Any way you look at it, the Reeths-Puffer wrestlers had a great team portion of their season.
It just ended a lot sooner than the Rockets would have liked.
R-P, which last week clinched the O-K Green conference championship, ran into a very tough Grand Haven squad and fell 44-27 on Thursday in the first round of the Division 1 district tournament at Grand Haven High School.
Five Rockets had good outings, winning their matches and earning extra points for R-P.
Max Knowlton (106 pounds) won his match by pin; Travis Henderson (113) won by technical fall; Tanner Cowles (132) won by pin; Ian Cook (157) won by major decision; and Devin Welch (215) won by pin.
R-P's Ian Cook, who remained undefeated this season by winning his match.
But Grand Haven won seven matches, earned six extra points when R-P was forced to forfeit in one weight class, and captured the victory.
The Buccaneers went on to win the district title match over Muskegon and now advance to team regionals.
Reeths-Puffer finished the team season with a 22-6 record, including a 5-0 mark in the conference.
"The team wrestled well, but came up short against a solid Grand Haven team," said R-P head coach Brad Cowles. "Five of our guys stepped up and scored bonus points for the team, but in the other matches we just fell short, and couldn't capitalize in some key matches. Starter Andrew Corradin was out of the lineup with a shoulder injury.
"Congratulations to Grand Haven wrestling and good luck next week at regionals."
The Reeths-Puffer wrestlers will now compete in Saturday's Division 1 individual district tournament at Rockford, where it's each wrester for himself in an attempt to qualify for regionals.