After falling 51-30 to Lena-Winslow/Stockton in Tuesday night’s triangular on senior night, Newman was primed up to face Princeton with a Three Rivers Conference title on the line.

The Comets’ lower weights got off to a strong start as Newman ended up with a 48-27 win to clinch the outright conference crown.

Newman senior Zhyler Hansen had two pins for the night at 126 pounds. Hansen said facing L-W/S, which is ranked No. 2 in Class 1A by the IWCOA, was a good test to help set the table for Princeton.

“We fought really hard,” Hansen said. “It was a great warmup, and it showed us really what we needed to do for the next dual.

“It feels good. [It was] energizing.”

The dual against Princeton started at 120 pounds, as Javen Reyes, Hansen and Landon Blanton all earned pins to put Newman up 18-0.

Princeton’s Corbin Brown got a pin at 138, and Chase Castner won by forfeit at 144. Newman’s Josiah Lewis got a pin at 150, and there was a double forfeit at 157.

Casey Etheridge got a 41-second pin at 165, and Newman’s Tim Plote answered with a pin at 175. Princeton’s Eli Berlin got a pin at 190 to cut the deficit to 30-24, but Newman answered with a Matthew Clemen pin, a forfeit victory at heavyweight from senior Cooper Spears and a pin from Tyler Grennan at 106.

“We wrestled some great teams on senior night,” Hansen said. “A lot of teams book cheap, easy teams on senior night, but we put on some of the best teams for senior night. It just felt good to go out there and dominate against Princeton and have a decent performance against Lena.

“We always fall short to Princeton, so it feels really great to put it on them this year. We’re a different team this year. We’re bringing it.”

The finale of the evening featured Princeton’s Augustus Swanson, ranked No. 1 at 113 by the IWCOA, and Newman’s Landon Near, ranked No. 2.

Swanson took a 4-1 lead and controlled things later in the match after a scoreless first period.

“We didn’t get our hand raised, but it doesn’t really matter in January,” Newman coach Brody Ivey said. “We’ll see him a couple more times, and there’s a few adjustments we have to make. But overall, I liked the fight.”

Ivey said the team battled, even in losses.

“We’re not here to chase wins, we’re just looking for good attitude and good effort, and I think we saw that a lot tonight,” he said. “Obviously there’s still some stuff we need to clean up and work on going into the postseason.”

Princeton coach Steve Amy said his team is also battling as the postseason approaches. The Tigers fell to the PantherHawks 57-21 in the opening dual.

“We’re a little banged up right now still from Abe’s [Rumble] and the PIT and just a lot of duals getting jammed into the last week-and-a-half,” Amy said. “They’re still battling, still working on things that we’re trying to get better at.”

Amy gave credit to Newman for taking home the conference title this season.

“We gave up too many forfeits to even be in that conversation this year,” he said. “They wrestled well, and our guys wrestled well for the most part.”

Clemen said being solid at each weight has been key for the Comets this year. Having a strong group at the lower weights to start things off is also a big help.

“It’s so relieving,” he said. “It’s such a big boost to confidence, morale, even momentum. Then it’s just go wrestle, finish it out.”