Any time the Brentsville District wrestling team wins big is a good day for the team's coaching staff.

Yet the Tigers' 55-13 win over Battlefield came as a bittersweet moment for Brentsville's coach Tommy O'Neill.

"It's tough on me because I coached a bunch of these kids," said O'Neill, a former Battlefield coach who left the program to rejoin his alma mater alongside fellow Brentsville alum and former state champion wrestler, head coach Jess Moore.

O'Neill explained that his team singled out the date against Battlefield, saying that "we played this up pretty big with our kids." Brentsville and Battlefield are natural rivals as two of western Prince William County's three high schools, so many students at each school already know each other. The meet also gave Group AA Brentsville a chance to record a victory against a Group AAA, though O'Neill said group settings do not play a role in hyping a match.

"We don't care (if it's) AA, AAA or whatever," he said. "A match is a match."

He recalled how, when he and Moore wrestled for Brentsville at different points during the 1990s, Brentsville "never got any respect" due to its Group A status.

After last Wednesday's meet though, it's hard to define Brentsville as anything but a competitor even though the team is still an underdog to perennial favorite Fauquier in the Evergreen District.

The Tigers burst out the gate with back to back pins by 160-pounder Will Prados and 171-pounder Jason Miller. Zach Roseberry followed up with a 21-5 win in the 189-pound class before Brandon Thompson (215), Juan Funes (285), Brendan Velez (103) and Tim Nordan (112) each earned pins of their own to give Brentsville a 45-0 advantage.

"We need to fight," said Battlefield head coach Brian Shaffer as he reflected on what happened during the early matches that resulted in six pins and one major decision victory for Brentsville. "It had nothing to do with technique tonight."

Momentum for the Tigers began to slow down in the 125-pound class as Caleb Pettzer limited Justice Jacobs to a 8-6 win in a tightly contested match never separated by more than three points. Battlefield's Billy Martin finally brought the Tigers' victory parade to an end after grabbing both the first lead of the night for Battlefield and the team's first pin 42 seconds into his match.

"I kind of got a little bit p----- off," said Martin, explaining his mentality entering the match at a time when his team trailed 48-0. He later added that, when hitting the mat, "you've got to come across mentally ready" and "come out hard" from the get-go.

"It gets in his head," he said. Martin stressed that by constantly striking his opponent, whoever he's facing starts to "worry" about being hit repeatedly. That can then force errors in judgment or give Martin an opening elsewhere on the body.

The remaining matches ended up more evenly split and decided by points instead of falls. Seth Henson (135) and Gabe McGuinness (140) each won for Brentsville while Mo Mitchell (145) and Tevin Cooke (152) did the same for Battlefield.

Martin attributed the wins by Mitchell and Cooke to the two being among the more experienced wrestlers on the team who wage psychological battles as well as physical ones.

"It's a fight with rules," said Shaffer about how he views wrestling.

The loss for Battlefield on senior night clearly marked the low point in the season for a team that's put up otherwise solid numbers in key events, such as taking third place at the Battle of the Bridge tournament during the Christmas break.

According to the BHS coach, the Bobcats are "better" than their result against Brentsville showed, though he conceded the team is relatively young.

"I want 14 guys going to the regional tournament," said Shaffer.

While that may be a tall order, Martin, Mitchell and Cooke all have potential to go deep into the post-season with the goal being to bring home the gold medal twice won by graduate Beau Martino.

As for the team itself, "We've got to learn when it's time to wrestle and when it's time to be laid back," said Martin. "When you're on the mat, you're ready to go."