-finals we had an astonishing eight wrestlers in the finals with two more in the consolation finals, and we were in first place. When Cam Bubar, who was the sole freshmen on the team, and Mike Bolduc, who hadn’t wrestled in two years, both took thirds, all that was needed was one finals win and we would win the championship. At the start of the finals everyone was pumped and ready to go out and leave everything on the mat in hopes of winning. Jeff Cossar started off at the 103 pound weight class with a win over an opponent whom he had lost to at the meets leading to states. Tyler Clark was the next to wrestle and defeated Colby Johnson of Foxcroft to earn his first state title and his 100th career win. Dan Cornell and Ryan Giusto each lost hard-fought matches at 130 and 135, both receiving a respectable second place finish. Andrew Dubois was the next to wrestle at 152 and he quickly dispatched his opponent to win a state title. Next up was Dubois wrestling partner Nick Adams who beat Devan Brann of Dirigo 1-0 to finish his season on a high note.
The big guys ended the night with very hard match-ups against two defending state champions from Foxcroft. Mark Stambach lost in a very hard match to James Mcphee, but proved he would be someone to watch next year. Elijah Trefts made his first state finals appearance in his short career and impressed people, losing to a two time state champ and nationally ranked wrestler Josh Pelliter by one point, which is very respectable considering Elijah has only been wrestling for a little more than two years. At the end of the night, Lisbon Wrestling won it’s fourth state title in the last six years. We came together as a team and proved everybody wrong by winning states. This year Lisbon has dominated by winning three state championships in three different sports with hopes of more to come.
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