RALEIGH — At the conclusion of the Jan. 9 dual match, Panther Creek wrestling coach Jon Armfield walked over to the scorer’s table to congratulate Athens Drive coach Nathaniel Scott on an exhilarating match the Jaguars won on a tiebreaker.

The scoreboard in the Athens gym showed a 29-29 tie, and everyone thought the Jaguars had won because they had more falls (3-1).

However, the referee pulled out his rulebook to confirm the tiebreaker structure and discovered that Panther Creek was in fact the victor. The Catamounts earned the win by virtue of winning more matches (8-6).

“I’m glad he had his rule book,” Armfield said. “I was about to walk away very, very disappointed. … I went over there to congratulate [Scott]. I went over there thinking we lost. Everyone, even them, thought it went on pins.”

Panther Creek rallied from an 18-0 deficit after three matches and won six of the final seven, including the last five in a row.

The match featured two pins, two forfeits, one major decision, one technical fall and eight decisions — five of which were decided by three points or fewer.

Sheridan Rucker, the Catamounts’ 171-pounder, walked out to the mat for the evening’s final match and thought he needed to win by technical fall or pin in order to give his team the win. Rucker had his way with Athens’ Cyrus Kolor and earned a 9-1 major decision.

“At the end of the match, I was like, ‘Oh, we didn’t win,’” Rucker said.

Though Kolor lost, the Athens bench erupted in cheer, while the Catamounts sulked on their side of the gym when their comeback appeared to come up just short.

A few moments later, Armfield turned toward his team and said, surprised as anyone else, “We won.” “It’s like taking candy away from a baby,” said Athens Drive 189-pounder Nathan Scott. “You’re excited. You’re happy to have the win, and for them to tell you that you don’t have it and you didn’t win, it’s a hard thing to take.”

Scott got the evening started with a first-period pin over Panther Creek’s Nolan Carpenter. Scott scored on three takedowns before rolling Carpenter over and getting the pin with 38 seconds remaining in the opening period.

“I wanted my match to set the momentum and the pace for the rest of the match,” Scott said. “I tried to do the best I could so that the rest of the team members would feel like they could do something and get the win.”

Athens’ Bryan Houston followed with a similarly dominating match at 215. Houston had Tyler Bailey on his back several times and was finally able to get the pin with 26 seconds remaining in the second period after building a 7-1 lead.

Thanks to a Panther Creek forfeit at heavyweight, the Jaguars were ahead 18-0 and cruising. “The mood was we had a lot of work to do,” Armfield said of his team at that point of the match. “We’re real strong in our lighter weights, and we lost a couple, which gave us that much more work to do. I was just hoping we’d hit a weak spot in their lineup.”

Athens gave six points back with a forfeit at 103. The Jaguars won two of the next three matches, J.J. Greenstein’s 7-6 decision at 112 and Jeff Dion’s 4-3 decision at 125, to build a 24-9 lead. Panther Creek’s Scott Gura won 7-1 at 119 for the Catamounts’ first win of the night.

Joe Morrison started the Panther Creek comeback with an 11-1 major decision over Clifton Griffin at 130, which cut the Jaguars’ lead to 24-13. Athens won its final match of the night at 135, where Daniel Martin earned a 16-1 technical fall against Jerrad Woosley.

Down 29-13, the Catamounts rolled off five straight wins. Devon Mitchell built a 5-0 lead on his way to an 8-2 decision at 140; Giovanni Zanota earned a back-and-forth 11-9 decision at 145; Todd Ferrell held off Robert Christley to win 10-7 at 152; and Jamey Drennen won 5-3 at 160 to set the stage for Rucker’s make-or-break match against Kolor.

“I had to come out on top,” Rucker said.

Rucker took a 5-0 lead after one and led 9-0 late in the third. Kolor scored an escape point with 26 seconds left, but neither wrestler scored again, leaving the score tied 29-29.

Under National Federation of High School Athletic Association rules, the first tiebreaker is team penalty points. Neither team had any, sending it to the second tiebreaker, most matches won.

“We were awfully excited about having the chance to win,” said Athens’ Nathaniel Scott. “Our kids wrestled well. Unfortunately, [Panther Creek] prevailed. I thought it was a well wrestled match. I’m disappointed we didn’t win, but I’m really pleased with the way the team wrestled.”