PORT ORCHARD — The South Kitsap Wolves laid their Narrows League dual meet winning streak on the line Jan. 24 as North Kitsap came to town steaming with the opportunity to disrupt South’s run and devour league championship honors.

But North’s hopes were bruised by a 52-16 loss that extended South’s streak to 130. It was also a loss that was not quite indicative of the meet, said NK coach Jon Cooke. The meet was managed by momentum, and unfortunately for the Vikes, that momentum felt more like an anchor.

“There were a few quick pins in matches that we were actually ahead in but they reversed,” Cooke said of the difference in the meet. “That kind of took down our sails.”

However, North’s sails flew proudly out of the gates at SKHS. They rearranged wrestlers on the heavy end of their line-up in an attempt to solicit some points from the demanding Wolves and found bits of success.

Eric Hedin dropped a spot from 189 down to 171 for his match where he pinned South’s Orry Perez in 1:43, filling SK coaches with worry to start the meet.

But NK’s initial jubilee was cut short as the Wolves’ Brent Chriswell made quick work out of Taylor Bass, pinning him in just 55 seconds.

North wasn’t alone in the line-up chess match as South made a switch moving 215-pounder Matt Foxworthy up to face NK’s heavyweight Bill Plowman, and in turn dropping Ryan Sarber down to face the Vikes’ powerhouse Danny Glushko at 215.

Glushko pinned Sarber in 1:01 to extend the Viking excitement, but momentum took a Southern turn after Foxworthy outlasted Plowman and sunk the dagger when he pinned him in the waning seconds of the heavyweight match.

For North, it was a downward spiral through the lighter and mid weights — where the Wolves were the strongest.

South cruised through the 103, 112, 119 and 125 classes as SK’s Kurtis Fenton started the slide by defeating NK’s Willis Castle 7-1. Then South followed up with three straight of its six total pins in the match.

Other than a bright spot at 130, where Vike Matt Grimes rolled to a 10-1 decision, skies were cloudy for NK.

“That night was pretty disappointing for us as a team,” Cooke recalled. “But I think we’ll come back and be fine, our No. 1 goal now is to qualify and get the highest (one) can get.”

For NK, the sunshine came when the match was finished and another day began. The Vikings travelled to Henry Foss High School in the final NL match of the season Jan. 26 looking to bounce back, but results were unavailable as of press time.

Now is the time for the Vikes going to focus on toughness, Cooke said.

The best quality NK can have into the postseason is to “be tough and grind out matches,” Cooke said. “And win the close ones because a lot of times, you don’t get that second opportunity.”

More good news for NK is that the team has managed to avoid injuries for the bulk of the season. Now they’ve got a week full of practice to work hard and stay healthy for sub-regionals which will be Feb. 3-4 in Bremerton.