WENDELL - When East Wake's Mike Paye stepped on the wrestling mat last Wednesday night after just four days of practice, his team was holding on to a narrow lead.

Three periods and two overtimes later, the score was even tighter because Paye lost 8-7.

But the moral victory was a big one. And Paye's teammates took the lesson to heart.

The Warriors pushed their lead from five, at 24-19 following Paye's loss, to as much as 17, at 42-25 to cruise to a 42-37 win over East Chapel Hill.

First-year coach Brian Staples praised Paye's effort and said that is the kind of showing his wrestlers will need throughout the season.

"We're a young team. Derrion Moody got a pin in his first wrestling match. Brandon Walden got a first-period pin. I'm really pleased with our young guys," Staples said. That includes Paye, who enjoys a strong reputation on the soccer field.

But wrestling is a different kind of sport.

Paye and East Chapel Hill's Joseph Adeila locked horns in a tight match in which neither wrestler managed a lead of more than two points.

Leading 4-3 after the first period, Paye gave up the lead when he lined up wrong to start the second period.

But Paye gathered himself and stayed in the match.

He scored a point in the last 10 seconds of the third period to force an overtime. The first overtime was a scorless affair. In the second overtime, which his teammates shouting advice from the bench, Paye struggled to keep his Adeila on the bottom. But Adeila got free and earned a point for an escape to claim the win.

Paye's loss paved the way for East Wake victories in three of the next four weight classes, including a pin by Kyandan Moore just 47 seconds into the match at 189 that sealed the win for the Warriors.

Senior captain Brandon Beck, who won his match at 140, with a pin of Paul Poyman at the 3:09 mark, said his young teammates showed what they were made of in their season-opening match. "I was really surprised by Derrion's win and Mike impressed me. I think this experience will help us when we get to the conference matches. I think we'll be somebody to contend with," Beck said.

Staples, happy with the win, knows his grapplers have room for improvement this early in the season.

"We had a lot of pins, but the boys who wrestled the entire six minutes, you could tell they were really feeling it," Staples said.

But a win makes the pain a lot easier to bear.