The King’s Fork High School wrestling team has been showing strength, even if that strength is not reflected in numbers.

There are only nine Bulldogs on the varsity roster this year, but their coach, Jason Dunaway, said, “The kids that I got, they’re performing well. The kids that I have are young.”

The team holds a record of 2-12 and has been gutted by injuries.

Senior 195-pounder Notorious Brown is out indefinitely with a neck injury, a loss that costs King’s Fork an experienced wrestler with an established reputation on the mat.

Last year, the Bulldogs went 6-15 during the regular season, placed fourth in the Ironclad Conference, had nine wrestlers qualify for regionals and one qualify for states. That state qualifier was Brown, who was wrestling then in the 182-pound weight class.

King’s Fork sophomore 113-pounder Lamar Jones suffered a concussion in the team’s first match of the season while against Nansemond River High School’s Malcolm Dawson, and Jones is also out indefinitely.

“They were in the middle of a scramble and just landed awkward,” Dunaway said.

Two weeks ago, sophomore 132-pounder Cody Basnight also went down with a concussion, this one suffered on an awkward landing during practice.

A transfer from Indian River High School, Basnight was “starting to really pick up and do well for us,” Dunaway said. “I don’t think we’ll have him back. It would be nice to have him back by conference (championships), but I don’t see that happening.”

For the 2015-16 season, King’s Fork has transitioned from the Ironclad Conference to Conference 17, where it faces Churchland, Deep Creek, Lake Taylor and Woodrow Wilson high schools, along with perennial wrestling superpower Great Bridge High School.

In terms of the shift from the Ironclad to Conference 17, Dunaway said, “The competition’s about the same. There’s no real change in competition level.”

Team-wise, he expects the Bulldogs to place third in the conference, behind Great Bridge and Wilson.

King’s Fork has wrestled well enough to win in some matches this season, but since it is forced to forfeit five weight classes due to a lack of wrestlers, that has often been too much to overcome.

This season, the Bulldogs feature two seniors, two juniors, four sophomores and one freshman.

The team’s foremost standout is sophomore 182-pounder Dennis Whitehead, who currently holds a record of 18-4.

“He could place top-four in the state,” Dunaway said. “He’s a stud.”

Last year, though only a freshman, Whitehead wrestled in the 220-pound weight class and placed fifth in the region, won freshman states and placed fourth in the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Association Nationals in Maryland near the end of May.

Dunaway praised Whitehead for being a hard worker and has noticed significant development in him from last season.

“He takes it a lot more serious and just his technique,” the coach said. “He’s gotten a whole lot better technique-wise on his feet.”

Additionally, “he’s really brought leadership to the room this year,” Dunaway said.

Bringing senior leadership to the room this year is heavyweight Travius Cheeks.

“He should be a state qualifier,” Dunaway said of Cheeks. “He should win conference and second in the region.”

The Bulldogs also feature a key up-and-comer in the form of freshman 160-pounder Kirk Bond Jr.

“It’s been amazing to watch the growth in him and seeing how he’s progressed over the season,” Dunaway said.

The coach noted that biggest obstacle his wrestlers will have to overcome in order to be successful for the remainder of the season is themselves, adding they just need to be mentally prepared.

“Sometimes they focus, and sometimes they don’t,” he said. In terms of conditioning and training, they are where they need to be, “now they’ve just got to believe in themselves.”

King’s Fork wrestles conference matches this Saturday at Woodrow Wilson High School, facing Wilson, Lake Taylor, Deep Creek and Churchland.