It wasn’t necessarily the path they wanted to take, but Aberdeen Central took advantage of what was available in a dual girls’ wrestling win Thursday night.

The Golden Eagles competed in just three matches, but collected seven wins by forfeit in a 42-24 Eastern South Dakota Conference victory in their final regular-season home match.

“The forfeits basically only serve the purpose of helping us win the dual,” said Central coach Jake Flakus. “We also take them just to help our win percentage down the road.”

A lack of those type of wins have actually hindered the Golden Eagles in the past.

“We’ve been hurt in the past by not getting those forfeits when it comes to winning percentage for seed things,” Flakus said, “but also I think just letting the girls go out and get their hands raised and just cheering each other, I think is important as well.”

Central received a pin from Jasmine Maas at 126 pounds in a match in which the freshman trailed 3-0 at one stage.

“I kind of just figured out her strength,” Maas said. “When we were wrestling I kept seeing all different moves I could try, where her strength was at. … As soon as she had gotten me down and I saw that I was losing, and I saw that I had my chance to get to my win, I took it.”

The two girls got tangled up early in the second period with each appearing to have a chance to pin the other, before Maas took control.

“I was glad to see that, because a lot of times when Jasmine gives up that takedown I kind of get a little worried,” Flakus said, “but I could kind of see that she was controllling her breathing, that she wasn’t getting tired, that she was confident. And then what I started to see them roll around, that’s right where Jasmine wants to be and that’s where she’s good. I was glad to see her get to her offense in an unusual way.”

Maas said having a proper mindset was a key in her victory.

“I had to calm my mind down, because I was kind of freaking out. I was scared that maybe she has this match, but I calmed myself down,” Maas said. “I looked over at the stands and I seen everyone in the crowd. I was like OK, I can’t disappoint.”

While some wrestlers have said competing at home brings more anxiety, that is not the case with Maas, who said she finds it motivating.

“I do, because I know that they’re supporting me,” Maas said, “and even if I do lose, they’re still like, well, she’s our wrestler. We’re supporting her no matter what.”

While it may have been difficult to tell who had the advantage as Maas and her opponent were rolling around fighting for position, Flakus has seen that scenario before.

“That’s just kind of the way she wrestles and scrambles. You never know who’s going to end up on top,” Flakus said, “but she’s really good at just keeping her head up, keeping her weight onto that girl, finding a way to get that girl to her back, and finishing.”

Maas said she has been wrestling for five years and it all started during a gym class.

“I got into it because my gym coach was talking about how he wanted the girls to start going out,” Maas said. “He had seen that me and my friend were kind of the strongest in gym class. So once he showed us how it worked, we tried it out and I just kind of like the aggression with it.”

The Golden Eagles now take a break before competing in the Eastern South Dakota Conference Tournament next Thursday in Huron, then hosting a region tourney the following week before the state tourney.

Before then, Flakus wants the girls to take a break to get ready for the rest of the season.

“We wish we could have got more matches here at the end, right before those big meets, but also it isn’t bad to just give them the weekend off, that they can recoup, they can reset their mind, and just think about something besides wrestling,” Flakus said. “You don’t want them to get burned out, especially this time of the year. Letting them think about something else is kind of a good thing, because when we do get to our conference meet, and our region meet, it will be go time.”

100: Double Forfeit 107: Bailey Tekrony (BROO) over Avery Bendewald (ABCE) (Fall 3:02) 114: Lilly Toft (BROO) over (ABCE) (For.) 120: Ramsie Hinricher (BROO) over Jashila Williams (ABCE) (Fall 1:28) 126: Jasmine Maas (ABCE) over Kami Erickson (BROO) (Fall 2:23);

132: Wylynn Drevlow (ABCE) over (BROO) (For.) 138: Rakyrah Wallace (ABCE) over (BROO) (For.) 145: Lin Paw Jone (ABCE) over (BROO) (For.) 152: Grace Reszler (ABCE) over (BROO) (For.);

165: Lilly Nelson (ABCE) over (BROO) (For.) 185: Augustina Hieb (ABCE) over (BROO) (For.) 235: Kendis Sackreiter (BROO) over (ABCE) (For.)