PLANO, IL, Feb. 13 - All wrestlers are guaranteed in the IHSA postseason is one match -- despite the double-elimination aspect of the tournament.

The way things work is that if a wrestler loses -- and if the victor then loses his next match, then the loser in the first match is eliminated by his loss combined with his victor's defeat.

That was the fate that befell both Mooseheart wrestlers at Friday's IHSA Class A Plano Sectional, freshman William Lockridge and senior Reid Clifton. The combination means the Ramblers season is now completed.

"If you come out of here, you've got a good chance to do well at state," Mooseheart coach Mark Johnson said. "This has always been a tough sectional. You have a lot of tough teams here. I think the Mooseheart wrestling team has improved. Next year, we'll probably be here again. That's my hope."

William Lockridge lost his opening 119-pound match to Lisle's Keaton Westerhoff. When Westerhoff lost to Manteno's Josh Hoerler, Lockridge was eliminated.

Lockridge fell behind 5-1 quickly. He recovered though he never got completely back in the match. A late escape narrowed the final score to 8-3.

"It was pretty good," Lockridge said. "But unfortunately I lost. I felt like I could have won."

Lockridge, a freshman, had never wrestled before this season, and his future remains bright.

"(Lockridge), we can look forward to next year and the year after that - and the year after that," Johnson said. "I talked to him and he's excited for next year. He was a new wrestler this year, and now he has that under his belt."

A senior, Clifton 's season moved to the brink of elimination when he was pinned in his opening 215-pound match by Clifton Central's Taylor Papineau. Lisle's Kevin Murray ended Clifton 's season when he pinned Papineau in the next round.

"I was looking for him to give me his arm," Clifton said of his loss to Papineau. "When I got it, I rolled him, and I ended up rolling myself into a pin. I didn't realize it until I got pinned. It was my mistake."

Then when Papineau lost, Clifton 's wrestling career was over.

"That was real frustrating, because I thought I was going to be able to wrestle again," Clifton said.

This year's appearance in an IHSA Sectional was the first by Clifton , who had never progressed beyond the regional level in three previous wrestling seasons.

"Like I've always said with (Clifton ), he had the chance to come here and wrestle at sectionals, which he hadn't had before," Johnson said.