But South Williamsport coach Eric Gerber knows his team has talent to compete with talented squads and knew once the Mounties settled in, things would work out.

Once the 139-pound bout rolled around, that’s when things sparked for South Williamsport. The Mounties secured a narrow decision at 139 to tie the bout and proceeded to pick up four straight wins from there to be in control en route to a 38-24 win against Hughesville, spoiling the Spartans’ senior night.

“I would say once we got things rolling at 139, the kids kind of fed off each other and the energy they started building there,” Gerber said. “So it was exciting to see them and how excited they were for each other. They were cheering each oth”er on, they were into it. It was a lot of fun.”

“They have a tough lineup. I thought maybe we performed a little bit better, but ultimately a lot of our guys showed a lot of fight there fighting off their backs. Just came up short,” Hughesville coach Jesse Rocco said.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Ethan Wodrig wrestles South's Jonah Caputo at 139 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

Hughesville honored its seniors Marc Moore, Wes Harvey and Jakob Charles prior to Tuesday’s dual, in addition to honoring the 1976 and 1996 teams for their 50th and 30th anniversaries, respectively.

At 139, Hughesville’s Ethan Woodrig and South’s Jonah Caputo had a scoreless first period. But just 24 seconds into the second period, Caputo recorded a takedown for three points and was able to stay in control over Woodrig to finish the period not allowing points.

In the third period, Woodrig had a headlock and nearly recorded a takedown, but Caputo did well countering and fighting to prevent a takedown and points. On the restart, Woodrig tried to grab Caputo’s leg low, but Caputo once again fought hard and prevented a late takedown to escape with a hard-fought 3-0 victory.

“He keeps growing and improving and wants to learn more everty single day,” Gerber said. “He’s a hard working kid who’s going to put 100% out there every single time so it was great to see him pull out that win for us.”

South rattled off three consecutive major decision wins from there as Louis Mazzullo majored Brogan Sherwood, 9-0, at 145; Garrett Lorson had a 16-4 major against Wesley Harvey at 152; and at 160, Cade Lusk secured a 15-3 major win vs. Landon Puderbach.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Ethan Wodrig wrestles South's Jonah Caputo at 139 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

That run of 12 points gave South Williamsport a 27-15 lead with four bouts remaining on the night, one of which would be a forfeit at 285 in the Mounties’ favor.

Hughesville’s wrestlers battled the entire night, but weren’t able to get a few key wins when needed. Of the 10 contested bouts, only three resulted in pins while all the others went three periods.

“That’s something we’ve been stressing, that 1% better where you fight off your back and don’t just give up,” Rocco said. “We got a young team and got to learn those lessons now. It’s a shame on senior night we couldn’t come up with a win, but there’s more matches this year.”

Hughesville’s Kile Hartman had an outstanding match at 172 against South’s Jayden Hamm. The first period was scoreless before Hartman scored three points in the closing seconds of the second for a 4-0 lead. In the third period, Hamm was able to score three points and make it a 4-3 deficit with under 10 seconds to go with a restart, but Hartman did a great job getting away from Hamm and scoring a quick escape point to secure a narrow 5-3 win and didn’t let Hamm flip things late.

“Hamm’s a tough wrestler, he knew that going in and I give him credit, he fought until the end,” Rocco said. “Kile held him off there, did what he had to do. We’ve been working situations like that in the room and we do a lot of conditioning so he has the gas to do those things.”

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Kellan Smith wrestles South's Garrett Bacorn at 107 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

“Jayden’s been a team leader for us. He does everything the rgiht way, hard worker and Hartman from Hughesville is an excellent wrestler,” Gerber said. “That was a great bout, exactly what we were looking for.”

Cole Gerber dominated at 189 for a 16-1, 4:18 tech fall against Jakob Charles before Hughesville’s Colton Woolever secured a third-period pin against Ben Werner at 215.

“HIs intensity is impressive. It’s hard to find guys who want to drill with him in the room even,” Rocco said. “He’s a beast out there. He fights, he doesn’t concede points and he’s a good kid to have on the team.”

South Williamsport opened Tuesday’s dual with a pin by Garrett Bacorn at 107 over Kellan Smith in 69 seconds. Hughesville’s Joey Laubacher had a forfeit win at 114 to tie up the dual at 6-all. At 121, Hughesville’s Hunter Stevens had a hard-fought 8-4 decision win against Wes Hamman to give the Spartans a 9-6 lead before South would pick up six points via forfeit at 127. Hughesville’s final lead of the night came when Stryon won by fall in 1:12 at 133 against Bungo.

The loss drops Hughesville to 8-8 with a trip to the Ultimate Warrior Tournament in West Branch this weekend looming. South Williamsport is 10-1 with the win, the seventh consecutive dual victory for the Mounties.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Hunter Stevens wrestles South's Wes Hamman at 121 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

“I stress to my guys every day is a new day, every match is a new match. Everything starts 0-0. My high school coach used to say other guy puts his shoes on same way you do,” Rocco said. “It doesn’t matter where you’re seeded in tournaments like (districts), upsets happen every single day. We’re just going in looking to score points. That’s the motto, it’s not necessarily about wins and losses, just go out and score points and be aggressive. The guys are starting to live that way.”

Hughesville 38, South Williamsport 24

107: Garrett Bacorn (SW) pinned Kellan Smith, 1:09. 114: Joseph Laubacher (H) by forfeit. 121: Hunter Stevens (H) dec. Wes Hamman, 8-4. 127: Taylor Naugle (SW) by forfeit. 133: Finn Styron (H) pinned Kayne Bungo, 1;12. 139: Jonah Caputo (SW) dec. ethan Wodrig, 3-0. 145: Louis Mazzullo (SW) maj. dec. Brogan Sherwood, 9-0. 152: Garrett Lorson (SW) maj. dec. Wesley Harvey, 16-4. 160: Cade Lusk (SW) maj. dec. landon Puderbach, 15-3. 172: Kile Hartman (H) dec. Jayden Hamm, 4-3. 189: Cole Gerber (SW) tech fall Jakob Charles, 16-1, 4:18. 215: Colton Woolever (H) pinned Ben Werner, 2:39. 285: Elijah Harvey (SW) by forfeit.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Hunter Stevens wrestles South's Wes Hamman at 121 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Brogan Sherwood wrestles South's Louis Mazzullo at 145 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Wes Harvey wrestles South's Garrett Lorson at 152 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Wes Harvey wrestles South's Garrett Lorson at 152 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Wes Harvey wrestles South's Garrett Lorson at 152 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Wes Harvey wrestles South's Garrett Lorson at 152 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Landen Puderbach wrestles South's Cade Lusk at 160 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Landen Puderbach wrestles South's Cade Lusk at 160 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Kile Hartman wrestles South's Jayden Hamm at 172 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Kile Hartman wrestles South's Jayden Hamm at 172 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Kile Hartman wrestles South's Jayden Hamm at 172 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Jakob Charles wrestles South's Cole Gerber at 189 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Jakob Charles wrestles South's Cole Gerber at 189 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Landen Puderbach wrestles South's Cade Lusk at 160 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Colton Woolever wrestles South's Ben Werner at 215 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Finn Styron wrestles South's Taylor Naugle at 133 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Hughesville's Brogan Sherwood wrestles South's Louis Mazzullo at 145 during a high school boys wrestling match at Hughesville on Tuesday.