Des Lacs-Burlington won the most nonforfeited matches on Tuesday.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, there weren't enough of those to overtake Bishop Ryan. The Lions (5-1) rallied from a 19-point deficit to win 46-31 at Bishop Ryan High School.
Ryan's comeback, aided by three late forfeits, was kickstarted by Braden Kalamaha's win by major decision at 160 pounds.
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Bishop Ryan’s Justus Rector takes down Des Lacs-Burlington’s David Ruby during the Lions’ 46-31 dual win Tuesday at Bishop Ryan.
"(Kalamaha) kinda set the fire going," Lions coach Chase Lee said. "We had a couple matches in between there that didn't work out real well for us. Morale was a little down. Then Kalamaha went out there and kinda took it to the kid that he wrestled (DL-B's Matty Larson). He started a chain reaction."
That chain reaction included zero defeats the rest of the way.
Jordan Will won by forfeit at 170 to make it 31-22. That set up a matchup at 182 that mathematically finished the dual.
A win by Michael Preston against Ryan's Aidan Shafer would have forced a decisive heavyweight tilt between Ryan's Mason Kramer and DL-B's Austin Moen.
"I was really scared before my match that (Preston) would catch my back and pin me," Shafer said. "Before the dual I was really scared. I was shaking almost."
Shafer overcame his fears, pinned his opponent and ended the Lakers' chances.
Forfeits at 195 and 220 gave Ryan a 40-31 lead with just the heavyweight match to go.
"I have a lot of confidence in my bigger weights," Lee said. "It did get a little shaky there but I got kids who've been out there. They know what they're doing and I felt real confident putting them out there on the mat."
Kramer, participating in his first dual for the Lions, collected Ryan's final pin. He forced a fall one minute, 15 seconds into his bout.
"He's one of the few people that size who's fast and able to throw people," Shafer said. "He's a huge asset to our team."
Ryan travels to Linton for a tournament starting Friday at 3 p.m.