POULSBO — Though the North Kitsap wrestling team has vastly improved the past two seasons under second year coach Jon Cooke, South Kitsap is still, well, South Kitsap.

The perennially strong Wolves team soundly defeated their Poulsbo rivals 43-18 Tuesday, despite the fact six of 10 SK wins went the six-minute distance for technical victories.

“I was really impressed with North Kitsap,” said Wolves coach Chad Nass. “The score was not indicative of how close this match was.”

Still, Vikings’ coach Cooke said he had higher expectations for his grapplers and feels North can compete with any team, even the ever-strong South.

“It’s disappointing,” he said. “(South) has gotten tougher over the course of the season. We have, too, but not as much as they have.”

SK’s Josiah Kipperberg, Brandon Kelly and Brent Chriswell, each coming off individual titles at South’s Invitational last weekend, won easy victories. The match, however, was also filled with high-spirited contests, as both teams’ grapplers appeared to be fueled by the adrenaline that comes with any North-South match up.

The first nail-biter was first year NK 119 lbs. grappler Tara Williams going the distance against Robbie Luder for a 4-3 victory. But the Wolves then proceeded to take five technical wins in a row by wrestlers Javan Miner, Garrett Lyman, Kelly, Chris Hogan and Brady Winslow.

North got back on the board in the match that was likely the apex of the night’s intensity, pitting the Vikings’ 152 pounder Miles Pendergraft against the Wolves’ Steve Medina.

The pair needed an extra session to settle the bout, but Pendergraft nailed a take-down to win 7-5.

The 160 lbs. “Orry vs. Cory” match-up — North’s Cory Bast, coming off a third place finish at South’s own invitational last weekend, versus the Wolves Orry Perez — ended with an NK victory 14-11 in which the score teetered back and forth between the two grapplers.

At 171 lbs., the Wolves’ Chriswell dispatched NK’s Curtis Travelstead in the first period with a pin, extending the South veteran’s record to 21-1.

North Kitsap got its lone pin of the evening from 275 pounder Dan Glushko, locking up his match with the Wolves’ Ryan Sparber 1:28 into the contest.

Coach Nass said Chriswell and the team as a whole have greatly improved its endurance heading into longer matches, the North meet providing proof of that.

“Our conditioning’s getting much better,” Nass commented. “When that third round rolls around, they’re ready.”

Cooke added that the loss was certainly not due to a lack of effort. He said he knows his grapplers give it their all on the mats each night but injuries that already put the team at a disadvantage have to be made up for with mental toughness.

“(SK) expects to win and our guys are trying to win,” Cooke said. “There’s a big difference.”

It all comes back to the “mountain,” Coach Nass’ analogy to help prepare his team for the tournament time, beginning Feb. 4 at sub-regionals in Bremerton.

“We’re climbing this big mountain,” Nass said. “The real season begins when sub-regionals start. We’ll start turning a corner.”

Nass also added that the Wolves’ team has competed nine times in 16 days, and that the first year head coach is looking forward to hitting the practice mats on consecutive days for a change before post-season competition starts.

The Wolves are 7-0 in dual meets and in first place in the Narrows’ Bridge. The Vikings are 6-2 in a virtual tie with Shelton. The Vikings took down Bellarmine Prep Thursday 43-27.

Cooke echoed Nass’ comments concerning the post-season.

“We need to turn into a tournament team now,” he said of his Vikings. “Push as many of the guys through (sub-regionals) as possible. Some of our guys are really close. But we have to get going.”