FRANKLIN -- As the boys wrestling season marches on, the tournaments begin to get more and more important.
For Greenfield-Central and New Palestine, Saturday's tournament was one of the most unique and important ones of the year.
Both the Cougars and Dragons competed in the Class 3A Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Team State Duals at Franklin Community High School.
New Palestine finished ninth out of 12 teams, while Greenfield-Central placed 11th.
"I told the guys before the day started to just be thankful for the chance to wrestle three really good teams that will help prepare us. No matter how things shook out, we were going to wrestle good competition every round, and that's exactly what we need as we head into conference, sectional, regional and semistate," New Palestine head coach Andrew Frey said. "Whether the matches went our way or not, they were still going to be good practice for the postseason."
Both were voted into the field and came in with the task of defeating a top-seven team in the opening round.
Greenfield-Central opened its day against No. 6 Bloomington South and New Palestine began its tournament against No. 7 New Haven.
Against the Panthers, the Cougars fell 53-14.
"We did some homework on them, and we felt that it was a tough matchup for us," Greenfield-Central head coach Josh Holden said. "Kudos to them, they're a really good team and we didn't wrestle our best. That's what leads to a score like we saw."
The Dragons lost a heartbreaker to the Bulldogs 38-34.
"That one was a tough pill to swallow, but it was nice to wrestle them, and some of those matches could be matchups we see at state," Frey said. "We did a lot of research and knew that their lightweights were really tough. We both knew going in that it was going to be a really close match, and it was."
The pair of losses set up a county clash in the first consolation round.
Just like they did earlier in the season in the team's regular season dual, New Palestine held off Greenfield-Central 39-30 to pick up the win.
"There were some twists and turns. Their 113 didn't make weight, so we bumped guys up all the way to 132 and wrestled some different guys," Holden said. "For a while, we were ahead, and we finished ahead of the number we lost to them by the first time. We netted two points trying to catch them, and we'll see them a few more times and will continue to work on trying to catch them."
Isaiah Jones (175), Eli Oberle (190), Colin Whetsel (215), William Glesing (285), Braeden Lintner (132), Gunner Butt (138), Ryder Gardner (144) and Bryce Doss (150) all picked up wins for the Dragons.
For the Cougars, Mason Thompson (165), Kainen Shores (106), Marshall Swails (113), Lincoln Parsons (120) and Jett McGuire (126) each won their match.
"That was an extremely close, exciting dual the first time, and the second time wasn't much different, still in our favor thankfully. We showed a lot more discipline against them than we did earlier in the day, and the guys all know what it takes to wrestle them," Frey said. "It's still a pretty unpredictable dual against them. They avenged some losses and so did we. Both coach Holden and I talked about the swing matches after the first dual, and this time, some of those swing matches went different ways. It's always an exciting dual against them."
The Dragons closed out the tournament by defeating Terre Haute South 42-39.
Lintner, Doss and Whetsel all closed out undefeated days with wins by fall. Lintner defeated William Radar in the second period, Doss pinned Noah Fields in the second period, and Whetsel pinned Anthony Berg in the first period.
Jones, Oberle, Glesing and Butt all went 2-1.
"The talk after the New Haven match was about wrestling more disciplined," Frey said. "There were matches that were really close in that one, and even the New Haven guys would say they were in our favor, but if you lack discipline just for a second, that's all it takes. We were much better with that the rest of the day."
After the losses to Bloomington South and New Palestine, the Cougars bounced back with a 56-14 win over Martinsville in the 11th-place match.
"To me, it was a sign of character. It's different when you know that you're much better than a team and you come out and beat up on them, but we didn't know too much about Martinsville," Holden said. "We knew they had some good guys, but our kids came out and wrestled our best dual of the day. We were aggressive and it was a great way to finish."
Parsons was the lone competitor to go 3-0 on the day for the Cougars with two wins coming at 113 pounds and one at 120 pounds.
Zach Blevens (285), Shores, McGuire and Aiden Briles all won two of their three matches.
"If you look at the teams that we've wrestled throughout this year, Roncalli won the team state and we lost to them by 12, and we lost to Columbus East by 11. Those 12 points are a one-match swing. We're one or two guys away from being right there with these top teams," Holden added. "We just need a couple more people to do that, and we need some leaders to step up and get big wins at conference and in the postseason. It's hardware season now, and if you don't wrestle your best, you're not going to be on the podium."
New Palestine travels to Lawrence North on Wednesday, while Greenfield-Central travels to Eastern Hancock on Thursday.