Sophomore Dylan Hayes stepped up to grasp a piece of history for Tam High’s wrestling program on Wednesday with a victory to clinch the MCAL duals championship.

“It’s exciting to win the MCAL title for Tam,” Hayes said after the Red-tailed Hawks beat San Marin, 36-35, in a battle between the only two undefeated teams in Wednesday’s MCAL season finale at host Novato High. “I haven’t wrestled very long, but I’ve talked with our seniors and our coaches and, I don’t think we’ve ever won the title before, so this was a big deal.”

Tam coaches were still researching the last time the program won the dual championship after Wednesday’s meet.

San Marin seemed to have the dual win and the title in its clutches with pins in six victories. A pair of key forfeits and a one-point match penalty against the Mustangs helped set the stage for a showdown at 215 pounds between Hayes and Mustangs junior Supasin Wongkhum with the championship in the balance.

“I knew San Marin was going to forfeit a couple matches, so if we won one more match, we could win the title,” said Hayes, who was wrestling up in class from 190 pounds. “After we lost at 175, I knew I had to win.”

Wongkhum went on the attack right away, but Hayes caught him with a counter and turned Wongkhum for a fall in the first period that cut San Marin’s lead to 35-30.

“Going into the match, I wasn’t nervous. Usually I’m nervous before a match,” Hayes said. “I felt like I was going to win. I was very confident, but I didn’t expect to get the win in the first period.”

The Mustangs were forced to forfeit the final match, where heavyweight David Coronado was out sick, handing the Hawks six points and the win.

“We found out earlier today we were going to have to forfeit a couple matches. We didn’t expect that,” San Marin head coach Cory Boyd said. “We just didn’t have enough rounds in the chamber after that to seal the deal.”

Without the match penalty, Tam and San Marin would have tied on the scoreboard, but the Mustangs would have won the match and the title because they won more matches by pinfall.

“In a dual meet, you can’t say any one thing or any individual decided the match,” Boyd said.

San Marin was rolling early after Luke Miller (128), Noah Albertson (134) and Collin Taaffe (140) each pinned their opponents.

“That was a toss-up match. It could have gone either way,” said Albertson, who wore down Tam’s Tyrell Smith and got his shoulders on the mat with 13 seconds left in the second period.

The Hawks climbed back into the match, 23-19, with decisions by Dylan Van Doren (146), Andrew Caan (152) and Valentino Van Praag (157).

Emotional pinfall wins by Tristan Lloyd (167) and AJ Conkey (175) gave the Mustangs a much-needed boost.

“That was great for me,” said Lloyd, who avenged a loss to Tam’s Cole Mapp from last year. “It’s good to remember those losses, because you’re always going to get another chance.”

Tam will take the pennant to Saturday’s North Coast Section Redwood Empire Duals Championship in Ukiah. Second-place San Marin also applied for a berth as the postseason begins in earnest.

San Marin defeated an undermanned Novato squad, 53-18, in their friendly rivalry on Wednesday, and Tam beat the Hornets, 48-27. Novato’s Jonathan Bartnicki (175) pinned both his opponents. The Hornets’ Jiriah Vannasy won both matches at 120 pounds, with one by pin, and heavyweight Braeden Carroll, a favorite to qualify for state, won by pinfall and a walkover. Among other Novato notable results, Molly Hutchinson (115) went 1-1 with a decision.

“We have a chance to do well at MCALs,” Novato head coach Rafael Ayala said. “We had some good matches tonight. Molly was amazing, stepping up in class and wrestling really well.”

The MCAL individual championships are scheduled for Feb. 15 at Novato High with the NCS individual championships a week later.