AUGUSTA – Lisbon’s return to the Class C wrestling summit was essentially a foregone conclusion Saturday. The only question was how much the Greyhounds would dominate.

But naturally, there were a couple of unexpected twists along the way to Lisbon’s third state title in the last four years. It picked up seven individual championships, a remarkable feat last matched by Belfast more than a decade ago. And the seventh crown was perhaps the most likely of all.

Dan Schofield, who had never wrestled before this season, won the 285-pound title, earning an 8-6 decision over Dirigo’s A.J. Carrier, who had pinned him in last week’s regionals.

“It was nice to have seven champions, but Schofield is icing on the cake,” said Lisbon coach Mark Stevens. “He’s come from a heck of a background.”

Schofield, a senior, moved from Michigan to live with his brother after both of his parents passed away last year.

“He had 28 wins, wrestled the toughest schedule in the state of Maine, and ends up taking the No. 1 kid (Foxcroft Academy’s Andrew Larson) in the semis and ends up pinning him in the first period. That was a shock,” Stevens said. “That’s what wrestling’s all about. Anybody can win on any given day. Dreams come true for this kid.”

“The last week, I didn’t think I’d make it to second place. I thought I’d barely make third. I heard that the kid from Foxcroft was really good,” Schofield said. “(Before the final), I just thought about going home and being able to tell my brother and everyone I was a state champion.”

“After wrestling, I feel like I can take on just about anything,” he added.

Forrest Cornell (112), Mike McNamara (125), Marcus Bubar (145), Kyle Huston (152), Cam Bubar (171) and Joe Doughty (215) joined Schofield as individual champions. Cornell and Marcus Bubar both picked up the second individual state titles of their careers with pins, Cornell over Dexter’s Michael O’Connor and Bubar over Bucksport’s Ray Wood.

“I got up (off the mat) in a whizzer (counter move), which is one of my defensive moves that helps me out a lot, and he went right to his back,” said Bubar, who beat Wood for the 140 title last year. “Once I got him there, I knew I couldn’t let him up because I knew it would be a tough match if I did. So I just squeezed as hard as I could, and luckily I got him (at 3:33).”

The Greyhounds put nine wrestlers in the finals. Runners-up Josh Pomerleau (119) and Matt Nicholson (135) also scored for Lisbon, as did fourth-place finisher Art Stambach (189).

“Coming in, we knew that we had a chance to seal it after the semi round, and we actually did,” Stevens said. “After that, it was all about how many kids we could get to New Englands and how many kids are going to be practicing for that all-state tournament two weeks from now.”

Lisbon finished with 203.5 points. Last year’s runner-up, Dirigo, sent six competitors to the finals and finished in a tie for second with Bucksport at 129 points, just a half-point ahead of Dexter.

“I expected to have three in the finals. To have six in the finals is absolutely amazing,” Dirigo coach Doug Gilbert said. “And to end up with two champions being a freshman and a junior is really good.”

Freshman Caleb Hall took the 103 title with a 12-7 decision over Vincent Malinauskas of Dexter. Junior Brandon Jonaitis (135) broke a scoreless tie in the third period by pinning Nicholson at 4:20.

“Coach (Dennis) Hanson really pushed me hard. He knew I had the potential,” Jonaitis said. “For the past month, me and a couple of the senior captains have been hitting the gym non-stop, just for this Saturday.”

Bryan Blackman (130), Alex Miele (152), Josh Palmer (160) and Carrier were the other Cougars to reach the finals. Tom Hines finished third at 145.

Monmouth’s Matthew McInnis (103) and Eric Coulombe (125) finished fourth.