Fifth-ranked Owings Mills found itself with two hills to climb late in yesterday's Class 1A-2A state dual-meet semifinal against No. 3 Northeast at South Carroll.
It was simply too tall an order.
Owings Mills (16-3) took a seven-point lead into the last three bouts before Northeast and injuries took over.
A forfeit and default with Adrian Spears' decision in the middle gave Northeast the last three bouts and a 33-25 win.
"It was a good match and a good shot in the arm for our team," said Owings Mills coach Guy Pritzker. "The kids got in some tough matches, the kids who won and the kids who lost -- they all wrestled with a lot of pride."
Damascus, which defeated Key in the other semifinal, 38-24, went on to handle Northeast, 34-20, to claim the title at South Carroll.
Josh Ezrine's pin of Shawn Maurer at 160 pounds gave Owings Mills a 25-18 lead, but that's the last scoring it would do.
Northeast's Ron Katzenbaker got six points on a forfeit with Owings Mills' 171-pounder out with blood poisoning in a leg.
Northeast (16-1) took the lead for good when Spears scored the 7-1 decision over Kirk Lurie.
Pritzker had little choice than to send out Anthony Smith, hurting with a sprained knee suffered in last weekend's county tournament, to go up against Paul Laumann in the heavyweight bout.
But Pritzker threw in the towel in the first period when it was apparent Smith couldn't continue. The default gave Northeast its final six points and the 33-25 win.
Pritzker's other option was calling on junior varsity wrestler Nick Papatonakis, who would have given up too much weight and experience against Laumann. Papatonakis weighed in at 195; Laumann at 250.
"If [Smith] is healthy, he probably would have beaten the Northeast kid. I brought him out there, but had to default," Pritzker said. "I was more happy with the way we wrestled as a team [more] than the winning and losing part. We went out and wrestled for each other and you can't ask for anything more."
A key early bout came at 103 with Northeast's Glen Mosco coming away with a 6-4 decision over Erik Walder after trailing 4-0.
Steve Kellner (112) and Jimmy Hudson (130) both had pins for Owings Mills.
In the other semifinal, Rick Stott of Damascus needed just 1:08 to get past Key's Robert Buntin at 160 -- opening a 30-18 lead -- and Tom Horwat clinched the Hornets' trip to the finals with a 7-2 decision over Tim Puckett at 171.
A big turnaround came at 119 when Damascus' Sean O'Neill pinned Ryan Etzler early in the third period after trailing 12-2. It gave the Hornets a 10-6 lead.