FRYEBURG — After losing four starters in the three weeks leading up to the Western B wrestling finals, Mountain Valley proved there is no substitute for depth when the moment of truth arrived.

The Falcons picked up their third straight regional title at Fryeburg Academy on Saturday. Despite being shorthanded and claiming just one individual crown, they were never seriously challenged while qualifying nine wrestlers for next week’s state finals at Medomak Valley High School.

“Coming into it, I just told the kids to go out and have some fun and do the best they could,” Mountain Valley coach Gary Dolloff said. “To win this this year, it was a total team effort.”

Mountain Valley (145) topped host Fryeburg (132.5), Morse (129.5) and Wells (123.5). Oak Hill (122) finished fifth, but went home with the most individual champions, four, twice as many as any other team.

Oak Hill coach Shane Bouchard said he likes the momentum his squad built up for next week.

“I told the kids that after Mountain Valley, there’s us, Morse, Fryeburg and Wells somewhere two through five, and I said wherever you finish two through five really doesn’t matter for the next week,” Bouchard said. “I mean, we could be the best team from the West next week, Morse could be the next team from the West next week. Who knows? I think we’re set up really well for the states with four regional champs and a runner-up.”

Mike Hamm led the Raiders’ championship quartet with an upset over Mountain Valley’s Matt Duka at 160. After losing to Duka in the regional and state meets last year, the junior vowed to get in the win column against the No. 1 seed this year.

“I don’t know what it was. I guess today was my day, and it’s really great,” Hamm said.

Oak Hill’s coaches stressed the importance of getting the first takedown against Duka, which Hamm did, then waited patiently for his next opportunity.

“If he took one little stumble, I made sure I locked up real tight and tried to get a throw. I think I got him once or twice, but he ended up countering a little bit,” he said. “But I made sure I drove into him, bumped hip-to-hip, made sure he fell over and made sure I got my points.”

Hamm led 8-4 through two periods, but had to hold off Duka’s late rally for a 10-9 decision.

“That was a lot of guts right there,” Bouchard said. “That’s how he can wrestle. We told him you’ve just got to stay tough. Hamm’s tough enough and good enough to wrestle with anybody.”

“He ended up taking me down a little bit and I was getting a little bit disappointed in myself,” Hamm said. “But I told myself I can’t do that. I have to stay confident and keep going.”

Defending state champion Keith Madore (119) overcame a bloody nose to claim Oak Hill’s first title of the day with a 5-4 win over Fryeburg’s Jake Thurston. Dillon Tibbetts followed Hamm by defeating Sean Marrero of Morse, 13-1, for the 171 crown. Nick Wells (215) rounded out the quartet when he pinned Morse’s Arthur Cavanagh at 5:51.

“I beat him twice during the season, but last week, he beat me in a very tough match,” Wells said. “I made a lot of mistakes. I improved those mistakes this week. I started opposite side and just put everything I had onto the mat.”

Other Raiders to qualify for next week were Craig Morrill, the runner-up at 130, and Donnie Vannah and Zach Surrette, who took fourth place at 140 and 189, respectively.

The Falcons rode some upsets of their own to the team title, most notably Ryan Glover, who pinned 285 top-seed Zach Kidney of Morse in the semifinals. 

“We lost some real good starters, all that would have placed here today,” said Glover, who wrestled well in the final against Stephen Johnson of Wells before being pinned at 3:59.

“I went into the semifinals knowing I had the No. 1 seed and I had pretty much nothing to lose,” he added. “I just went out there and wrestled my match. To  have a pin against him is awesome. I knew once I took him down that I had complete control, and I thought I had the match wrapped up, but I never thought I’d stick him.”

Four other Falcons reached the finals. Josh Thornton (140) won his second regional title when Derek Juchnik of Lincoln Academy bowed out with an injury. Ryan Burgess (103) dropped a dramatic 2-1 decision to Fryeburg’s Connor Sheehan, and Taylor Carey ( 152) battled Fryeburg’s Stefan Emery for six periods before falling, 3-2. Tyler Russell of Morse pinned Christian Durland in the 189 final.

Also earning state berths for the Falcons were consolation winners Joe Provencher (125) and Josh Allen (215) and runner-up Tim Ross (130). 

Dolloff credited technique, skill and team chemistry for the meet-high nine qualifiers.

“We had a couple of team gatherings where I told them to just keep hope, and to make sure when you look beside the mat, you see your team sitting there pulling and that they’re pulling for you and you’re always pulling for each other,” he said.