The Lakeland High School wrestling team made the most of its lone home tri-match of the season, getting its first win of the season.

Though the victory came at the expense of King’s Fork High School, the Bulldogs had reasons to be optimistic as new wrestlers showed promise.

Both the Cavaliers and Bulldogs experienced blowout losses to visiting Hickory High School; they produced a final score of 48-24 when they faced each other.

“It was really good for us,” Lakeland coach Nathan Hoffman said of the inaugural win.

Also against the Bulldogs, sophomore 160-pounder Jacob Marshall got his first-ever varsity win, and sophomore 126-pounder Tut Harville registered his first win of the season.

Hoffman acknowledged that the score was kind of lopsided against Hickory, “but even within that, we wrestled some good matches, some tough matches, and that left me feeling good going into our King’s Fork match.”

The coach said two of his three seniors won on Senior Night. Bruce Odom, a 132-pounder, won both of his matches, as did heavyweight Travis Jones, defeating King’s Fork sophomore Travius Cheeks by pin in triple overtime.

“That was a good, hard-fought match on both sides,” Hoffman said.

Freshman Reginald Anderson also had a good night, beating his Hickory opponent on points and pinning a strong opponent from King’s Fork.

Though a late start threw his wrestlers off, King’s Fork coach Jason Dunaway said, “For the experience they have, they’re wrestling a whole lot better.”

Winning both his matches on the night was sophomore 170-pounder Adonis Privott, who is brand new to wrestling this season.

“He’s finally down to his weight class where he’s going to wrestle, and it shows,” Dunaway said. “He’s strong, and he’s improving, every week he gets better.”

Sophomore 126-pounder Justin Fortes wrestled two very tough matches and lost both by a couple points, but “his improvement is just tremendous,” his coach said.

Trimel Yemsvat is King’s Fork’s lone senior and a late addition to the team, joining right before Christmas.

“He’s been in the room six days and just a tremendous athlete,” Dunaway said. “I wish I had him for three more years.”

The 160-pounder came up short on Wednesday, but the raw potential was obvious.

Lakeland’s next scheduled dual will be at Franklin High School on Jan. 29, though Hoffman said he is looking to get his team into another tournament before then.

King’s Fork (2-10) competes on Saturday in the Norfolk Duals at Norview High School.