The meet was a renewal of a long and intense wrestling rivalry, but Hixson's visit to Notre Dame on Thursday really was little more than a tune-up for each as they look ahead to possible district titles.
The visiting Wildcats, who won more easily than expected, 41-22, will be at home Tuesday with a district title and state duals berth likely on the line against Red Bank. Notre Dame, meanwhile, will be gearing up for key district matches Wednesday at Central and on Jan. 22 at East Ridge.
"This was an eye-opener for the kids," Hixson coach Garrick Hall said. "I didn't hoot and holler before the match. They can come out and get fired up and do what they need to do. Hopefully that will carry over to next Tuesday."
Both jump right back into action this weekend. Hixson is leaving at 8:30 a.m. for the two-day Father Ryan Invitational, while Notre Dame will be competing in the Walker Valley Duals.
"We learned some things tonight -- saw some things we can work on that will help us in the next couple of weeks," said Notre Dame coach John Mullin, whose team is 8-2 in dual meets.
Hixson extended its win streak to 13 and its dual record to 22-4.
"We won some matches that were close that I thought were toss-up matches, and we wrestled well," Hall said.
Specifically, the Wildcats got a pin from backup 152-pounder Parker Ward. They also took one away from Notre Dame at 113 with Spencer Groves picking up a pin, and 126-pound Isaac Yates contributed a pin at 126.
"The win at 152 was big," Hall agreed. "I tell the kids all the time to stay off your back and stay in the match and you'll always give yourself a chance to win."
Hixson won eight of the 14 bouts and stacked up bonus points in seven of the wins, including another pin from heavyweight Brody Gregory and major decisions from Cederick Harris and Jonas Shackleford.
"We gave up four falls and didn't score bonus points where we needed if we were going to win it, but Hixson's a solid team," Mullin said. "I really thought we had a shot to win it."
Notre Dame is likely a notch above being simply competitive, primarily because the Irish again are close to fielding a full lineup.
"They're much improved," Hall said. "The last few years they haven't been able to fill the lineup. Now they're filling a lineup and they've got some talented athletes that they're teaching to wrestle."
Said Mullin: "It makes it a heck of a lot more fun when you have a full lineup."
One of the night's most interesting matches pitted the Irish's once-beaten Packy Mullin against talented Landon Goforth. Mullin won 13-6.
"Goforth is a hard-nosed kid and he's long and lanky, and he frustrated Packy in a couple of situations," Mullin said.
"Landon is hard-nosed and he's a talented wrestler. Packy's just that good," Hall added.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.