North Lenoir’s Chris Russell, right, took on Pamlico County’s Javon Armstrong in the 285-pound division of Thursday’s wrestling match. Photo by Junious Smith III / Neuse News

LA GRANGE | A noble act of sportsmanship cost North Lenoir victory Thursday on the wrestling mat.

After the Hawks and their opponent — Pamlico County — finished the match, the teams were tied at 36. Of the 14 weight classes for competition, 12 ended in either pins or forfeits to put points on the board. In order to determine a winner, the referee went through a tiebreaker system, created by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

After going through the first nine tiebreakers and not finding separation, the 10th — the total amount of takedowns — granted the Hurricanes the extra point and a 37-36 victory. Pamlico County (5-10) had four takedowns in the match, compared to three for North Lenoir (17-11).

There were two double forfeits, but North Lenoir had one eligible wrestler for a match, which proved to be detrimental.

“This loss is on me,” Hawks coach Jeff Yourdon said. “We teach our kids sportsmanship and even though we had a kid set for the 113-pound match, I thought I did the math right and we didn’t need him to go out there, which would’ve still given us a six-point win. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.”

Pamlico County coach Kevin Knox said it was a big win for the team, with players still working on getting back into the new season.

“Our team is still missing a few guys from the state championship run in football, and this is our third match with most of them,” Knox said. “Our big guy (in the 285-pound division) is still getting back to it as a defending state champion, so him battling Chris and getting the win was huge.”

For Yourdon, there were some positives to take.

“The kids wrestled well,” Yourdon said. “We had some mistakes here and there, but everyone wrestled hard and showed a lot of effort.”

106: Macy Tyson (PC) wins by forfeit; 113: double forfeit; 120: Greyson Smith (NL) wins by forfeit; 126: Jerry Yourdon (NL) wins by forfeit; 132: double forfeit; 138: Caileb Duval (PC) wins by forfeit; 145: Julian Roberson (PC) wins by forfeit; 152: Andrew Bogan (NL) wins by forfeit; 160: Qaran Goodwin (PC) pins Frederik Mielke, 3:10; 170: Christian Quick (NL) pins Douglas Robinson 1:47; 182: Noble Herring (NL) pins Dakota Spivey, 1:38; 195: Wyatt Tribby (PC) pins Dylan Harris :44; 220: Elijah Swinson (NL) pins Abraham Hernandez :34; Javon Armstrong (PC) pins Chris Russell, 1:09