EAST WENATCHEE — There’s no drama like the drama of a wrestling dual meet between bitter rivals. But add a little controversy, and suddenly it can reach a fever pitch.

Tuesday night’s Big Nine meet between Eastmont and Wenatchee was that kind of clash.

Eastmont escaped with a 37-36 victory over the Panthers, but only after a disqualification in the final match changed what initially appeared to be a 36-34 Wenatchee win.

The last match of the night, between Eastmont’s Jeremy VanAssche and Wenatchee’s Noel Sanchez at 145 pounds, first ended in a 6-4 decision for VanAssche, giving the Wildcats just three points. But seven technical penalties were called in the bout — all but one for stalling — and four went against Sanchez. Because of that fourth penalty, the referee changed the decision to Eastmont on a disqualification, giving it the six points and the meet victory.

Neither coach was pleased with the outcome.

“Noel wrestled well enough to win. ... It’s unfortunate it turned out this way,” Wenatchee coach Ed Valdez said. “We’ll just live with it.”

Eastmont coach Ken Hoyt gave the Panthers credit after the result was overturned.

“It’s bad luck for them. They won, but they didn’t win. They had more pins than we did,” he said. “I didn’t see the (145-pound) match the same way the ref saw it.”

Six pins were a big part of Wenatchee (1-1 Big Nine) staying close to or in the lead for most of the meet.

“We didn’t win all the matches we thought we would win, but we won where we needed to,” Valdez said. “I feel we out-wrestled them.”

Alberto Montez DeOca’s pin of Michael Preston with just six seconds left in the second period of the 126-pound match was a huge boost for the Panthers, putting them ahead 30-28.

Eastmont (1-1 Big Nine) responded with a late 3-1 decision by Christian Hernandez at 132 pounds over Andrew Lape (Hernandez broke a 1-1 tie with a takedown in the final seconds), but Wenatchee came back with Hector Alvarez’s pin of Jared Trelles in 1:17 to set up the final match.

Camden Wheatcroft got Eastmont off to a good start with a third-period pin over Abel Charco at 152 pounds in the first match of the night.

“Camden, I can’t say enough about,” Hoyt said. “He wrestled a nice controlled match. I will have to show a couple of kids the tape of Camden’s match tomorrow.”

Hoyt was also pleased with the performance of 182-pounded Darin Hardgrove, who pinned Justice Martinez in 3:47.