The Windham/Gray-New Gloucester/Westbrook Wolfpack wrestling team headed into the Maine Principals’ Association’s Duals Tournament Team Championship at Cony High School in Augusta on Saturday, Feb. 4 ready to show they could compete with a variety of teams from all over Maine. Each team was guaranteed at least two matches; with a winner’s bracket and consolation bracket.
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| Wolfpack wrestler Owen Pilsbury works to pin his opponent on Saturday, Feb. 4 during the Maine Principal's Association Duals Team Championship at Cony High School in Augusta. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA |
Windham senior Scott Ingalls earned his 100th win in defeating a Sanford opponent. Ingalls was in recovery from a stress fracture in his back, which he was told might not heal and there had been some question if he could get back to wrestling, so the fact that he was able to, made this victory even sweeter.
“It feels really good,” said Ingalls. “It shows I still got it. I can still compete without pain. 100 is another thing to check off.”
Sanford
Westbrook junior Gavin Tanner pinned his opponent in the first round of the 170-weight class.
Ingalls wanted to wrestle smart in the 182-weight class match. He said he got caught early in the beginning but was able to fight out of it and from there he worked the mats and racked up points any way he could. He held his Sanford opponent down, worked the back with late takedowns and secured the 11-5 win.
Ingalls has worked with Wolfpack assistant Coach Nick Buckley since peewee wrestling. Head Wolfpack coach John Nicholas and assistant coach Nick Vogel have been big helps in preparing Ingalls for such an achievement.
“Scott is an amazing hard worker and a great leader,” said Buckley. “He’s a conservative wrestler never putting himself in bad positions. His defense is superb making it hard to score on him; mix in his willingness to always keep learning makes him a powerhouse wrestler.”
Ingalls said he would like to thank his family; to look up in the stands and see someone rooting for him means a lot.
Gray-New Gloucester teammate senior Brody Simpson was not surprised by Ingalls’ 100th win. He said Ingalls is a great teammate, captain and someone who leads by example.
In the 285-weight class, Windham junior Griffin Moreau pinned his opponent in the first round.
“We knew Sanford was going to be tough. We battled them hard right till the end. We needed a couple of things to fall our way and unfortunately, they didn’t, but the kids wrestled really hard,” said Nicholas.
Mount Blue
Windham junior Chris Harvey pinned his opponent in the 160-weight class.
Ingalls picked up win 101 in the 195-weight class when he pinned Mount Blue in the second round.
Windham freshman Junius Pope won in the 220-weight class in the first round.
In the 120-weight class Windham sophomore Ayden Cofone got the pin and win with less than a second left in the first round.
“The team did really great,” said Cofone. “I think we started off a little slow against Sanford but picked it up against Mount Blue; we started to hype each other up more.”
In the 132-weight class, Westbrook junior Owen Pilsbury pinned his opponent.
Windham sophomore Addison Leger said the team worked really hard and put everything they had into the meet. She’s hoping they can learn from the day and get better for regionals.
“Mount Blue is the No. 2 seed in our region, and we took it to them pretty good,” said Nicholas. “It shows that our team is better than what our seed was; we wanted to show that today and we did.”
Nicholas said they did a nice job fighting off their backs, were aggressive and did a lot of the things they worked on in practice, showing their learning and willing to try new things. <
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