In a showdown between the top two ranked wrestling teams in the region, one just got the feeling that it would come down to the last match.
Top-ranked Damonte Ranch and second-ranked Douglas certainly lived up to their billing, taking seven of the 11 contested matches to the third period or beyond and Damonte gaining the slight edge in overall wins at 6-5.
Douglas took care of just enough of the little things, though, to take a 44-33 win from the defending league and regional champion Mustangs.
It was a major decision from Douglas' Dillon Spates in the 112-pound match and a pin from 119-pounder Timmy Souza in the final match of the evening that propelled Douglas to the win.
Douglas held just a 34-33 advantage heading into Spates' match, and he nearly sealed the win after sticking his opponent with about 15 seconds left in the third period. Time ran out before he could record the pin, though, forcing Spates to settle for the 9-2 major.
With the score set at 38-33, the pressure fell on Souza to either not get pinned or come up with a win himself to preserve the win.
"Spates came up big there," Souza said. "I was kind of hoping he'd get the pin, but I wanted it too, so it was OK. The pressure was on a little and I got a little freaked out, but pressure is good sometimes. It makes you want to come up with something big that much more."
Souza battled back and forth with his opponent, scoring a quick takedown in the first period but surrendering an escape to head into the second leading 2-1.
This time Damonte came up with the take down to take a 3-2 lead, but Souza later reversed that to go up 4-3.
The score stayed locked there until Souza was able to score a takedown and turn that around into a pin at the 2:57 mark.
"He went in there knowing he had to take a (decision) loss or a (decision) win or better to get us the win," Douglas coach Lamont McCann said. "He stepped up and got us a pin. He got stronger as the match went on. Timmy has really been working on his conditioning and it showed tonight.
"That was just a great win. Damonte is a very strong, very solid team. Our guys came through and picked us up where we needed them to."
Indeed, it was a dual decided seemingly on the smallest of points, like 189-pounder Steve Anderson refusing to get pinned, despite fighting through six near falls in three periods. Had he been pinned, that would have left Douglas more or less needing to win out in the final two pairings of the evening.
"Steve hangs on every time," McCann said. "He is tough to pin. People tend to underestimate him. He has so much heart."
The dual kicked off with 125-pounders Wes Peterson and Garrett Manoukian going head-to-head in what ended up being one of the best matches of the night.
Peterson scored the only points of the first period on a takedown and entered the second starting in the down position. He scored a reversal and translated that into a 6-0 lead before Manoukian escaped and scored a takedown of his own with five seconds remaining in the second to close the gap to 6-3.
This time it was Manoukian starting down and he escaped and scored a late takedown to tie the score. The duo went scoreless through the first overtime, but Manoukian closed it out with an escape and a takedown in the second overtime for the 9-6 win.
Michael Sepulveda (130 pounds) took a forfeit victory to give Douglas a 6-3 lead but a major decision for Damonte in the 135-pound match put the Mustangs back up 7-6.
Nico Barker scored a 9-0 major decision over Spencer O'Neal in the 140-pound match to put Douglas back up 10-7.
Douglas senior Eddie Kollar came up next in the 152-pound bracket and came back from an early takedown to score a pin in 1:51. It was his second pin in as many league matches this season.
"Eddie has been an outstanding kid for us this year," McCann said. "He has been working very hard and he really is a diamond in the rough. He's looking very strong."
Kollar's pin gave Douglas the 16-7 advantage and likely proved to be the backbreaker for the Mustangs.
Damonte's Mike Artemis earned a stunning reversal with three seconds left against 152-pounder Justin Freeman to take a 7-6 win and close the gap to 16-10.
Freeman had leads of 4-2, 6-4 and 6-5 in the match, but was in a position of trying to hold off a late charge for more than 20 seconds.
Tyler Cook earned a forfeit for Douglas in the 160-pound bracket to put Douglas up 22-10 but Damonte came back as Frank Christian scored a pin in the 171 match to close the gap to 22-16.
That set up Anderson's survival match in the 189s, which cut the score to 22-21 on a technical fall in the third.
Douglas' Zach Falanga scored a pin in just 31 seconds in the 215 match after taking his opponent down right at the opening whistle, but Damonte's Cody Kilgore got those points right back with a 52-second pin in the heavyweight match.
McCann said the match was dedicated to the family of Austin Park, who passed away last week.
"They are longtime wrestlers and they've supported us so much over the years, this match was for them," McCann said.
The win put Douglas at 2-0 in league with their season-opening win over Galena.
"These first two duals were powerhouses," McCann said. "It really boosts our momentum heading into the rest of league. This was a good win and I'm very proud of the kids."
