Milford - Ledyard's Daric Johnson calls wrestling a consolation match after the disappointment of losing in an earlier round "one of the hardest things to do in all of sports."

It's also the reason Ledyard High School won the Class M state championship Saturday afternoon for the fourth season in a row and its 21st class title title overall, adding to what was already a state record total for the Colonels.

Ledyard, which finished with 164.5 points to 154 for runner-up Foran and 144 for third-place Waterford, had nine place-winners, but only one champion.

That meant that as Johnson was earning his second straight 220-pound title, beating East Lyme's Tom Hillyer 8-3, there were still eight more Colonels who had to come through in order to amass enough points for the team win. The third- and fifth-place matches were wrestled after the finals to speed up the tournament due to the impending weather.

Take, for instance, Ledyard 145-pounder Josh Rahal, who was the top seed in the bracket, but fell in the semifinals.

"I'm a senior," Rahal said. "I'm just heartbroken after I lost in the semis. But I'd be even more upset if I didn't get the state championship for the team. It would be a shame if we didn't get it after we worked so hard. You just go by yourself for a little bit. Then you get with all your friends and you know you can win this."

Rahal came back to finish third, winning his final match by major decision.

Locally, there were eight individual finalists and four champions.

St. Bernard/Norwich Tech's Matt Dowler (36-1) won at 113 pounds, beating Alec Opsal of New Fairfield 2-0 to get Dowler one step closer to attempting to win the State Open title which just eluded him last year.

New London's Alejandro Paulino (28-1) fell behind Guilford's Colin Rook before coming back to win the 126-pound title 7-5, earning the Whalers' first state championship since Ryan Murphy won in 2004. He also helped New London to a solid fourth-place finish with 127.5 points, allowing Eastern Connecticut Conference teams to occupy three of the top four spots.

Waterford's Sam Lindblom (30-0) remained unbeaten by pinning East Lyme's Mason Pagan in 4 minutes, 22 seconds at 138, Lindblom's second straight championship.

And Johnson (31-2) earned a dramatic semifinal victory over Jared Willsey of Bethel, winning 2-1 in an ultimate tiebreaker before even heading to the final. Johnson and Willsey were tied 1-1 through two overtime periods. Because Johnson scored first in regulation, he had the option of choosing the top or bottom position for the tiebreaker. Johnson, having beaten Willsey in the same situation earlier in the season, picked top and only had to keep Willsey from escaping for the 30-second session to earn the victory, while an escape would have given Willsey the win.

"He was a tough kid. I knew it was going to come down to something close," Johnson said of the semifinal. "To be honest, it's not even wrestling when you get that far. It's mental toughness. … Every point wins it (for the team). When I have close matches, they're not even for myself, I just want to help the team."

Just before Johnson's final, Ledyard coach Steve Bilheimer gathered the team members together who still had to compete and stressed the importance of wrestling back strong.

"They did it," said Bilheimer, who had two third-place finishers, two who finished fourth, one fifth and three sixth.

"I'm fortunate as a coach to be part of this program. We had a lot of ups and downs this season, but they worked hard."

Meanwhile, Dowler, a junior who was Class M champion and State Open runner-up last season at 106, likes to work himself into a frenzy before his matches, pacing and listening to music.

It paid off Saturday, as Dowler scored two points for a takedown right as his final got underway and held on to beat Opsal by that slim margin.

"He threw the boots (got his legs inside Dowler's legs) and I couldn't stop him, but I knew he couldn't turn me," Dowler said of the remainder of the match. "It takes a lot of energy (to hold him off). It's a little too close for comfort, but it's still a state title. It's still a win."

Lindblom had eight losses last year before winning the 132-pound championship.

This year he bumped up a weight class to 138, vacated when his brother Justin graduated after last season. Justin was the 138-pound Class M runner-up.

"He's tenacious," Waterford coach Chris Gamble said of what makes Sam Lindblom a tough wrestler to beat. "He keeps coming at you. He stays motivated, very competitive, he does the things that have to be done."

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday