This year, Poly had its moment.
Poly won the Baltimore City Wrestling tournament last year, but it came a day after the competition, when a scoring error came to light after Mervo had been declared the victor.
This year, the host Engineers left no room for error, winning three titles and placing 10 wrestlers in the top four as they rolled to a second consecutive city championship yesterday.
Poly finished with 171.5 points, easily outdistancing Mervo (142). Dunbar finished third with 119 points, and Edmondson took fourth with 89.
Last year, Poly moved up from second place to the top spot when tournament officials found a mathematical mistake after the tournament.
Poly coach Bruce Strunk said he enjoyed seeing his wrestlers get their chance to hold the championship trophy, especially at home.
"They wanted their moment in the sun," said Strunk, who will move to Northern next year as head football coach. "As a coach, I feel it shows kids if you work hard, good things will come."
Very good things came to Aaron Saradpon (103 pounds, 17-5), Stewart Morgan (130, 13-8) and Darnell Dezurn (171, 25-1), who came away with championships for Poly.
Saradpon pinned Dunbar's Kevin Thomas at 3:45. Morgan paid back Millard West of Mervo for a recent defeat -- and clinched the overall title -- with a 7-4 victory, and Dezurn put on a powerful performance as he pinned Donta Connor of Edmondson.
The Engineers also got second-place finishes from Tony Bridges (112), Reid Cooper (119) and heavyweight Anthony Mason. Bryant Henson (125), Joe White (140) and Mike Bayne (189) took thirds and Keith Norris (145) finished fourth.
Poly lost to Mervo by 16 points in a dual meet two weeks ago, and the Engineers had heard talk since about how this would be the Mustangs' tournament.
"Everybody was saying so much stuff about Mervo after they beat us," said Dezurn. "But now after handling the tournament the way we did, it's a credit to the younger guys."
Mervo and Dunbar won three titles apiece. Garfield Thompson (112, 15-5), Wayne Lucas (135, 22-4) and heavyweight Aaron Brown (21-3) won for Mervo. For Dunbar, Bruce Pendles (125, 14-0), Hermondoz Thompson (145, 18-1) and Lydell Henry (152, 23-3) were winners.
Other champions were: Ron Powell of Southwestern (119, 27-3), Lloyd Cox from Lake Clifton (140, 15-1), Carver's Robert Horton (160, 12-0) and Claude Marrow of Patterson (189, 18-3). Pendles, Lucas, Thompson, Henry and Horton all repeated as champions -- and this made three in a row for Pendles.
Heading into the final round, Mervo was the only team with a chance to stop Poly. But the Mustangs had scored no points in the consolation finals, and Poly got 11 for a 25.5-point lead.
"We didn't do as well in the consolation finals as we needed to, that was the key," said Mervo coach Dwight Warren. "The pursuit of Poly continues."