CAMDEN — There’s nothing easy about wrestling in the Henlopen North, match-in and match-out.

Of the eight teams currently in the division, Smyrna, Caesar Rodney and Sussex Central have all won Division I state titles, while Milford and Polytech have won state crowns in Division II.

And Cape Henlopen, Dover and Sussex Tech have all made the dual-meet state tournament field.

“I don’t know that everybody fully understands what it’s like to run the gauntlet of the Henlopen North,” said CR coach Dan Rigby. “You can’t afford to have a letdown or you could have two or three losses.”

So Rigby considers it no small accomplishment that the Riders put themselves in position to win the North title by downing Cape Henlopen, 37-24, in a division showdown on Wednesday afternoon.

The Vikings (4-1 North, 5-2) were the last North squad without a division loss.

CR (6-1 North, 6-2 overall), which has a loss to Smyrna, can do no worse than tie for the division title. And the Riders would win the division championship outright if Smyrna loses to either Cape or Sussex Central. CR hasn’t won the North crown since 2012.

Winning the Henlopen North would be especially meaningful in a season where there is not expected to be a DIAA dual-meet state tourney.

“It’s a huge deal,” said Rigby. “As a coach, you try to find things to keep your guys motivated all season — in a year that could be taken away from you in an instant.

“One of the things we said was, all we want to do is give ourselves a chance at end of the year to at least compete and at least make it exciting. We did that. Now the ball’s in somebody else’s court but we did what we needed to do tonight.”

With Wednesday’s match starting at 113 pounds, CR opened up a 13-0 lead at the start only to have Cape Henlopen reel off the next 21 points.

The Riders were hanging onto a 28-24 advantage with two matches remaining when Kevin Hudson (285 pounds) sealed the victory by edging the Vikings’ Lucas Ruppert, 2-1.

CR’s Alexander McEvoy then capped off the match with a third-period pin at 106. The Riders also got third-period falls from Cameron Cataldi (126) and Shamar Nelson (195).

Rigby liked the way his wrestlers bounced back after falling to Smyrna by 14 points a week ago.

“As a coach you love to see your guys rebound,” said Rigby. “I just feel like we were really loose and just focused. I knew we had to win seven to eight matches in order to win and we ended up winning nine.

“Everybody wrestled their very best match and I think that’s why we won.”

The Vikings’ Michael Frederick (138) and Charles Fritchman (152) earned the two fastest pins of the match in 1:12 and 1:15 respectively.

Cape Henlopen still has North matches left against Smyrna on Saturday and Sussex Central next Monday.