The Marshalltown boys weren’t able to keep their shoulders off the mat enough on Thursday against a tough Waterloo East team, and the Trojans rallied to a 35-33 win over the Bobcats in the Roundhouse.

“I have to give [East coach Chris] Tims respect, he’s done a great job with that program,” MHS head coach Luke Cross said. “But we wanted to win, and I told the boys that we can’t win duals when we give up bonus points. All of our close duals that we’ve lost have been because of bonus points. We’ve got to learn how to fight off our backs. But I told the guys that all we can do is get up, reflect and grow on this.”

The Bobcats led 33-23 with two weights remaining but East scored back-to-back pins for the comeback victory.

“We knew we had to get these guys lifted off the mat because we know they like to throw,” Cross said. “And that’s exactly what they did in that last match.”

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown freshman Nicholas Million, left, tries to turn Waterloo East’s Kaleb Gordon to his back during their 106-pound match on Thursday night at the Roundhouse. Million won the match by major decision, 9-1.

Marshalltown’s upper weights set a good tone to start, with a tech fall for Carson Wright at 157, followed by a Xayvion Anderson fall, 9-1 major decision for Dalton Zednichek, and a 12-6 decision for Johan Gomez to build an 18-0 lead after four matches.

“Carson’s usually a slow starter in his matches, especially when he’s the very first match in a dual,” Cross said. “He’s a cross country runner but it was good to see him sprinting tonight. … Xayvion does what he does, Dalton looked great, best I’ve seen him in a long time, he’s firing on all cylinders, and Johan had a tough, scrappy match against a good solid kid who also knows how to throw, so he was cautious and stayed away from that.”

Nicholas Million added a 9-1 major at 106, Colby Cross had a pin at 132 and Nick Wise earned a tech fall at 138.

Three Bobcats are in the latest rankings from IAwrestle — Anderson is rated third at 165 pounds, Gomez seventh at 190 and Nick Wise eighth at 138 pounds.

Marshalltown finishes up the dual wrestling season with a record of 16-12.

The Bobcats and Trojans will meet again at Saturday’s Iowa Alliance Conference Tournament at Des Moines East High School. Wrestling begins at 10 a.m.

Waterloo East 35, Marshalltown 33

157–Carson Wright (MHS) tech. falled Norshawn Pompilus, 17-0; 165–Xayvion Anderson (MHS) pinned Trent Keller, 1:07; 175–Dalton Zednichek (MHS) major dec. Goerge Tyler, 9-1; 190–Johan Gomez (MHS) dec. Gianni Speller, 12-6; 215–Christopher Foss (WE) pinned John Schoenfelder, 1:22; 285–Keeron Harris-Veasley (WE) dec. Jaxson Hinkle, 6-5; 106–Nicholas Million (MHS) major dec. Kaleb Gordon, 9-1; 113–Mariyon Norton (WE) pinned Jose Corral Coronado, 1:47; 120–DeShawn Parrow (WE) tech. falled Israel Garcia, 17-1; 126–Jack Cary (WE) major dec. Gael Garcia, 18-9; 132–Colby Cross (MHS) pinned Brody Hall, 2:27; 138–Nicholas Wise (MHS) tech. falled Georvon Tyler, 22-6; 144–Isaac Lomas (WE) pinned Anthony Chavez, 3:38; 150–Tyrone Parrow (WE) pinned Kager Kremer, 3:22.

* — Waterloo East penalized one point for misconduct at 106.