The Junction City Blue Jay wrestling team opened with a 45-36 loss to Clay Center but came back to hold off Chapman 39-36 in a double dual in Chapman Thursday evening.

JCHS coach Bob Laster knows he has a young team. “We have a bunch of guys that don’t have any varsity experience. This is totally different from when they wrestled on j-v so I have some work to do to try to get these guys up to varsity level.” Laster added he’s not giving up on this team, noting they’re just starting out. “I was really disappointed with our loss to Clay Center because out of the 14 matches I think we got pinned seven times. If they ( Blue Jays ) lost by regular points we would have ended up winning against Clay Center, but I told our team you can’t give up the big points.” Laster noted that’s exactly what happened in the Clay Center match.

In the Chapman match the Blue Jays were ahead by a substantial margin, but the Irish won the last three matches in the heavier weights to make it a close final score.

Junction City will compete in an invitational at Gardner – Edgerton on Saturday.