It does not get much closer than this.
Donegal reclaimed the L-L Section Three wrestling championship Friday afternoon in Mount Joy, shading Elco 34-33 on criteria.
It was the Indians' first section title since 2008, 13th overall and the first for fourth-year coach John Ambs.
Elco, meanwhile, missed an opportunity to claim its first-ever outright section crown and its third overall.
"We're good at getting second," said a disappointed coach Chad Miller, whose Raiders have done so four times. "That's our role."
In a match that finished deadlocked at 33-33, the Indians broke the tie on Criteria E: the team with the greatest number of falls-forfeits-disqualifications.
Donegal had four — three falls and a forfeit. Elco had three falls.
The difference, then, was the decision to forfeit to the Tribe's Terry Tirko at 138.
A decision that, like so many, seemed like a good idea at the time.
In the tightly contested competition the outcome came down to the final bout of the day at 120 pounds.
With the Raiders trailing 33-28, Elco's Matt Achey (23-5) faced Taylor Johnson in a must-pin circumstance.
Achey had his chances, locking Johnson (12-15) in a first-period cradle, a predicament precluded when Johnson developed a bloody lip.
Achey turned Johnson with a power half at the end of that period, only to see time run out with Achey leading 7-0.
He then ran a bar-and-wrist combination midway through the second period, but Johnson eeled out of grave danger before surrendering the first of two false-start penalties.
With the score 12-0 after two periods, Achey's situation was now MUST-PIN!
It was also a darned-if-you-do-darned-if-you-don't conundrum.
He needed to turn Johnson to pin him, but if he turned him, and failed to secure the fall, he would win by an unwanted technical fall, leaving his team short.
With choice, Johnson took top to start the third and promptly surrendered another false-start point.
Now, any Achey action that didn't directly result in a fall meant the end.
He headlocked Johnson for a reversal at the edge of the mat with 1:36 to go.
Somehow, Johnson squirmed out of bounds, losing the battle but winning the war.
"When he had that headlock," said Ambs, "that was as close as both sides were going to get.
"Taylor just found something and was able to get out. It was all heart."
Dakota Black began the day with the first of Elco's falls, at 126, but Donegal answered as backup 132-pounder Jed Sweigart scored a 9-4 decision over Uriah Alleman.
Bumping Tirko to 138, Ambs made a tactical blunder when he declared Tirko out of turn, allowing Miller to forfeit and move Zach Layser to 145.
Layser edged Adam Naqvi on a second-period penalty point, and Zach Bankus and Tommy Price followed with a major decision and fall, giving the Raiders their biggest advantage, 19-9.
Donegal clawed back on Jordyn Snyder's fall at 170 and Barry Sauder's 5-4 win at 182, before Dylan Hickernell pancaked Dylan Maxwell at 195.
Back-to-back falls by Robert Grove (220) and Mason McCoy (285) and Chase McGrew's 6-5 gut check at 106 made it 33-25 Donegal with two bouts to go.
Elco needed a leg up and Nick Knight delivered, executing a double-leg takedown in bounds with five seconds left — after getting two out of bounds — for a 6-4 win at 113.
"No one lost the match for us," Miller said. "They (Donegal) wrestled a perfect match."
No argument from Ambs. "I told Chad, I can't pick one kid that I'd be disappointed in," he said. "There's not one that didn't give me everything he had."