Viktor Banda trailed Monroe-Woodbury’s Elijah Brown by seven points.

Then he hit another level, erasing the seven-point deficit, taking a 10-point lead before scoring a pinfall victory to end the night.

He was never going lift the Panthers to victory as they entered his bout – the final one of the night – as they trailed by too many, but he closed the gap in a 35-31 season-opening loss to the Crusaders on Wednesday.

“That was crazy,” Wallkill coach Anthony Ng said. “He came in wrestling a kid who I believe was third in the section last year. He got down 7-0 and came back and almost teched him. It’s just a testament to his ability to make mid-match adjustments and stay in the fight.”

The Panthers stayed in the fight for most of the evening. They won six of the 13 bouts, but they avoided pinfall losses in four of their seven defeats, keeping the Crusaders close.

“It’s growth and in any sport, and in life, you just want growth, and you want to just be better the next day,” Ng said. “You want to be able to have a measuring sticking with some of these guys that are hammers and not giving up the pin, or not giving up the tech, it speaks volumes to what they’re capable of.”

The dual meet started at 138 pounds and the Panthers and Crusaders traded pinfall victories to start, but the Crusaders took a major decision and tech fall to take a 15-6 lead and never gave up the lead.

Anthony Annacone got the Panthers’ second win of the night when he beat Jonathan Subocz at 170 pounds, and after the Panthers dropped two more major decisions, Julian Aviles flattened Monroe-Woodbury’s Jose Hernandez Rosa in 1:07 for a pinfall victory at 285 pounds.

Marco Futia followed with a major decision over Kelly Sullivan to pull the Panthers to within 10 points. That’s where the Panthers stood entering into Banda’s match.

“(Monroe-Woodbury) is a tough team, a young team just like us and I was just happy with our fight,” Ng said. “Some guys that were going up against a better guy fought off their backs and didn’t give up the pins. Sometimes it comes down to things like that and it showed a lot of heart.”

The Panthers entered this season after having lost 11 seniors from the team that went 16-6 and won their league championship. They’ve lost top wrestler Rocco Futia, as well as Jain Burnett, Marco Martini, Ben Buchalter, George Thomas and John Morrow.

Marco Futia returns, leading a group that includes Liam McCarthy, Banda, Devin Strother, John Naparano, Annacone, and Aviles. Ty Patterson is new to the team this year.

McCarthy and Naparano were out of the lineup on Tuesday.

At some point in the season, Banda and Futia are hoping to hit their 100th victories, while the team wants to win another league title and send at least three wrestlers to the state tournament at the end of the season.

“We had a great offseason, showing from our younger wrestlers,” Ng said. “We should be a tough team again and I look forward to some individuals’ hard work paying off for them.”