SKOWHEGAN — Mountain Valley made an impressive first appearance at the Skohegan Invitational on Saturday.

The Falcons stunned the field with with four individual champions — Caleb Austin (113 pounds), Ethan Boucher (120) and seniors Dakota Jacques (138) and Ian Austin (182) — en route to second-place finish with 137 points to finish in the annual Skowhegan Invitational.

Host Skowhegan simply ran away with the team championship with 180 points. The Indians advanced nine wrestlers to the finals and won three championships: Cody Craig (106), Tyler Craig (126) and Logan Stevens (160). Cony, Ellsworth and Fryeburg Academy rounded out the top five.

Mountain Valley proved to be a thorn in the competition, winning three of four head-to-head matches against the Indians in the finals. Mountain Valley and Ellsworth each had four champions. It capped off a successful Falcons day as they had strong performances and earned extra points with pins (two points each) in numerous matches.

“Yes, those extra points are big in a tournament,” Mountain Valley coach Gary Dolloff said. “Two or three who can score those additional points can make up for one kid who wins by decision during the day.”

Austin proved to be solid and utilized his strong takedown techniques to take an insurmountable lead before pinning Samson Sirois of Skowhegan in the finals. Austin, a state finalist last year as a freshman, pinned every opponent and remains unbeaten this season.

Moments later, Boucher kept things in a tight grip with a 9-0 major decision over the Indians’ John Bell.

“I had pinned him at the Noble (tournament), so I entered the match with a lot of confidence,” said Boucher, a reining Class B state champion. “Once I get ahead, like to secure a wrist or arm-bar, then work toward a spiral or merkle.”

A setback proved exactly how solid the Falcons performed. Sophomore Eddie DeRoche (126) was dazzling in a 6-5 loss against Tyler Craig — the Indians three-time Class A state champion. DeRoche executed a reversal to trail 6-4 in second period and escaped in the final minute of the third.

Jacques, who recently dropped down a weight class, wrestled a smart match to outpoint a Skowhegan opponent.

“I feel really good,”Jacques said. “The drop to 138 has made me quicker. My senior year is going well and I went over 100 (career) wins earlier this season.”

Ian Austin closed out the Falcons day on a positive way by out pointing William MacFawn of Fryeburg Academy. MacFawn’s father, Ian, wrestled for Rumford in the 1980s.

Falcon freshman Nate White ‘B team’ wrestled back through the consolations, placing third at 113 with a 3-1 decision.

“The kids wrestled well,” Dolloff said. “Like Mike Provencher (reached semifinals at 145. We will need some more effort from the other guys.”

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