It's official.
Carroll County has wrestling dual-meet tri-champions this season for the first time, setting the stage for a showdown Saturday between Francis Scott Key, North Carroll and South Carroll in the county tournament.
The ninth-ranked Cavaliers (12-2, 3-1 in the county) climbed into a final three-way deadlock last night for the dual-meet title with the Eagles and Panthers, by defeating Liberty, 50-18, at South Carroll.
Key and North Carroll also finished with 3-1 marks in the county.
Moments after the win last night, it was only natural for South Carroll to look back to the North Carroll match that somehow got away from the Cavaliers last month at North Carroll.
South Carroll came within 14 seconds of beating North Carroll in that match, a win that would have given the Cavaliers a 4-0 record in the county and first place all alone.
South Carroll entered the final bout of the North Carroll match with a 29-25 lead, and all heavyweight Dan McKennie needed to do to wrap up the victory was not lose by a technical fall or a pin.
McKennie was leading, 9-8, with 14 seconds remaining but North Carroll's Bill Beltz caught McKennie in a headlock and pinned him for the six points the Panthers needed to win the match, 31-29.
McKennie hung his head a little last night as he talked about the pin by Beltz, still finding it hard to believe.
But teammate Dan Peiffer was quick to console McKennie, saying: "Yeah, but Dan has won every match we needed him to win since then. It feels great to sharing a county title for the first time. We're used to being under them [North Carroll and Key]. We worked hard all season and our goal was to be on top and we got a part of it."
Peiffer said South Carroll will go into the county tournament "real loose."
"We're the underdogs [Key is third-ranked and North Carroll seventh] and have no pressure on us," said Peiffer, who joins Steve Yokay as the only seniors on the team who have wrestled four years on the varsity.
Last night against Liberty (4-10, 0-4), there wasn't a whole lot of suspense after South Carroll bolted to a 29-6 lead after six bouts.
The Lions made a nice move in two middleweight classes, with Doug Berrich pinning South Carroll's Jeremy Frank in 1:48 at 145 pounds and Rob Saylor scoring a fall over Andy Mann in 5:36 of their 152-pound bout.
That reduced the lead to 29-18, but the Cavaliers' Charlie Conaway virtually wrapped up the match with a pin over Brandon Shifflett in 2:49 for a 35-18 advantage.
South Carroll coach Pete Olson said: "The 140-pound match [Kevin Sakalas 4-2 decision over Dave Phillips] was the good one for us tonight. That was a cliffhanger with Kevin being in a little better condition and getting the two points for a takedown in overtime."
Liberty coach Jeff Hash praised Saylor for his strong effort at 152.
"That was the outstanding performance for us," he said.