WELLS – The goal was to defend its regional title, and Mountain Valley figured it could do that against Wells and Oak Hill if it finished its victories early and finished its losses still upright on the mat.

The Falcons needed all of the pin points they could muster as they pulled out a 167-166 win over Oak Hill at Wells High School Saturday. It’s their second Western Class B title in a row and seventh in the last nine years. Wells finished third with 144 points.

“We pinned 13 of the first 14 matches, so those pin points really came in handy,” Mountain Valley coach Gary Dolloff said. “The kids wrestled all of the way through their matches and kept wrestling to get the team points.”

Ernie Matthews (135 pounds), Joshua Thornton (140) and Matt Duka (152) won individual titles for the Falcons. Ryan Burgess (103), Robert Worthley (112), Tim Ross (119), Joe Provencher (125), Taylor Carey (145) and John Durland (189) reached the championship round.

“John Durland not getting pinned saved us from tying,” he said. “Matt Duka, I told him he had to go out there and put six minutes together against a quality kid, and he won a tough match, a match that basically put us over the top.”

Matthews defended his regional title by getting Wells’ Matthew DiBona into a cradle and forcing a pin at 41 seconds. He clinched the fourth state meet berth in his career, where he hopes to erase losing last year’s final on a near-fall in the final five seconds and pick up the second state championship of his career.

“It’s definitely been driving me,” said Matthews, who won as a sophomore. “I feel very good. My conditioning is good. Coach has been pushing me a lot this year. Our whole team has done well on our conditioning.”

That may be one of the reasons the Falcons survived some tough losses before and during the season. In addition to graduating two seniors, including one state champion, they watched four other wrestlers who placed in last year’s state meet go down with injuries this year. But they were bolstered by a huge freshman class, including Carey, and with freshmen Dylan Gallant (130) and Brian Cogley (171) reaching the consolation round Saturday, Mountain Valley will send 11 competitors in all to next week’s state meet at Augusta.

“It was very disheartening at first,” Dolloff said of his team’s hard luck, “but the rest of the team came together. The freshmen were a big part of this team, so I’m very happy with the season, finishing 15-2 and Western Maine champs.”

Oak Hill will take nine wrestlers to the state meet, six of them as top seeds.

“Every kid on this team did everything they were expected to do, and we had a couple step up and do a little bit extra, so I can’t say anything about second place,” Oak Hill coach Shane Bouchard said.

A first-round pin by Joey Turcotte (145) over Garrett Perkins of Wells sent the Raiders on their way. Megan Hlister (112) later helped close a 16-point deficit to Mountain Valley with a consolation win.

Oak Hill won three of four head-to-head finals against Mountain Valley. Keith Madore (119) topped Ross, 5-1. Craig Morrill (125) decisioned Provencher, 12-1, and Nick Wells (189) beat Durland, 12-2. Adam Hathorne pinned Dustin Cream of Lincoln Academy in 2:48 for the 215 crown.

Brothers Dillon and Clyde Tibbetts won the 160 and 171-pound titles, respectively. It was the fourth time this season both had reached the finals this year. Dillon rallied to decision Ben Hecht of York, 6-3.

“He took me down, but in the second period I caught him near the end of the period, flipped him over and got my back points,” Dillon said. “That was pretty much the match after that.”

That put the pressure on Clyde, a 2007 state runner-up who was paired with Wells’ Mick Gregg in the next match.

“Usually one of us wins and the other will lose,” Clyde said.

Clyde ended that trend by pinning Gregg at 4:36, giving the brothers their first sweep of the season.

“The last time Clyde wrestled him, he only won by a point. It was a tight match the whole way through and he never got him on his back,” Bouchard said. “Clyde just took it to him this time.”

Ben Deschaine (130) and Mike Hamm (152) also scored for Oak Hill by reaching the finals.

“We’re going with six first seeds and two seconds. That’s really good as far as placement,” Bouchard said. We’re hoping that gets us some better semifinal match-ups. The east is deep, three or four deep in some weight classes.”

Jesse Sawin of Fryeburg Academy reached the 285 final before bowing to Stephen Johnson of Wells, 3-2.