The atmosphere was different. And so were the final results.
In front of one of the largest crowds for a night of wrestling in recent years at Rackers Fieldhouse, the Helias Crusaders finished 2-0 in duals Tuesday night with wins against Moberly and Hickman.
"It's not quite time yet, but the pride is coming back," Helias coach Bryant Gaines said.
Helias opened with a 43-24 win against Moberly before topping Hickman 60-24. There were a few opens throughout the lineup, but the Crusaders did go 13-1 in contested matches Tuesday night.
"I did not think that was going to happen," Gaines said. "I couldn't ask for any more than what we did tonight."
Helias went 8-1 in matches against Moberly, getting bonus points in five of the victories. Helias won all five of the contested matches against Hickman by fall, with no match going to the third period.
"When you go out there and do that against a Class 4 team, I don't care who it is, that's good dual," Gaines said. "When our guys go out there, they don't just want to win, they want to pin."
Three Crusaders went undefeated in their two matches - Drake Winder at 132 pounds (16-5, WBF), Nick Schnieders at 138 (7-5 in OT, WBF) and Nick Carr at 170 (won 6-1, WBF).
"Drake was an animal," Gaines said. "Nick Schnieders stuck with it to win his first match in overtime. We weren't sure Nick (Carr) was going to wrestle tonight until the last minute, but he did a great job."
Going 2-0 with one win by forfeit were Evan Winder at 106 (WBTF), Randy Salaz at 113 (WBF), Zack Carr at 120 (WBF), Nick Gaines at 145 (WBF) and Creed Lenn at 220 (won 10-7).
"Evan and Randy both wrestled well," Bryant Gaines said. "Zack's win was impressive, he caught his guy with a good move. Nick used the ankle pick, it was something I used to like to do, and Nick did it to perfection.
"Creed wrestled awesome, he looked good."
Cole Czarnecki and Spencer Ainsworth both won by fall in their match at 285 for Helias.
"They have been working so hard, I wanted both of them to wrestle," Gaines said. "Comparing them to last year, they have so much more confidence."
Matt Backes went 1-1 for Helias, losing by fall at 195 before winning by forfeit at 182.
"I lost that match," Gaines said. "I asked Matt to go up a weight and I shouldn't have. That was my fault."
Malik Davis won one match by forfeit at 182 for the Crusaders.
Helias is now 3-1 in duals this season, with the lone loss being a one-point decision against Hannibal.
"It's not good enough yet," Gaines said. "I know we've started with more success than we've had in the recent past, but we need to curtail that enthusiasm a little bit because we're not good enough yet.
"This is just another step, we have a lot of steps to go before we get to where I want them to be. We can't rest on what happened tonight. Today is another day we have to go hard in practice. As soon as you think you've got it, it can be taken away in a second."
Helias will host the Missouri Duals on Friday and Saturday.