After all of the build-up, all of the hype over the match between Chance Marsteller and Garrett Peppelman, neither one of them thought they wrestled particularly well.
We'll debate that point later, but know this: If you came you to Hersheypark Arena on Saturday expecting to see the country's best high school wrestler, my opinion is that you did.
Rankings are always subjective, especially in high school, but they're based on competition and young Mr. Marsteller, a junior from Kennard-Dale, doesn't have an overabundance of it.
He's wrestled internationally, he's unbeaten through 121 high school matches, he has two state titles and is aiming for four in a wrestling-rich state that has yielded only 10 such wrestlers since 1938.
His competition Saturday night was the fourth of four Peppelman brothers from Central Dauphin, a junior who also is a defending state champ and until Saturday night was unbeaten this season.
Marsteller won the match 7-2, working Peppelman for a first-period barrel roll, his signature move from his feet, and two more takedowns in the second period.
He scored only an escape in the third period but he sort of turned off his own offense while preventing Peppelman, a very smooth and accomplished wrestler, from generating any of his own.
He has thighs like a major league catcher and if an opponent does get in on his legs, he's unable to stay on them. And trying to attempt an upper-body throw on him would seem highly improbable.
Marsteller was ready for this. Participating in the highlight match made no difference; he's been there, done that.
But he wanted a match against Peppelman, whom he had never wrestled, and made a difficult cut to 163 (a three-pound allowance) to challenge the CD junior instead of staying at 170 and having a PIAA finals rematch against Cody Wiercioch of Canon McMillan.
Marsteller defeated Pitt recruit Wiercioch 3-2 in the Power-Ade Christmas tournament in a well-wrestled bout.
This one was more methodical.
"Really, I could have done a little better,''Marsteller said just minutes after winning his third District 3-AAA title. "I definitely thought I could have at least majored him.
"I wanted to get out there and maybe tech him. But he kept me at bay, kept me at a distance. I think that's kind of how he wanted the match to go.''
Peppelman is very good on his feet but his offense was stifled.
"Yeah, I mean he's a very good wrestler, a very good technician on his feet, he has very good hand-fighting, good pressure,'' Peppelman said about Marsteller. "I just seemed to not be able to get my shots off through his offense.''
Marsteller had the post-match attitude of a perfectionist, of a David Taylor of Penn State or a Matt McDonough of Iowa, someone who always wants more from their performance after it's over.
He's been struggling a bit, he said, with a bloody nose problem. "My nose was a big issue all weekend, bleeding that much and the blood rushing to my stomach a lot. It's hard to breathe like that,'' Marsteller said.
"I deal with it when I cut enough weight; 63 is tough for me to make. Overall I still feel like I wrestled pretty good. I did what I do. Two weeks we get back to Hershey and I'll step it up again.''
As will Peppelman. "I have two weeks to work on it,'' he said. "It's disappointing. You don't ever like losing, but it's a learning experience.
"You take that, you look at the tapes. We have two weeks to work on things, two weeks to figure out our shots and battle back and see him in the state finals in March.''
Having never wrestled each other, Peppelman said he encountered a few unexpected tendencies.
"I didn't know what to expect coming into it,'' Peppelman said. "I know he's very good at moving kids and getting the shots off. Some things that surprised me, some things that I thought would be more strong suits for me and it was less...everything like that.
"I have to work on getting through his arms. I have my brothers and I have my coaches who are all great people to help me get there. It was a great stepping stone to see where I'm at, it's a great way to learn how to train and what to train for.
"Chance is the best in the country and we're training to beat him,'' Peppelman said.
"I think I wrestled well, I didn't wrestle my best but you just gotta take it and move forward. It's just a wrestling match.''
One got the feeling that there's no such thing as "just a wrestling match'' for Marsteller.
He said the atmosphere at Hersheypark Arena was "pretty fun. I couldn't wait all weekend to get here and I feel like it came so fast.
"I never wrestled him (Peppelman) before in my life,''Marsteller said. " I've been wanting to get a match with Garrett since I was little and it just never really happened. He was always like a weight class lighter than me or so. He was always at a weight I couldn't cut to.
"This is the first time I was able to cut to a weight he was at. I just like getting the best wrestlers and I wanted that match for awhile and a lot of people knew that.''
And if they weren't sure how good he is, they are now.