Nansemond River High School got the better of a home tri-match on Wednesday against Oscar Smith High School and Lakeland High School.

The Tigers represent a highly-ranked team in the area and when the Warriors saw them on the calendar, “That was a match we had circled,” NR head coach Tripp Seed said.

The Warriors pulled off a 39-30 win, and they did so while still not at 100 percent. They forfeited two matches, as did Oscar Smith.

“To come out with that win, that was still pretty big,” Seed said.

He was pleased with 113-pounder James Boone pinning the Tigers’ Kumasi Johnson, who is among the highest-ranked wrestlers in Group 6A. Boone ended the match in five minutes and 33 seconds.

“Nick (Garland) and Donya (Craig), they’re wrestling good right now,” Seed said. They pinned their Oscar Smith opponents in 1:59 and 1:21, respectively. Lakeland had no one to wrestle against Garland, but Craig pinned Bruce Odom in 1:07.

Malcolm Dawson, a 106-pounder, had a successful night.

“He lost his first match of the year, and he’s won 15 straight now,” Seed said.

He won with a 10-7 decision over Oscar Smith’s Trevon Magette and a 31-second pin on Lakeland’s Tut Harville.

The Warriors’ 138-pounder Jacob Clark brought about a dramatic conclusion to his match against the Tigers’ Tyric Love. Clark was up 6-3, but Love got back into it and forced overtime.

“It never should have gone into overtime,” Seed said. “We’ve got to work on him wrestling the full six minutes.”

In the waning moments of the extra minute, Love had an escape and took an 8-7 lead, but Seed said Clark executed a double leg takedown in the last three seconds to win 9-8.

Lakeland struggled against two strong opponents, with only one non-forfeit win on the night. Bruce Odom won by a 10-7 decision over the Tigers’ Justin Smullen in the 126-pound weight class. The Cavaliers’ limited numbers forced them to forfeit five classes against the Tigers and six against the Warriors. They lost 61-9 to Oscar Smith and 74-6 to Nansemond River.

“Last night, I thought we did well, with some minor mistakes that really cost us,” Cavs head coach Jamaal Jones said. “I think that a couple matches that we did lose, we could have very well won them.”

He specified the matches of 138-pounder Nick Battaglia, who lost by an 11-9 decision to Love and an 8-6 decision to Nansemond River’s Clark.

“He’s almost there,” Jones said. “He’s not losing his matches because the opponents are better than him. He’s losing them just because of minor mistakes that are coming at critical points during the match.”

Jones was happy with the progress shown by his young wrestlers, Tut Harville (106 pounds), Kevin Dale (113 pounds) and Jacob Marshall (170 pounds).

“They’re getting better every time they take the mat,” he said.

Both Warriors and Cavaliers will participate starting today in the two-day fifth annual Mike Duman Toys for Tots Holiday Invitational at Nansemond River High School.

Following are the results from Wednesday night’s tri-match at Nansemond River High School:

Oscar Smith 61, Lakeland 9

106-Magette (OS) over Tut Harville (L) Tech Fall 15-0; 113-Johnson (OS) pinned Kevin Dale (L) 0:59; 120-L forfeit; 126-Bruce Odom (L) over Smullen (OS) Dec 10-7; 132-Carpenter pinned Julian Taduran (L) 2:57; 138-Love (OS) over Nick Battaglia (L) Dec 11-9; 145-White (OS) pinned Seth Rice (L) 3:23; 152-Wright (OS) over Blade Hubbard (L) Tech Fall 21-6; 160-L forfeit; 170-Howard (OS) pinned Jacob Marshall (L) 0:24; 182-L forfeit; 195-L forfeit; 220-Double forfeit; 285-OS forfeit.

Nansemond River 39, Oscar Smith 30

106-Malcolm Dawson (NR) over Magette (OS) Dec 10-7; 113-James Boone (NR) pinned Johnson (OS) 5:33; 120-Nick Garland (NR) pinned Lewis (OS) 1:59; 126-Donya Craig (NR) pinned Smullen (OS) 1:21; 132-Carpenter (OS) pinned Hunter Hill (NR) 5:09; 138-Jacob Clark (NR) over Love (OS) Dec 9-8; 145-White (OS) pinned Davon Adams (NR) 2:22; 152-NR forfeit; 160-Leon Lynch (NR) over Sorey (OS) Dec 2-1; 170-NR forfeit; 182-Truss (OS) over Brandon Hedge (NR) Dec 16-10; 195-Hippolyte (OS) over Mike Carlin (NR) Dec 11-7; 220-OS forfeit; 285-OS forfeit.

Nansemond River 74, Lakeland 6

106-Dawson (NR) pinned Harville (L) 0:31; 113-Boone (NR) pinned Dale (L) 2:25; 120-L forfeit; 126-Craig (NR) pinned Odom (L) 1:07; 132-Hill (NR) over Taduran (L) Tech Fall 18-3; 138-Clark (NR) over Battaglia (L) Dec 8-6; 145-Adams (NR) pinned Rice (L) 3:12; 152-L forfeit; 160-L forfeit; 170-Hedge (NR) pinned Marshall (L) 1:18; 182-L forfeit; 195-L forfeit; 220-L forfeit; 285-NR forfeit.