It was one tough week for Mount Si wrestlers, as the Wildcats wrestled three Kingco 4A teams and ended up in three very close contests, the lone win of that group being the third one.

It was a tale of two halves last Tuesday night, Jan. 20, as the Wildcats finally held their first home meet of the year, against the Redmond Mustangs. Mount Si broke out to a huge early lead, only to see it slip away and end in heartbreak.

Redmond pinned Wildcat wrestlers in each of their final four matches to take a 35-33 win.

The credit goes to Redmond, Mount Si coach Jeff Newcomer said.

“They kept fighting and fighting,” the coach said. “They didn’t give up at all and that shows that they’re a good team.”

Ryan Ransavage, at 285 pounds, Cody Botten at 112, Andrew Sypher at 119 and Aaron Peterson at 125 started things off by all winning their matches in quick fashion. Only Botten’s was not by a pin.

“I just got a little bit more warmed up before my match, and I went out there thinking that he was good,” a pleased Peterson said. “I just did my moves we learned in practice.”

Ben Larson (130) fought hard at the end, but fell 11-7 to Redmond’s Tim Baker. Cody Hookland (135) fell in another close decision, this to the Mustangs’ Nolan Thomas. Ryan Makela (140) got Mount Si back on track with a 14-0 decision over Redmond’s Travis Sage. Connor Deutch (145) was handed a 19-3 loss by the Mustangs’ Alex Smith. Frank Tassara (152) pinned his Redmond opponent, then Shane Dixon (160), Shelby Williams (171), Doc Derwin (189) and Tony Hannah (215) were all pinned in succession by their Mustangs counterparts, giving Redmond the come-from-behind victory.

The Wildcats traveled to Newport last Wednesday, Jan. 21, looking to rebound from their difficult home loss, but instead found themselves on the short end of an even closer result, 39-38.

Peterson, Larson (135), Deutch, Brian Carlson (189) and Michael Nelson (215) won their matches by pinning their Knights opponents, while Sypher and Tassara took wins by decision. Andrew Grantham (130), Williams (160), Joe Milks (171), and Hanna all were pinned by their Newport counterparts. Hookland fell in a decision, and Mount Si and Newport each forfeited a match.

Mount Si made their way up to Eastlake last Thursday, Jan. 22, and once again, the Wildcats had a tight contest. The old adage, though, came true for Mount Si — the third try is always the charm. The Wildcats were on the right side of this result, winning 36-33 over the Wolves in another makeup meet.

“Tonight, we needed a win badly and we did get one,” Newcomer said. ”We did get a win, but we’re far from where we need to be.”

Danny Peterson (119), Larson, Dixon and Derwin all took their matches by pinning their Eastlake opponents. The Wolves did the same to Botten, Sypher, and Hanna. The match which likely decided the overall team result was at the 171 division, where Williams won a hard-fought tussle with Eastlake’s Cameron Coyer 19-16. Makela won his match as well in a decision, while Aaron Peterson, Hookland and Tassara all fell in their matches. Both sides each took a forfeit.

The three matches in three days was the result of weather-caused rescheduling of both the Newport and Eastlake matches. For Sypher, it was tough.

“It’s brutal,” he said. “You’ve really got to eat healthy throughout the whole day; [that’s] a real key factor. You’ve got to make sure you try to conserve these first couple of matches; you want to get the matches over as fast as you can to save energy for the following match.”

For Dixon, responsibility is key to making it through a stretch like this.

“You’ve got to be smart about what you eat, so you can make weight,” he said. “And smart about your homework so you don’t get in trouble with your teachers, and good about being good in class so you don’t get detention.”

Mount Si hosts Skyline and Issaquah in a dual meet for their senior night, 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29.