WINDHAM WRESTLING

Windham Middle School Sends 17 wrestlers to New England Championships

March 31, 2008

By Todd Coons

Windham Middle School just finished a great season of wrestling by sending 17 wrestlers to the New England Championships held Saturday March 30^th at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

The team was led by Coach Thom Johnson and Captains Dillon Henry, Haydon Collin and Christian Coons.  Windham also sent two youth wrestlers to the New England Championships, 2^nd grader Nathan Watson and 5^th grader Sam Coons.

The Windham kids were off to a great start as Nathan Watson, in his first season, took the mat bright and early Saturday morning.  Nathan won his first two matches so that put him in the championship match.  Nathan had a tough final match but came out with a win in the end by the score of 8-7 making him the New England Champion in the 71 pound weight class.

The second round of matches didn’t get under way until after 1 in the afternoon but it was worth the wait. 

Sam Coons was on the matt facing a tough opponent from Danbury PAL.  Sam wrestled well but was on the loosing end of the match.  That meant he was going to have to win his next three matches to bring home a medal.  Sam won by forfeit in the next round and was now getting ready for his next battle.  Sam won in the third round by the score of 5-0 putting him in the final round going for 3^rd or 4^th place.  In the final round Sam faced a boy from Bellerica Mass and was able to come out on the winning end by the score of 6-4 taking 3^rd place in the 76 pound weight class.

Next on the mat was Norman Watson.  Norman like Sam had a very tough first match.  Norman lost the first round making the rest of his matches must wins.  Well Norman did not let anything stand in his way.  He sailed through his competition in the next three rounds winning 15-8, a pin at 2:55 and 14-4 in the final round taking 3^rd place in the 96 pound weight class.

Another stand out wrestler for the Middle School, Tony Taylor, now took the mat.  Tony has had a stand out season and continued the same at the New England’s.  Tony won his first match with a pin at 1:45 in the match.  Tony faced a very tuff opponent from Skowhegan in the second round.  Tony gave a good fight but came up a bit short in the match losing round 2.  Tony was able to overcome his loss with pins in the next two rounds finishing 3^rd for the tournament.

That brought up Alex Aube in the heavy weight division.  Alex had two great matches on Saturday.  Alex pinned his first opponent in 18 seconds convincingly winning round 2.  Each of the kids in the heavy weight division received a bye in round 1 so that put Alex in the championship round going for 1^st place.  Alex faced a touch wrestler from Westbrook Wolfpack.  Alex showed up to win that day and went to work in the match.  It was back and forth until the 3^rd period when Alex turned it on and was able to defeat the Westbrook wrestler 7-2 and become the New England champion in the heavy weight division.

The next group of wrestlers was the schoolboy division, 7^th and 8^th grade.  Hayden Collin was the first Windham schoolboy wrestler to take the mat.  Hayden was a captain of the Middle School team this year and has had a very good season.  Hayden started off by pinning his opponent in the first round.  In round two Hayden ended up on the loosing end but did not let that stop him as he knew there was more wrestling to come.  Hayden was ready to go in his next matches and won both of them by pins winning 3^rd place in the New England championships in the 115 pound weight class.

Dillon Henry, who was one of the Middle School captains this year, was on the mat.  Dillon started round one with a win over a wrestler from Timberlane 10-1.  In round two Dillon’s opponent was from Methuen MA.  Though Dillon fought hard he came out on the loosing end of the match.  In rounds 3 and 4 Dillon beat both of the wrestlers with pins.  Dillon finished the day taking home 3^rd place in the 123 pound weight class.

Josiah Perves was the next Windham wrestler to take the mat.  Josiah’s first match was against one of the best wrestlers in the country.  The wrestler from Noble just got back from wrestling college wrestlers in a national event.  Josiah wrestled very hard but was pinned at 2:13 in the match.  Josiah made the decision to fight during his next three matches and shoot for third place.  Josiah was able to pin his next two opponents getting him to round 4.  In his 4^th and final match of the day Josiah fought hard but came up a bit short.  Josiah finished 4^th in the 127 pound weight class.

The last match of the day brought Christian Coons to the mat.  Christian was coming off a great season and was also one of the captains this year for the Middle School.  Christian had his hands full in his first match of the day as he wrestled a boy from Timberlane.  It was 2-2 at the end of the third period which meant overtime.  Christian was victorious in overtime with a 4-2 win.  In the second round Christian face a wrestler from Portland.  Christian was able to pin him 2:30 into the match.  That brought Christian in to the final round going for first place.  Christian faced a wrestler from Bonny Eagle, who had won his first two matches of the day both by pins.  Christian went right after him in the fist period and was able to score two points early in the first period.  No one would have guessed it, but those were the two points that would win the match.  It was a back and forth battle for three periods with Christian coming out on top by the score of 2-0.  Christian was the New England champion in the 143 pound weight class.

There were other Windham wrestlers that gave it their all on Saturday and although they may not have brought home medals or trophies, they were all winners.  Those wrestlers were, Jessie Mailer, Derek Howard, Nick Vogel, Brett Howard, Cameron Seltzer, Cody King, Gabe Perves, Thomas Prescott, Matt Aldrich and Tyler Pennanen.

A special thanks to coach Thom Johnson as he has just done a great job with the wrestlers and the wrestling program here in Windham.

COMMENTS

Well done Windham wrestling team. Thomas Johnson (my son) must be very proud of his hard working dedicated team.

- Buddy Johnson

Thanx for everything guys

- Dillon Henry

It was a good first season with all of you guys.. I just wish I could of finished it.

- Lindsey Bicknell

Ohh look at Christian! fatty

- Josh Rickett

Windham 7th/8th Graders finished 13th out of 43 teams and the 5th/6th graders finished 15th out of 48 Teams. Great Job!

We invite anyone who wants to send more pictures of the event to send them to cspaulding@windhamsportspages.com and we will post them with this story.

New England Champion (143 pound weight class) Christian Coons poses with his trophy and his father Todd Coons

Todd and Christian Coons are joined by Coach Thom Johnson and Sam Coons who finished 3rd in the 76 pound weight class.