The scoreboard doesn't always tell the story.
"Win or lose, I want to see the kids compete and push the pace," Helias coach Weston Keleher said Friday after the Crusaders finished 1-1 on the opening night of the Missouri Duals at Rackers Fieldhouse.
"We lost nothing tonight, we lost a dual, but we lost nothing long-term. It's about getting better."
Helias opened with a 42-30 win against Father Tolton before falling 54-18 to Neosho.
The Crusaders won two matches by fall against Tolton - Jackson Careaga at 152 pounds and Dustin Luebbert at 160 - with five victories coming by forfeit. Helias lost three matches to Tolton, two by decision and one by fall, to go along with four forfeits.
"I wish we had a little more depth, giving up that many points isn't good in duals," Keleher said. "But we're grinding with the kids we have and we're going to make the most out of what we have.
"There are a lot of positives about this team and these kids."
Keleher was looking for a better beginning to the two-day tournament.
"We have to be ready to go at the start," he said. "We were just off, I could see that in the matches we lost."
Things improved against Neosho, even though it may not show it in the final score.
"We competed against Neosho, one of the best teams in the state," Keleher said.
The Crusaders got wins by fall from Jack Lage at 113 and Randy Salaz at 138. Careaga and Luebbert both won by decisions.
"Jackson really grinded out that win," Keleher said. "And Dustin continued to work hard and it paid off with a late takedown and a win."
Keleher is looking for better efforts from some of Helias' more inexperienced wrestlers.
"We have some young kids who didn't have anything to lose, but they went out there gun-shy," Keleher said. "I don't care of we lose 17-2, but if that 2 was a takedown, you can take some pride in getting that takedown."
Helias will wrestle two additional duals in division action this morning before advancing to the semifinal and final rounds in the afternoon.
"We know we're going to face some more good teams," Keleher said. "There are some wins out there for us if we compete hard and be ready to wrestle for six minutes."
Action will begin at 9 a.m.