ARLINGTON – It’s happened a few times this week – teams losing big leads and then the contests.

In the NFL, the Chiefs did it against the Titans. For the college football championship, Georgia did it against Alabama. And Tuesday night, Arlington’s wrestling team did it against Snohomish.

In the end, a girl wrestler made the difference – and she didn’t even have to wrestle.

The home team Eagles built up a 30-10 lead winning six of seven matches, but then lost the final five falling 36-30 to the Panthers.

After freshman Todd Smith won by forfeit at 120 pounds, and junior Brendan Connelly lost a major decision 12-0 at 126, the Eagles put together a string of victories.

Senior co-captain Will Rush toyed with senior Josh Ren at 132 pounds, doing everything but pinning the Panther. Rush was dominate on his feet getting one takedown after another, so he kept letting Ren escape to build up his points. The final score was 14-5.

At 138 pounds, senior co-captain Brantly Stupey pinned Panther freshman Trevin Weeks in the second round, the only Arlington pin of the match.

The team’s other captain, Gavin Rourke, did not compete as he was injured in a tournament in late December, Eagle assistant coach Ben Mendro said.

Senior Edwin Andrade, at 145 pounds, kept Arlington on the winning track, taking a major decision 12-4. The Eagles continued to show their dominance in the up position with more takedowns in junior Gavin Howell’s 6-2 victory at 152 pounds.

At 160 pounds, senior Colby Wammack was a scratch so Kaleb Andrews came up from the JV. He trailed just 5-4 after the first round, but was pinned in the second.

Junior Kristian Fairbanks almost pinned Kyle Carlson of Snohomish a couple of times, jumping out to a 9-1 lead after the first round at 170 pounds. The Eagle ended up with a 13-3 major decision.

At 182 pounds, junior Levi Wiseman won an 8-5 decision to make the score 30-10, but that’s when things fell apart for Arlington.

Freshman Connor Stockman lost 14-2 at 195 pounds, Arlington didn’t have a wrestler at 220 pounds so it had to forfeit, and sophomore Hayden Strande was pinned at 285 pounds.

The key to the match was Arlington also had to forfeit the 106-pound match as freshman Dorian Tollenaar was a scratch, so sophomore Panther Mikayla Jardine won by forfeit, which is six points. That gave Snohomish its first lead of the match at 32-30.

Two freshmen finished the match in a bout at 113 pounds. Eagle Jack Mackey lost 8-0, leading to the final score. So while Arlington actually outscored Snohomish on the mat, the forfeits and scratches proved costly for the home team.