Dexter, Poplar Bluff and Hillsboro squared off again Tuesday night after finishing within 23 points of each other at the SEMO Conference wrestling tournament over the weekend.
The three teams ended up about even once again.
The host Mules beat Dexter 42-37 and lost to Hillsboro 40-33 while the Bearcats topped Hillsboro 39-27.
"We were banged up, we had some weight issues this weekend. It's a tough turnaround," Mules coach Kelton Thompson said. "We just pieced together a lineup for tonight really."
Same for the Bearcats.
"We're really beat up right now after SEMO Conference," Dexter coach James Sneed said. "Had three kids out, lost my heavyweight (Christian Yarber) for the year, tore his ACL. We just tried to piece together a lineup.
"We really wrestled well tonight."
The Bearcats, who finished sixth as a team at conference, scored two pins, a technical fall and a major decision to overcome a six-point forfeit deficit against Hillsboro. The Mules edged Dexter 3-2 in pins and had an extra forfeit to take the match after falling a match shy of beating the Hawks.
"We knew we needed pins in both matches," Thompson said. "For the most part on a couple of matches we stayed off our backs too, which helped us out some."
On a night Poplar Bluff honored its seniors -- Austin Aubuchon, Drew Dugas, Josh Lawrinenko, John Page and Tanner Dunivan -- the one with the most career wins was missing. Dunivan, a three-time state qualifier with a 113-55 career record, was returning from Dallas where he played in the Blue-Grey High School All-American Football Game and recorded two tackles.
Lawrinenko earned a pin at 1 minute, 45 seconds in his 145-pound match against Hillsboro's Brian Hays and pinned Dexter's Mason Keena in 2:47.
Aubuchon broke a scoreless tie in the second period of his 152-pound match with a nearfall after starting in the top position. He got a reversal out of the bottom spot in the third period to pull out a 4-1 win over Hillsboro's Logan Hendrix.
"Honestly, I just wanted to stall because I was gassed," Aubuchon said of taking a 2-1 lead into the third.
Dugas pinned Hillsboro's Zach McNees at 1:25 to get the Mules within four points. Poplar Bluff trailed by a point heading into the final contested match at 285 pounds. Kendrick Gordon and Hillsboro's Joe Becker were scoreless after one period when Becker picked the down position to start the second. Becker pinned the junior 13 seconds after a reversal to clinch the match for the Hawks.
Garrett McClure had a pin in 20 seconds of his 138-pound match for the Mules while Xavier Bartlett lost 8-5 at 160 and Luke Welborn fell 5-0 at 182.
Kade Richardson lost his 132-pound match against Hillsboro 9-1 but forced overtime against Dexter's Trevor McDonald. Richardson escaped from the down position to start the second period to tie the match. In overtime, McDonald defended a pair of shots before covering up Richardson for a takedown when the junior missed another attempt.
"It was just bad offense there at the end," Thompson said. "We had our shot though. (McDonald) has gotten tougher every time we've seen him."
McDonald also won his Hillsboro match by major decision 11-3.
Richardson had pinned McDonald in December and won 7-4 in the quarterfinals Saturday. The Poplar Bluff junior was on the mat for 34 minutes at the conference tournament as five of his six matches went the distance before getting pinned at 4:05 of the third-place match.
Dexter's Travis Waldner, who won the 126-pound title Saturday, earned a major decision against the Mules. Jett Featherston got a pin at 3:45 of his 182-pound match with Poplar Bluff's Welborn and won 5-1 against Hillsboro.
Bryston Pemberton got a technical fall for the Bearcats at 106 pounds against the Hawks, Seth Harris won 7-3, Keena got a pin at 2:52 while Parker VanSlyke's pin came at 1:24.
Dexter's Colten Gibson got a pin against the Mules in 2:19 at 220 pounds but Poplar Bluff had already clinched the match when John Smothers pinned VanSkyke in 1:27.
"We've seen both teams at conference so we know what they're bringing," Aubuchon said. "Kind of just going off that."