FRYEBURG – On a day with few surprises, Ernie Matthews was initially shocked by the reaction to his pin of Lincoln Academy’s Derek Juchnik in the 130-pound final of the Western Class B wrestling regionals.

Matthews got up from the mat to see his Mountain Valley teammates and fans waving “100” placards and hear an announcement congratulating him on his 100th career win.

“I didn’t know it was my 100th win,” Matthews admitted. “The coaches keep (your focus) away from that.”

The junior led a young Mountain Valley squad to the regional championship Saturday. The Falcons (204.5) outlasted defending champion York (185) and Wells (144). Oak Hill finished fourth with 120 points.

The Falcons qualified the same number of wrestlers for states as last year, when York stunned them in Rumford to break a string of four straight regional titles. They will have 12 wrestlers waiting on their home floor next Saturday when they try to defend their Class B title at Puiia Gymnasium. But a lot of the faces in the Falcon dozen will be unfamiliar ones.

“We’ve known in the past that (winning Western B) is a given, but since we have so many new people, we had to work hard to get this,” Matthews said.

“At the end of last week we challenged our kids. We were kind of upset that we lost our regional streak last year,” Dolloff said. “We’re hoping to start a new one with a bunch of young kids.

Mountain Valley’s deep freshman class showed Saturday it has the goods to generate another four-year run. Rookies Taylor Bradley (152) and Eddie Estes (160) picked up regional titles, while Ryan Burgess (103), Cody Magoon (119), Josh Allen and Stephen Jeselskis wrestled on the championship mat. Fellow freshman Josh Thornton (135) won his consolation final.

“Trying to get freshmen to focus is a little hard, but this is what we peak for all year,” Dolloff said.

Matthews claimed the Falcons’ first title of the day by pinning Juchnik in 52 seconds. Now he’s looking forward to a possible rematch with Camden Hills’ Murphy McGowan, who handed him his only loss of the season in their two meetings.

“I feel wicked good going into states,” he said. “He’s the first seed on the other side, so it’s going to be me and him in the finals. That’s a big match right there.”

“I’ve been coaching for 20 years and that’s the first time I’ve had a junior pick up his 100th victory for Mountain Valley,” Dolloff said. “Next year, he’ll be knocking off some win records for Mountain Valley.”

Senior Derek Sicotte (140) beat Ryan Vartanian of Wells for the third straight Saturday to pick up the Falcons’ second individual crown. T.J. Burgess, another senior, reached the 125 final before bowing to York’s Billy Gauthier via pin. Sophomores Matt Duka (145 runner-up) and Brian Cogley (171 fourth place) also picked up important points.

“The semifinals was a big round for us,” Dolloff said. “We put 10 kids through, and I knew York and Wells would come back through the consolation and put the pressure on us again. Getting to the finals, the kids wrestled well.”

Oak Hill will send nine wrestlers to Rumford, led by 189-pound champion Robert Little, who pinned Allen in 3:40.

“I basically wanted to slow the match down and make him work at my pace,” said Little, a senior who finished fifth last year. “I’d wait for him to make a mistake or wait for him to come at me and just make sure that I don’t make a mistake and watch for when he did and take advantage of it.”

Craig Morrill (112), Camerone LeBrecque (135), Tim Blais (160), Clyde Tibbetts (171) and Zak Bergeron (215) reached their respective finals. Ben Deschaine (125), Mike Hamm (140) and Dillon Tibbetts (145) are also headed to Rumford.

Host Fryeburg Academy qualified four wrestlers, led by 285-pound champion Jess Sawin, who pinned Jeselskis in 43 seconds.