Early in the season, wrestlers are not only beginning to find their grooves, but teams are trying to figure out who has made weight, who can’t make weight yet and who is healthy.

The process leads to a lot of forfeits and mismatches early in the season, as was the case Thursday night as Mount Vernon took on Anacortes in a Northwest Conference dual meet.

The Bulldogs’ strength in the upper half of the lineup proved the difference in a 51-33 victory.

Each team had to forfeit three weights and each also had several varsity regulars on the sidelines either injured or not yet eligible to make weight.

“I was really pleased with a lot of things and not so pleased with everything,” Mount Vernon coach Rex Febus said. “It’s so early, and yet it feels like we’ve been practicing forever.”

The Bulldogs fell behind 24-5 before rolling off five wins in the final six contested matches to take the contest.

“We could have matched up a little better in some of the weight classes, but it was a good match,” Anacortes coach Bob Woods said. “A couple of matches could have gone either way.”

One of the feature matches on paper turned into an impressive 15-0 victory for Mount Vernon’s George Hausauer at 125 pounds. The two-time state alternate recorded a three-point near fall in all three rounds in the technical fall over Class 2A state qualifier Daniel Brown.

“George has worked really hard this year,” Febus said. “I think he turned his weakness from last year into his strength.”

The evening’s two closest matches came back-to-back, at 171 and 189 pounds. In the 171 contest, Mount Vernon’s Joe Barrington-Richards bumped up from 160 to take on Anacortes’ Si Sharma. Sharma turned a head-and-arm into a three-point near fall to take a 5-0 lead in the first round, but Barrington-Richards battled his way back. The score was tied 6-6 in the third round when Barrington-Richards recorded the pin — a win that gave Mount Vernon the team victory as well.

Anacortes’ Isaac Doane followed with a comeback victory of his own in the 189 match. Doane trailed Marco Rodrigues 7-4 in the second round. The score was tied 10-10 after Rodrigues recorded a takedown early in the third round, and stayed that way until Doane escaped with 30 seconds left. Doane then took Rodrigues down and withstood a stall call for a 13-11 victory.

Also winning for the Bulldogs were 145-pounder Rafael Avila (second-round pin), 152-pounder Travis Gomez (15-1), 160-pounder David Buchanan (first-round pin) and heavyweight Daniel Osburn (injury default). Mount Vernon collected forfeit points at 103, 140 and 215 pounds.

Anacortes’ other victories came from 119-pounder Colby Wright (first-round pin) and 130-pounder Dillon Bundy (first-round pin). The Seahawks accepted forfeit points at 103, 112 and 135.

“I thought Dillon did a very good job,” Woods said. “I thought that would be a very close match that could go either way. He dominated.”