Maine Amateur Wrestling Alliance

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — It's always fun to win any sporting event, but for a wrestler, winning by pinfall is that much more satisfying.

It was something Marshwood High School wrestler Josh Perschy has experienced a lot of this season, and again on Wednesday during a Western Maine Class A dual meet against Windham in the Hawks' home gym.

Perschy pinned Windham's Ben Sadak with 25.5 seconds to go in the first period of their bout at 275 pounds, earning six points toward Marshwood's 58-19 team win.

"This year, all my matches, except two or three, have come by pin," Perschy said. "I get one step up. It's better to get the pin than to win by decision."

Perschy said he's thrilled to be on a team that just ran its record to a perfect 7-0, even if it is early in the season.

"Last year we had a tough season," Perschy said. "This year, there's the emotional aspect of it, but we're having fun."

As has been the case throughout this young season, Marshwood is dedicating this season to former teammate Matthew Rix, son of head coach Matt Rix, who graduated in 2008 and died last April at age 19.

"We're all wrestling for our coach's son," said Matt Jenkins, who won by forfeit at 119. "It's an emotional time. We have a bunch of good teams coming up that we haven't wrestled yet. There are a bunch of things that we have to improve on, but we're doing really well so far."

Ten Marshwood wrestlers raised their hand in victory on Wednesday, six by pinfall. Marshwood picked up two wins by forfeit, one by decision and another by major decision.

Marshwood senior Matt Edwards pinned Devin Pelletier with 6.9 seconds to go in the first period of their bout.

"He hung in there pretty good," Edwards said about Pelletier. "It was tough. This season's going really well. We're undefeated, and it's more of an emotional season for us. We're all wrestling for (Matthew Rix). It's going to be a tough season, but we're doing well. We're looking good."

Other Marshwood wins included Jake Rasque, who won by forfeit at 112; Nick Janes, who lost his shoe in the second period against Jared Malier, but won a 9-6 decision at 130; William Bellottie, who pinned Damian Cummings with just over a minute to go in the second period at 125; Caleb Jones, who pinned Robert Brown at 135; Luke Howarth, who earned an 8-0 major decision over Jonny Weymouth at 140; Joe Emerson, who pinned Matt McLean with 16.4 seconds left in the first period at 189 and Nick Ricker, who pinned James Emmons with 53 seconds to go in the second period at 215.

"We've knocked off a couple of the bigger teams this year (Westbrook and Bonny Eagle)," Coach Rix said. "Things happen. We've stayed off our back. We got the pins that we needed. We're still feeding off those wins."

Windham picked up three wins. At 152, Joe Chute pinned Jeff Hathaway; at 160, Christian Coons earned a major decision against Ryan Stacy and at 171, Pat Pearson pinned Alex Gagnon.

While Rix is obviously pleased with his team's progress so far this season, he knows that bigger challenges lay ahead, such as next week's Noble Invitational Tournament in North Berwick.

"We take it one meet at a time," Rix said. "Now we're focusing on this weekend. We have Westbrook again (Saturday in a tri-meet with Kennebunk). They're going to be hungry, going to want to pound us."