MILTON — On the heels of three-straight forfeits in the middle weights, Milton had a 15-point lead. With the heart of Warrior Run’s lineup coming up, though, the Black Panthers were in for a challenge during the first round of the District 4 Duals on Wednesday.

Reagan Milheim kicked off a run from the Defenders with a pin in 52 seconds at 160 pounds over Milton’s Brody Locke and Max Wirnsberger followed it up with a pin in 1:20 before a back-and-forth dogfight at 189 between Warrior Run’s Blake Parker and Milton’s Jackson Wertz was decided by a fall to give the Defenders a narrow lead.

Noah Johnson finished off the Black Panthers in 1:22 with a fall to complete the 39-36 victory and send the Defenders to the quarterfinals.

“It’s a chess match to try and figure out where to put our guys in the lineup to give ourselves the best chance to win, but at the end of the day, it comes down to the kids performing,” Warrior Run coach Jeremy Betz said. “They came out fired up. They were looking forward to the opportunity for a rematch, because we felt we didn’t have our best the first time we wrestled them. More than anything, we wanted a better effort tonight, and we got that.”

The Black Panthers and Defenders first met on Jan. 13, where Milton delivered a 47-24 win over a banged-up Warrior Run squad. The team isn’t completely healthy yet, but coach Betz feels the lineup is coming into its own as the postseason begins.

For Milton, though, the additions to the lineup proved costly. The Black Panthers took seven of the 11 contested matches during the bout earlier in the season, but only grabbed two of the eight bouts held on Wednesday.

“The first time we wrestled (Warrior Run), they bumped their smaller guys up and challenged us, but we rose to the challenge,” Milton coach Josh Anspach said. “Today, they came straight at us. Now we’ve got a couple of weeks to go back to the drawing board for sectionals, but hats off to Warrior Run, they came to compete.”

While the Defenders are still dealing with injuries, Milton was too. Starting 121-pounder Bryson Walter was out of the lineup on Wednesday, but Alex Garcia stepped up, delivering Milton’s first of two falls on the night.

“Our philosophy is next man up,” Anspach said. “Alex went out and took care of business. He didn’t do anything crazy, he stayed basic and he was able to get the fall.”

Warrior Run’s Chase Wirnsberger nabbed a win at 127 pounds with a fall in 1:48, but Bryce Ficks bounced back for Milton with the Black Panthers second fall of the night. The hosts took the next three bouts by forfeit and while it put 18 points on the board, it wasn’t the advantage it looked.

“It hurts in a dual meet when you have forfeits in the middle like that,” Anspach said. “We were rolling, and it kind of took the momentum away. We went pin, forfeit, forfeit, forfeit and then we had to go wrestle Reagan Milheim, who’s a top wrestler in the nation. They just had a little more mobility in the top than we had tonight.”

Milheim took care of Milton’s Locke, setting up a crucial match at 189 pounds between Parker and Wertz.

Parker registered two takedowns in the first period while Wertz managed two escapes to make the score 6-2 at the end of two minutes of wrestling. The Defender added another takedown and a three-point near fall in the second, but reversal attempts from Wertz kept the Black Panthers in the match and nearly resulted in a fall.

Leading 13-4 at the end of two periods, Parker put the finishing touches on the match and pinned Wertz with a little over a minute left to go in the bout.

“We put Blake in the position where we thought he had the best chance of winning and doing the most damage,” Betz said. “We wanted to try something a little bit different, and he went out and wrestled a really, really nice match. It’s nice to see for him because he hasn’t gotten a lot of mat time since we’ve got really good guys around him the past few years. For him, being his senior year and getting to step up in a moment like that and shine, it’s a really good win.”

Johnson and Holovich traded attempts for the first few seconds of the heavyweight bout, but it was Warrior Run who pulled out the match with a pin.

No. 9 Warrior Run now moves on to face No. 1 Mifflinburg during the District 4 Class 2A duals on Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. at Milton High School.

“We’re an 8-7 team, so to make it to Saturday is a real bonus,” Betz said. “This is hard to do with the amount of forfeits we’re giving up while trying to manufacture the wins. The guys are super excited for the opportunity, especially our young guys. It’s going to give them two extra matches to compete and grow the sport.”

Warrior Run 39, Milton 36

107: Kael Majcher (WR) by forfeit. 114: Tyler Walburn (WR) dec. Gavin Batman, 9-3. 121: Alex Garcia (M) pinned Emmett Ranck, 3:21. 127: Chase Wirnsberger (WR) pinned Connor Moll, 1:48. 133: Bryce Ficks (M) pinned Samuel McCloskey, 2:24. 139: Ty Locke (M) by forfeit. 145: Lucas Hollenbach (M) by forfeit; 152: Lane Wolfe (M) by forfeit. 160: Reagan Milheim (WR) pinned Brody Locke, 0:52. 172: Max Wirnsberger (WR) pinned Dom Mong, 1:20. 189: Blake Parker (WR) pinned Jackson Wertz, 5:36. 215: Michael Runkle (M) by forfeit. 285: Noah Johnson (WR) pinned Aiden Holovich, 1:22.