Before the season, Kings wrestling coach Casey Abrams’ father, Greg, a longtime coach at Lebanon, broke the season down into three separate seasons inside the season.

“He told me there is the regular season, the league tournament and the postseason,” Abrams said. “We’ve got some guys putting it together at the right time. I am pretty excited about the way we are wrestling.”

Although it took Abrams awhile to feel excited about the Knights’ sixth-place finish in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference with 88 points, one behind Turpin, he is feeling better about it now.

“I was disappointed at the time because I was thinking about all the points we gave up,” Abrams said. “But looking back on it, I am happy with the success we did have.”

Due to injuries, illnesses and some “skin issues” Kings took seven wrestlers to the ECC tournament. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that six of the seven placed in the top four.

Russ Lawson improved to 19-7 on the season in finishing second at 138, Matt Sannella moved to 19-5 with a runner-up finish at 182 and Damon Rook went to 13-5 at 195 with a second place finish.

Sannella and Rook both dropped title matches to returning state placers from Loveland in the title match.

“We lost those matches, but we hung in there pretty well,” Abrams said of the losses to the state placers. “We just got overwhelmed for a moment. We are not far behind that level of wrestling, we were just hesitant at times.”

Lukas Brant (17-5) was third at 113 while Mike Kenney entered the tournament 4-14 at 120, but went 2-1 on the day to finish third.

“Sometimes something clicks at the right time of the year and the end of the year is the right time,” Abrams said. “He was a pleasant surprise and he deserved it because he has been working hard.”

Make Sanella improved to 9-10 with a fourth-place finish at 126.

“It some ways, it was a good day and it some ways there are some things we definitely need to work on,” Abrams said. “We were in the thick of things. We weren’t in contention (for the title) but we were competing for the next spot.”

The Knights will have a week off before heading to Lebanon for the sectional tournament.

Kings has faced the majority of the teams in the field and Abrams is excited about beginning the second season.

“We have already seen everyone so we can gauge ourselves against the competition,” Abrams said. “In a week, we will tie them up and see what happens. The projections go out the window; we will go in with a positive attitude and see what happens.”