WELLS — The United South Central wrestling team’s fate was sealed before it took the mat Thursday night against NRHEG.

USC was forced to forfeit three matches in the dual that the Panthers won 40-30 because of lack of wrestlers on the team.

“The guys that did wrestle wrestled really well,” USC head coach Marcus Eytcheson said. “We bumped around, slid kids in and slid kids out — kind of did anything we could.”

Eytcheson said his team had some holes in its lineup because some wrestlers were ineligible and some moved away from the school district. The Rebels were open at 106, 113 and 285 pounds.

“It’s been tough to keep the lineup together,” he said. “We’ve been scratching together as best as we can, but three open weights after we jockey around isn’t that good.”

USC won seven matches and NRHEG won four.

“I feel really good about that,” Eytcheson said.

Zeke Erickson’s pin in the second period of the 220-pound match gave the Panthers the 34-30 lead and put the nail in the coffin of USC’s attempt to try and steal a shorthanded victory. Issac Hernandez led Erickson 4-1 after one period, but was pinned in the second.

“Hernandez got pinned at 220, and he weighs about 190 pounds dripping wet,” Eytcheson said. “He wrestled hard. I’m very happy with what he did out there. For a kid that’s fairly new to the sport, he’s coming along fast.”

After falling behind 12-0 because of forfeiting the dual’s first two matches, USC won the next five. Brett Byrne picked up an 8-6 overtime win at 132 pounds. Matt Harpestad at 138 pounds and Dylan Herman at 145 picked up pins for the Rebels, who led 21-12.

“In a couple of those matches we got caught early on and wrestled back and just managed to lose those matches,” NRHEG coach Shawn Larson said. “They’ve got a lot of good people on their team that I was impressed with.”

Tyler Logan got NRHEG back on track by pinning Aaron Nasinec at 152 pounds.

“Nasinec got pinned, and I think he was winning when he got pinned too,” Eytcheson said. “That one’s kind of tough to swallow. He’s a J.V. kid, and we threw him in at the last minute. He didn’t know he was wrestling until an hour before the dual.”

Derek Herman won an 8-2 decision for USC at 160 pounds, and NRHEG’s Dylan Parpart picked up an 11-3 victory at 170 pounds.

Nick Bartness of NRHEG at 182 pounds and Colton Carlson of USC at 195 pounds both picked up pins before Erickson’s pin in the final match of the dual.

“I liked the effort from Bartness and Parpart, just getting after it in there,” Larson said.

USC will be back in action at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Hayfield. NRHEG will wrestle in the Stewartville Invitation on Saturday. A starting time has yet to be determined.