At first glance, a 59-55 win in the season opener might not be a big deal.

But it was when Douglas Byrd took down Red Springs on the road on Friday to tip off a new season.

The Eagles snapped an 83-game losing streak, believed to be the state’s longest active losing skid.

Byrd trailed 30-24 at halftime but took a 44-41 lead going into the fourth before holding on to win.

It was Byrd’s first win since a victory on Feb. 11, 2020 to close out the 2019-20 regular season with a 62-59 win over Gray’s Creek. A loss in the conference tournament the following week was the first loss in the 83-game streak.

There is no N.C. High School Athletic Association record for longest losing streaks in any sport, but the Eagles are believed to have had the longest current losing skid. Byrd went 0-24 last season, 0-24 the year before, preceded by an 0-23 season and an 0-11 season that was modified for the pandemic. Byrd went 4-19 the year that the streak started.

The win comes a week after the state’s longest football losing streak was snapped as Fred T. Foard defeated West Iredell to stop its consecutive losses at 43.