The wrestling team went beyond a perfect score against Cleveland on Tuesday.

The Spartans themselves scored the maximum possible 84 points, and a Cleveland wrestler who drop-kicked his headgear around the Spartan gym after disagreeing that he’d been pinned was assessed with a team penalty point, making the final match score 84 to (-1).

Earlier in the evening, the Spartans had defeated Ingraham 69-6. With both teams bringing just six wrestlers each, the outcomes were as much a statement about the often abysmal quality of Metro wrestling as the depth of the Bainbridge program.

“One of the coaches was the older brother of one of the team members, and it’s hard for a 21 or 22-year-old to command respect,” said Spartan coach Steve Hohl.

“Another problem is that many of their coaches aren’t even in their buildings. The hardest recruiting job in high school athletics is in wrestling, because there’s no instant success. And it makes it much harder if the coach isn’t there to keep after kids.

“On top of that, Seattle doesn’t have a middle school wrestling program.”

Both matches were interspersed with a larger-than-usual number of penalty points and technical violations assessed opposing wrestlers, a reflection of relative inexperience rather than dirty tactics.

Against Ingraham, Peter Mandell began the action at 189 pounds. He built up an 8-0 first period lead, took two seconds to score a reversal in the second period and scored a fall a little over a minute later at 3:22.

Nick McCallum (215) followed with a 5-1 decision, then Carl Webster rode a seven-point final period to an 11-0 decision.

Ingraham forfeited the next six matches, then won their lone match at 140 with a fall a 4:46.

After another forfeit, Jacob Hayashi (152) dominated his match against an opponent whose main talent was avoiding being pinned. Hayashi had five near-falls before the match was stopped at 1:32 because he had amassed 16 points for a technical fall. Chris McKay (160) ended the match with an 8-1 decision.

After Ingraham edged Cleveland 27-24, the Spartans overwhelmed the Eagles.

McCallum, moving up to 275, went against an opponent who appeared to be right at the weight limit. After a scoreless first period, McCallum began the second period with a reversal in the first three seconds and eventually scored a fall at 3:42.

Steve Devine (103) scored a fall at :59. Zach Smith (119) needed less than five seconds for a takedown, built up an 8-1 first period lead, then scored a fall at 3:04.

Nick Sturza, normally 130, moved up to 140 and after being taken down, had a reversal late in the first round that moved quickly into the disputed fall at 1:36.

As the referee later explained, the irate Eagle wrestler had helped to pin himself by pushing up as Sturza maneuvered for the fall. The motion forced his shoulders down onto the mat.

Joel Messett (145) won by injury default. Seth Paradox (189) wrapped up the scoring with a quick fall at 1:04.

The team traveled to West Seattle yesterday, then hosts the Cross-Sound Shootout today as a final tune-up before next week’s Metro League tournament.

Bainbridge, Blanchet and O’Dea will compete in three successive dual meets against Forks, Olympic and Sequim. Action begins at 3 p.m. on three mats in the BHS gym, with subsequent matches at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.