By the time Nate Pelletier walked into the locker room at Brunswick High School Thursday, his team’s victory was already in his rearview mirror.

He congratulated his team but quickly turned his attention to Saturday’s opponent, Morse. Though his Oxford Hills girls toppled top-seeded Brunswick, 52-42, he wanted to make sure his Vikings kept the win in perspective.

“The confidence level is up right now, but there’s a long way to,” he said afterwards. “I have a feeling this Brunswick team is going to go pretty far. Who knows, we may see them again. You never know what can happen. We still have Skowhegan, Edward Little. Any team on our schedule is a tough game for us, and we know it. We have to be ready to play.”

The defending Eastern A champs had reason to be pleased with what it saw against the Dragons. The Vikings defense was tremendous, frustrating the Dragons and neutralizing its post advantage. Oxford Hills showed poise and intensity in a big game, reminiscent of last year’s post season run in which the Vikings beat higher-ranked Lawrence and Cony.

Oxford Hills also saw its offense execute one of its best games. Megan Joyce and Laura Courcy excelled in the post. Melanie Cloutier and Lauren Brett supplied outside shooting while Lindsay Fox was able to penetrate. The Vikings also got superb efforts off the bench from Megan Gauger, Caitlin Hanley, Allison Nolan and Mindy Rugg.

“All year our 3-point shot hasn’t been great,” said Pelletier. “The last couple of games it has started to turn on. That makes us very dangerous. We have an inside presence and now we have an outside presence. And, we have that composure. We’ve been in those big games and know how to deal with them. That helps.”

Welcome mat

The holidays are tournament season in high school wrestling. In fact, just about every weekend in December offers local grapplers a chance to test their mettle against the top competition from all three classifications in Maine and around New England.For Ernie Matthews of Mountain Valley and Joe Doughty of Lisbon, that sequence of all-star showcases unfolded perfectly.

Matthews, a state champion in 2006 and runner-up last season, won all four of his tournaments in the 135-pound class. Doughty was 3-for-3 in capturing tourney titles at 215.

Mountain Valley’s anchor enjoyed the distinction of pinning each of his four opponents in the finals. Matthews stuck Bryan Anderson of Noble in the finals of last weekend’s Redskin Invitational at Sanford. Earlier, he mowed through Bruce Rumney of Bucksport in the Wells Atlantic Tournament, local rival Brandon Jonaitis of Dirigo in the Falcons’ own McDonald’s Tournament, and Derek True of Mt. Ararat in the Westbrook tourney.

Doughty was equally efficient for the reigning Class C champion Greyhounds. In the 21-team Sanford event, he hammered out a decision over Richard Read of North Providence, R.I. Doughty also pinned Adam Hathorne of Oak Hill at Wells and earned a victory over the route against Belfast’s Mark Smith in Rumford.

Devils’ point men

As the reigning KVAC champions and winners of a consolation final at the Class A state championship swim meet last winter, Lewiston rightly wonders, why mess with success?

While rival teams might be juggling their relay combinations in regular-season meets, hoping to find the perfect grouping for the upcoming slate of postseason competitions, the Blue Devils flaunted the same foursome for three team events in Friday night’s meet against Winslow.

The results were efficient and unchanging. Seniors Derek Morris and David Tirabassi, junior Kurtis Stocker and sophomore Colby Miles swept their showdowns, prevailing with ease in the 200-yard medley relay and 200 and 400 freestyle relays.

Miles is the only newcomer to the group after the loss of Patrick Roy to graduation.

Lewiston dominated the dual meet, sweeping all boys’ races and winning everything but the 100 butterfly on the girls’ side. Multiple girls’ event winners for the Devils included Katie Tirabassi, Liza Sirois, Amy Morin, Chelsey Provencher and Jenny Bergeron.

You figure it out

As convoluted as the KVAC basketball scene is right now, you aren’t going to find many of the state’s hockey coaches to sympathize with the roundballers.

“This is all over the map,” St. Dom’s coach Steve Ouellette said.

St. Dom’s, which will face Lewiston again this week, defeated the Blue Devils 7-1 last time the two teams took the ice together at the Colisee.

Since then, Lewiston has tied Brewer, and defeated Falmouth, 5-0. That Falmouth team ran over St. Dom’s.

“There’s a chance that the winner in Western Class A has four, five even six losses,” Ouellette said.

In another recent twist, Brewer, which upended Falmouth, lost to Waterville for the Witches’ first loss of the season. Previously, Falmouth had handed Waterville its only loss on the season.

Scarborough, which lost to Class B Cape Elizabeth, hasn’t lost to anyone else, and will travel to Lewiston Monday to face the Saints. Just don’t ask either of the coaches who’s going to win.

Nordic fun comes in waves

It’s a fun time of year to be a high school cross country skier in Maine. January offers a break from the usual competition and gives skiers a chance to take on different competition in a variety of unique formats.

The Black Mountain Sprints kicked off the month, followed by the Hornet Classic at Leavitt, then the Mt. Blue Waves, the Telstar Relays, the Maranacook Waves, the Leavitt Invitational and the Oxford Hills Sprint.

The Maranacook Waves, to be held on Jan. 17 in Readfield, may be the most popular event. Not only is it one of the biggest events on the cross country skiing schedule, drawing close to 400 racers, but it gives competitors a true test against their closest peers.

“There are so many schools that go to to that,” said Mt. Blue sophomore Shelby Aseltine. “It’s really fun because they send you out in your class, so you have all of the seniors go out with seniors, all of the sophomores go out with sophomores … You get to see what it’s going to be like your senior year.”