The fight for first began and ended in round five with the Manhattan High wrestlers and Goddard.

The final of the Manhattan Dual tournament Saturday came down to MHS against Goddard with their dual ending the day. Goddard, ranked number one in Kansas 5A, came with several ranked wrestlers and their distinct style of wrestling by working the head and executing front headlocks.

“The boys wrestled good in that position, we controlled ties and we didn’t let them score out of that; and that’s their bread and butter,” coach Mike Miller said. “The guys that want to be there, want to perform, they’ll step up hurt, injured. And even on down moments in their wrestling styles, they’ll step up.”

Sophomore Mason Wallace 132) was able to earn a last minute decision at 7-5 followed by sophomore Devin Norris (138) who won in three overtimes with an ultimate tiebreaker. But with two weight classes gone, MHS lost 12 team points and was put in a difficult position to come back against their opponent after a string of tough losses leading up to the last lightweight matches of the day.

“I knew that team was going to be the toughest team that we’d have today,” Wallace said. “So we were going to have to wrestle our best. I think we performed good. But there’s a couple spots where we could’ve performed better and got a couple extra points to win the dual.”

When freshman Jalin Harper (120) stepped up to his last match of the day, he was put in the same situation as Norris when he went into the first overtime in his bout.

“It was really hard,” Harper said. “He’s a good competitor and I’ve wrestled him since I was about eight. So we go way back and I had never beat him before.”

Each time Harper started the overtime rounds on top, he was able to hold his opponent long enough and prevent an escape that would’ve cost the match. After the overtime rounds, Harper took the match by an escape and won his bout.

“I just got it in my mind that I was going to hold him down and had to go for it,” Harper said.

Goddard took the meet after their 37-24 victory over MHS. The second place finish to the top team in 5A was seen by coach Miller as a big step early in the season.

“Our goal every tournament is to win the tournament,”Miller said. “Second is not bad here today. We got to keep making strides towards our ultimate goal. And that’s the State tournament.”

As the semester ends, the team now faces one of the largest meets of their season: the Grand Island tournament in Nebraska. Against 32 teams, the atmosphere of the three-day competition will be a test to wrestlers as they compete against a crop of new opponents from the Midwest before the winter break.

Harper won all four of his matches Saturday — dec, dec, pin, ultimate tiebreaker