The El Dorado High School wrestling team returned from the holiday break with a close dual loss to Mulvane Thursday night in El Dorado, 37-33. The Wildcats dropped to 1-2 duals, 0-2 in AVCTL Division III.

Mulvane jumped ahead 21-0 with three pins and a decision through the first four weight classes. El Dorado came back and won the next three to get within 21-15. The ‘Cats got pinfall victories from Brit LaRue at 130 pounds and Seth Hadley at 135 and a 9-4 decision from Maverick Horsch at 140.

Mulvane came back with two more pins and a decision to take a 37-15 lead before El Dorado won the last four weight classes to make the final score close. Lucas Cortez won an 11-9 decision at 171 before Dylon Walker (189) and Brady Conner (215) both picked up pins. Heavyweight Johnny Brown rallied to win his match, 8-7. Stephen McGuire had a tough 3-1 loss at 125 while Ryan Allison had a close 3-2 loss at 152. Both teams won seven weight classes.

“It’s always disappointing to lose, but we saw some positive things from our guys,” said EHS head coach Lance Lusk. “Brady and Johnny, in particular, are starting to really show some improvement on the mat. We felt we had a chance to win, but we had three starters out for various reasons, and we moved some people around to different weight classes. We need to be in top shape with the schedule we have coming up.”

Clinton Hess scored a pair of wins in the junior varsity matches for El Dorado. Also picking up JV wins for the Wildcats were Curtis Pollard, Bryan Lockard and Brett Petty.

The Wildcats will wrestle at the Derby Invitational Friday and Saturday. Friday’s opening matches begin at 3:30. Saturday’s matches begin at 9 a.m.