By TERRY DEVEREAUX

Correspondent

Skowhegan wrestling coach Al Wilson knew his team needed help before the championship finals of the Eastern Maine Class A regional tournament.

"We need our two top seeds to win their finals match and for some of the Mt. Ararat finalists to get beat," said Wilson, who's team trailed Mt. Ararat by two points heading into the championship finals.

Skowhegan's Brian Parlin and Joey Buzzell did what they needed to do, winning the 125-pound and 140-pound titles, respectively.

When Mt. Blue's Sam Webber (130), Gardiner's Matt DelGallo (112) and Cony's T.J. Vallee (171) all beat Mt. Ararat wrestlers, Skowhegan wrapped up the Eastern A title.

Skowhegan scored 139 points to edge Mt. Ararat (136). Cony finished in third with 127 points and Erskine finished fourth with 122 points. A total of 12 schools competed for team and individual honors.

"We're very proud of our kids," Wilson said. "We brought 11 kids today and 10 are going to the state tournament. All 11 kids scored points for us."

Parlin took a 4-0 decision over Mt. Blue's Gary Theriault to win his first Eastern A title. Buzzell, meanwhile, rallied back from a near-pin situation against Cony's Geoffrey Ancira to score a pin. Buzzell, a sophomore in his first season as a varsity wrestler, raised his season record to 35-3. The wins pushed Skowhegan into the team lead.

DelGallo and Webber easily picked up victories to give Skowhegan a chance. Still, Skowhegan needed help from Vallee, who was matched up with Mt. Ararat's Mike Golek. Vallee had beaten Golek by pin in the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference championships finals a week before, but Cony coach Shawn Totman knew the match would be no easy win for Vallee.

"Golek had a tough semifinal match in the KVAC last week and seemed a little tired in the finals," said Totman before the match. "Golek is a dangerous wrestler and has the ability to pull off big moves at any time during a match."

Vallee started out aggressive and ran a front head lock into a cradle to score five points and come close to a pin in the first period. In the end, Vallee would come away with a 10-5 decision and his first regional title. Vallee's win would also lock up the team title for Skowhegan.

The top four finishers in each of the 14 weight classes qualify for next Saturday's state championship tournament.

Totman was pleased with his team's third-place finish, especially after a poor performance in the tournament's opening round.

"We came out flat in the first round," said Totman, "but after that we wrestled pretty well. We put five into the championship finals and they all had pins."

Each win by pin is worth an additional two team points in tournament competition. The Rams' Will Lundquist (119), Ancira (140), Vallee (171), Shawn White (215) and Chris Knowles (285) all won semifinal matches to advance to the finals. White would pin Oxford Hill's Matt Stoodley in the finals to win the weight class.

Erskine also had a strong showing in the team standings, finishing fourth with 122 points.

"A lot of our wrestlers placed above their seeds," Erskine coach Patrick Vigue said. "We won a lot of our first round matches and that was the key to us advancing nine to the states."

Sam Helm won the 285-pound class by pinning Cony's Knowles in the finals. Helm broke his school record for career wins and pins during the tournament.

"I was glad to beat Knowles today, because I lost to him last year in this tournament," Helm said.

Teammate Bryton York (103) had also advanced to the championship finals but was pinned by Morse's DJ Brackett.

Morse High School wrestlers won the most individual titles. Brackett (103), Logan Russell (152), Spencer Chipman (135), Ben Schutt (145) and Tyler Russell (160) all won individual gold medals. Brewer's Stephen Desjardin (119) and Mt Ararat's Zach Chandler (189) were the other individual champions.

EASTERN B: Maine Central Institute senior Cinjin Goewey pinned Jack Simpkins of Camden Hills to win the 135-pound title.

Belfast Area High School, led by championships from Josh Robbins, Jimmy Spencer, Kote Aldus, Mike Rolerson and Travis Spencer, won the team title with 194 pionts. Camden Hills was second with 138 and Caribour third with 91.5. MCI took fourth with 89 points.

MCI's Donald Russell also reached the championship round, losing by techinical fall to Caribou's Brian Vrieze, 15-0, in the 119-pound class. Chris Ouellett, also of MCI, lost in the 130-pound final, while Winslow's Derek Clark reached the 160-pound finals, where he lost to Kote Aldus.

Also for MCI, Brandon Wright won the consolation round match in the 119-pound class, and Patrick Hapworth won in the 140-pound consolation final.

WESTERN B: Craig Morrill, Camerone LeBrecque, Clyde Tibbetts and Zakk Bergeron all reached the championships finals as the Oak Hill wrestling team finished fourth with 140 points.

WESTERN C: Madison had seven wrestlers reach the consolation finals on their way to a third-place finish.

Monmouth, led by a championship by Michael Danforth at 130 pounds, finished fifth with 70.5 points. Hall-Dale's Zach Vickers picked up an invidual title in the 125-pound class with a 3-0 decision over Mike McNamara of Lisbon.