TACOMA — Wrestlers aren’t normally prone to displays of affection, but a few hours into Friday night’s 4A Region III Championships, North Kitsap’s Clark Hutchman and Leo Pendergraft greeted each other with a joyful cross between a chest bump and a hug.

When your team wins three matches in less time than it takes to heat a bowl of soup, you can get away with it.

Hutchman, Pendergraft and A.J. Weber all earned dramatic second-round wins late Friday night to give each of them a strong shot at state — an opportunity Hutchman took full advantage of the next day.

Pendergraft’s pin of South Kitsap’s John Cisney on Friday night began the team highlight of the tournament for North Kitsap — three dramatic wins in less than three minutes.

First came Pendergraft’s pin against Cisney, who had twice before defeated him, which took only 1:37 and came after Cisney had earned a quick takedown of the Viking.

Moments after the whistle blew on Pendergraft’s match, Hutchman wrapped up his match, which was held a few feet away at Henry Foss High School, with a 19-4 technical fall over South Kitsap’s Jeff Cink, who garnered his only points on escapes.

And a minute later, Weber added to the surprising flurry with a quick pin of Battle Ground’s James Olcott.

It took Weber only 1:29 to get the win.

As the wrestlers greeted each other and parents hopped up from the bleachers, Weber and Larry Maguire made their way to the far end of the mat to scout the next day’s opponents.

“I was hoping they would come alive, and they did,” Maguire said.

Friday may have been golden for the Vikings, but on Saturday, some of the varnish came off.

Pendergraft lost his two matches — one by pin to Battle Ground’s Carlyle Scott, the other an 8-5 decision to Heritage’s Keawe Holt.

Pendergraft was down 8-0 against Holt before scoring a five-point flurry in the last round, but he still feels as if he should have done more.

“I feel bad about that match,” he said afterward. “I should have gone out there full speed. I went out with less than full intensity.”

Despite his two losses, Pendergraft may still make it to state; he earned fifth place due to the disqualification of Central Kitsap’s Jason Martinelli, the No. 1 seed in the weight class — so Pendergraft will wrestle if another cannot.

“I hope someone gets hit by a bus. Or gets a disease,” he cracked. “I want in that tournament pretty bad.”

Weber suffered three losses on Saturday, the first a 15-0 technical fall to Bellarmine’s Chris James (the eventual second-place wrestler), the second a close 13-10 match to Mountain View’s Isiah Rodeman, and the third a technical fall to Clyde Switzer of Olympic.

Hutchman went undefeated in the tournament, outscoring his three opponents at 160-lb. 37-9 and earning a trip to the Mat Classic Feb. 21 and 22 at the Tacoma Dome.

Hutchman’s final match was with Mark Dodge of Heritage, and the North Kitsap wrestler, who missed last year’s state tournament because of pneumonia, betrayed little nervousness before the match, listening to Puddle of Mudd on a portable CD player and walking in tight circles beside the mat.

He seemed less nervous during the match, warding off Dodge’s attempts to shoot and racking up 12 points on the way to a 12-4 decision.

Hutchman said he knew that Dodge preferred a single sweep to the leg as his takedown move, and once he was able to counter it, the match was his.

He was able to ward off nerves just as easily.

“It’s kind of intimidating, but once you get out there you forget about everyone who’s here,” Hutchman said.

The Vikings’ Kyle Cetnarowski and Doug Piehl also competed at regionals, with Cetnarowski losing a close match to South Kitsap’s Jacob Coppinger and falling to Devin Bunnell of Evergreen in the 119-lb. weight class. Piehl lost a decision to Evergreen’s Jon Porter before beating Bellarmine’s Clate Manning 8-7 behind a six-point third quarter. He then lost 6-4 to Olympic’s Joe Joslyn.

Maguire was proud of each wrestler’s effort.

“We were hoping that maybe Leo or A.J. might sneak through there,” he said of the 24-team, 168-wrestler regional, “but it’s a tough tournament.”

The five Vikings qualified for the regional tournament by placing in the top four in sub-regionals.

Wrestlers had to finish in the top four at regionals to be guaranteed a spot at state. Fifth-place finishers were named as alternates.