Some coaches looked at the season-opening tournament as a scrimmage, while others used it as an early measuring stick as to where their respective squad stood without several members of its regular lineup, still out because of football.

By the end of the event, all were well pleased with the results, but none more than West Johnston's David Prendergast and Clayton's Mike Hadding.

Prendergast was ecstatic with the effort of his Wildcats, which claimed the inaugural team championship, edging out the runner-up Comets, 229-195. Smithfield-Selma placed third, while South Johnston, Princeton and North Johnston completed the standings.

"I thought it was a great tournament," Prendergast said, noting the youth of his team. "We have nine sophomores in our starting [regular] lineup."

Of those sophomores, seven earned top-four finishes, including two of the 'Cats' individual titles.

Those results gave Prendergast higher hopes of the 'Cats successfully defending their Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference championship later this season.

West is also the defending NCHSAA East 4-A Individual Regional champion, but Prendergast feels reclaiming that title may take a little longer. "If everyone stays with us, and I feel they will," he said. "We'll be lethal in a couple of years."

West topped the six-school field with eight grapplers in the finals, winning four championships. Picking up gold medals were Jose Gutierrez (103 pounds), John Ries (125), Michael Jordan (130) and Johnny Stover (140. Stover, normally the 'Cats' 135-pounder, moved up for the tournament.

South Johnston matched West with four titles, placing seven wrestlers in the finals. Winning titles were Hunter Cardone (160), Raheem Simmons (171), Brandon Dale (189) and Matt McClendon (285).

Clayton, giving an early indication their program has rebounded after struggling over the past two seasons, placed five wrestlers in the finals, winning three championships while a total of 11 Comets placed among the top three finishers.

"I'm extremely happy with the efforts of the team today," Scott Hadding said, "We brought 13 wrestlers with us and 11 of them placed. We wrestled at or above the level we could have, and with the number of practices we've had, it's very encouraging."

He noted several of the Comets earned as many victories in the tournament as they had in the previous season.

Luke Ludke (112) and Oran Rose (145) claimed individual crowns for the Comets. SSS, with five finalists, took home a pair of first-place finishes from Oscar Chavez (119) and Collins Creech (135).

Princeton's Patrick Woodard, the Bulldogs' only finalists, captured the 152-pound title. North Johnston placed two wrestlers in the finals, but came up empty.

A total of 16 Wildcats wrestlers placed among the top-four finishers, thanks in part to the addition of "bandit" wrestlers to fill out the brackets.

The necessity of the bandits arose because the county consists of just six high schools utilizing an eight man bracket - a problem which should be remedied in future years, once Johnston County completes the building of and opens its two proposed new high schools.

Prendergast and other coaches speculated on inviting two schools from outside the county in future years in order to fill out the eight-man bracket until that occurs, but for now, everyone was satisfied with the adjustment.

Bandit wrestlers were either varsity back-ups or members of their respective schools' junior varsity roster - while they were allowed to compete and challenge for individual titles, they were not allowed to score team points.

Only one bandit reached the finals - South Johnston's McClendon - who defeated teammate Omar Ocosta 7-3 for the 285-pound championship.

Bandits fared better in the consolation bracket, with seven individuals reaching the third-place match.

Finishing third for the bandit entries were West Johnston's Philip Rawls (130) and Jeff Moore (135).

The tournament also saw two standouts sidelined with injuries. West lost senior 135-pounder Miguel Gutierrez for the season with a broken collarbone, incurred in his opening round match with South's Steven Dresch.

North saw its best hope for an individual crown go by the boards in the first round as well, when 171-pounder Colt Burns injured his ankle in an opening round match with bandit entry Brandon Barefoot of South Johnston.

Another concern coming out of the tournament was the early date, which had many suggestions for future events.

One suggestion was an early to mid-December, when teams have everyone back from football and have set lineups, along with a number of matches under their belts.

Prendergast offered the possibility of holding the tournament on the weekend between the conference and regional individual tournaments, although that is the week of the state dual playoffs.

"If no one is participating in the duals at that time," Prendergast said, "It could serve as a tune-up for the regionals by giving the guys something to shoot for before regionals."