ROCKPORT — It was a strong day at the Class A state wrestling championships for Oxford Hills as the Vikings had one runner-up and three other wrestlers finish in the top four on their way to a seventh-place team finish at Camden Hills High School on Saturday.

Junior Dawson Stevens led the way for Oxford Hills with a run to the 160-pound championship match. The standout picked up a major decision over Biddeford’s Billy Doner in his quarterfinal bout and then earned an impressive 15-8 win over Portland’s Zach Elowitch in the semifinals.

Stevens faced Sanford’s Sam Anderson in the finals, and it was all Anderson from the start. The Spartans’ standout jumped out to a 7-1 lead after the opening period and went on to down Stevens by a 16-3 count.

“I went out there wrestling Sam and he just took it to me. He wrestled really good … obviously I wanted to win but he’s a good wrestler and he deserved to win,” said Dawson Stevens of the finals bout. “It was a great experience, a ton of tough competition.”

Oxford Hills coach — and Dawson’s dad — Tony Stevens also gave credit to Anderson.

“(Dawson) came out a little flat in the finals match … hats off to Anderson for coming out on fire. He wrestled a tough match,” said coach Stevens, who was also proud of his son’s performance throughout the state meet. “He had a good day, wish it would have turned out different in the end, but that’s how wrestling goes.”

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The Vikings got a third-place finish from Jeffrey Worster, who earned a 5-1 win over Scarborough’s Aren Dickman in the 220-pound consolation finals.

Jaden David (140) and Zuka Mabior (182) each took home fourth-place finishes to help the Vikings earn a top-10 team finish.

“Last year we had three place winners, this year we had four, so that’s an improvement,” Tony Stevens said.

Coach Stevens had a simple plan for his wrestlers heading into next week’s All-State tournament.

“Practice all week, work hard and try to get top three next Saturday,” Stevens said.

Oxford Hills’ Jamal Hill (285) went 1-2 and both Dylan Cobbett (152) and Jarod Taylor (195) went 0-2 in the state meet.

Mt. Blue’s Jagger Bullen (113) and Austin Seeley (285) each finished 1-2 on the day, while Hayden Nile (152) dropped both of his matches on Saturday.

NOTES: Skowhegan’s Cody Craig (106) and Marshwood’s Bradley Beauleu (138) both won their fourth career state championships on Saturday … Mt. Ararat’s Robert Heatherman won his 200th career match when he pinned Sanford’s Isaac Plante in the 170-pound finals … Massabesic’s Leo Amabile (113), Marshwood’s Matt Thompson (120), Deering’s Chris Solo (126), Skowhegan’s Samson Sirois (132), Noble’s Austin Shorey (145), Nokomis’ Quinton Richards (152), Cony’s Nic Mills (182), Marshwood’s James Thompson (195), Massabesic’s Matthew Carroll (220) and Cheverus’ Zebulun Leavitt also won state titles on Saturday … Marshwood won the team title with 184 points. Noble was second with 80.5 points, while Skowhegan finished third and Massabesic fourth.

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