The Salem Seminoles fell just a few matches short on the road Wednesday night at Eastside, dropping a 45-36 decision to the Eagles on their Senior Night.

Eastside won its first three contests, jumping out to an 18-0 lead before clinching the match with a Justin Bernard victory at 145 pounds.

"We looked good," Salem coach Tim Owens said. "As a team, we haven't looked that good all year. Even though we lost, I was happy with what I saw tonight. We have had good individual performances this season, but that was our best one as a team."

Salem rallied back after its close start to cut Eastside’s lead to six, but a pair of late wins wasn’t enough to overcome the Eagles’ early lead.

Jesse Rainey led the Eagles off with a pin in the first round at 170 pounds, defeating Salem's Carl Hayword for a 6-0 lead.

The Eagles won their next two bouts at 182 and 195 pounds, with Mitchell Troutman pinning Tyrell Morton in the first round and Garrett Yates winning by forfeit.

Salem cut the Eagles' lead to 18-12 with back-to-back pins, as Tyler Williams and Zuri Anderson pinned Donald Davenport and Nicholas Dunevent in the 220- and 285-pound bouts, respectively.

Eastside's Rodrick Boley won by forfeit at 106 pounds, but the Seminoles' Cody Thomas kept Salem within striking distance with a pin over Matthew Tewksbury in the first round in the 113-pound bout.

The Eagles answered with three consecutive wins at 120, 126 and 132 pounds. Levi Leach pinned Salem's Brandon McKie at 120, and Misha Felton followed up Leach's pin with a first-round pin over Branden Mitchell at 126 pounds. Noah Savage won a 13-9 decision for Eastside, using a reversal in the final five seconds to push Eastside's lead to 39-18.

Salem won three of the final four matches, but Bernard clinched the match for the Eagles in the 145-pound bout, pinning Bryce Dawson in the second round.

Salem won by forfeit at 138 pounds and picked up pins from Jordan Goey and Jeremy Bolz at 152 and 160 pounds for the 45-36 final.