Points-wise, Wednesday night’s Sanford-at-Windham wrestling meet ended in a 42-42 draw; because they tallied more pins, however, the Eagles soared from the gym with a victory.

A run of decisive wins – by Jesse Mailer, Brandon Huntington, Dom Cancelarich, TJ Kenney and Eric Cash – allowed the Eagles to build a substantial lead that the Spartans could catch up to, but not surpass.

“They came out the most aggressive I’ve seen,” said Windham head coach Jason Dryburgh proudly of his team. “Which is fantastic.”

Windham doesn’t have wrestlers for the 160-, 182-, and 195-pound weight classes; the Eagles knew, going into the meet, that they would have to forfeit those matches, essentially handicapping them 18 points.

“It hinders us in a small way,” Dryburgh said of unavoidably losing 18 points. “But as the team has started to gel, I’ve noticed that they’ve made it so that does not hinder how they wrestle.”

If they hoped to take the meet, Windham needed early wins – and they got them. Jake Hodgkins in the 285 and Samm Frank in the 106 gave Windham a quick, 12-0 lead. Kyle Sanborn (113) and Travis Dionne (120) then pulled the Spartans even, before Mailer (126), Huntington (132), Cancelarich (138), Kenney (145) and Cash (152) combined to notch 30 points, putting the Eagles back on top 42-12, a technically insurmountable margin, as only five bouts remained.

“After (120), it was pretty much one after the other,” Dryburgh said matter-of-factly. “Everybody was pinning. So we built a pretty big lead through that time period.”

Of those, Windham forfeited three, costing them the aforementioned 18 handicap points. And Sanford’s Chase Eldredge (170) and Andrew Moriarty (220) won their pairings. Thus the Spartans took the meet’s last 30 points to match the Eagles on the scoreboard.

But a tie score at a wrestling meet is decided via a succession of other criteria, the first of which is pins. Windham’s seven pins trumped Sanford’s five (forfeits qualify as pins) and the Eagles emerged victorious.

Dryburgh feels optimistic going forward. “I think that there is a lot of opportunity still for us to grow. We’re a young team; we’re only graduating two seniors that are actually on the mat. As far as the rest of the season goes, I think the varsity lineup can do a lot of good things for the rest of the season.”

Both Windham and Sanford will be wrestling at Saturday, Jan. 18’s, Southern Maine Classic, which kicks off at 9 a.m. at Westbrook High School.

Windham’s Dom Cancelarich battles Sanford’s Dennis King to the mat. Cancelarich won the 138-pound matchup in 1:08.TJ Kenney of Windham wraps up his Sanford opponent, Ed Hall, at home Wednesday night. Kenney won the 145-pound battle in 3:59.Sanford’s Andrew Moriarty handles Windham opponent Isaac Sibley. Moriarty won the matchup, a 220-pounder and the meet’s last, in 5:49, but the six points his pin earned couldn’t put the Spartans ahead of the Eagles, only bring them even at 42-all.