If a team can’t fill every weight class, it has to give away points in those spots if the other team has guys to fill them. Each forfeit is worth six points – the same as a pin.

On Wednesday, both Fuquay-Varina and Athens Drive faced this problem. Fortunately, their thin rosters nearly evened out. The Jaguars’ picked up four free wins, while the Bengals collected five – giving Fuquay a six-point edge in the non-active bouts.

So out of 14 weight classes, only five saw actual wrestling. Those went the distance, though. There wasn’t a single pin all evening, as Fuquay slipped past visiting Tri-Nine foe Athens 39-30.

Daniel Cockerill picked up Fuquay’s first win of the evening over Abdullah Dahnoun at 113 pounds. Dahnoun stayed tough for most of the bout, but Cockerill was able to score late and pull away for the 8-1 decision. Preston Lee made it two in a row for the Bengals with his hard-fought 5-1 win at 120 pounds.

Shane Goodchild picked up the Jags’ first actual win at 126 pounds with a 9-3 victory over Jamel Avery in one of the more competitive bouts of the match. Avery controlled Goodchild for much of the second period but wasn’t able to score. Goodchild, who used a portion of his injury time in the middle portion of the bout to recover from midsection pain, came back to control the third period and put the match away late.

At 132, the Bengals’ Drew O’Rourke settled the outcome of the match, handling Abdullah Shemna 9-3. Given the way the remaining forfeits were scheduled to fall, Athens was mathematically eliminated at that point.

Ahmad Husein did pick up a second decision for the Jags at 152 pounds by outlasting Robert Reeves 9-6 in the final contested bout.

Even though his numbers are slim, Fuquay coach Victor Ferrell was happy to see his young team get a conference win.

“We’re still really young,” he said. “And we’re still getting better. Most of my guys only have a year or so of wrestling under their belt. They still have a lot to learn. But it is important to get a win like this. This will do a lot for their confidence.”

Ferrell acknowledged Athens’ lack of depth as well, and credited the Jags with a hard-fought effort even though their roster wasn’t full.

“We have short numbers and so do they,” he said. “But we didn’t let that stop us from wrestling hard. And hat’s off to them for wrestling hard too. They came and competed. That’s all you can ask.”