Free State High wrestling coach Darrell Andrew offered no excuses for his team’s 51-22 loss to Washburn Rural on Thursday at FSHS.

It didn’t matter that three of his best wrestlers sat out and were replaced by youngsters from his junior varsity squad.

To him, the Firebirds had more than enough talent to win. Just not enough intensity.

“Personally, I’m a little disappointed with our performance tonight. I felt that we didn’t give 100 percent effort,” Andrew said. “Regardless of who you are, when you step on that mat, we expect you to give 100 percent.”

It was easy to see why Andrew was disappointed with his team’s effort.

Free State High's Zach Mehl wraps up Washburn Rural's Mike White. The Firebirds lost Thursday's match, 51-22.

From the get-go, Free State appeared overmatched. In their first two matches, the Firebirds lost by technical falls, giving Washburn Rural a large early lead.

Free State didn’t even get on the board until 130-pound junior Marc Somers rolled to a 18-1 technical-fall victory.

Somers said his individual performance meant little – mostly because by the time Free State scored another point, it was behind 29-8.

“There’s no excuse.” Somers said. “We didn’t do enough to make people think that this was an important dual. People thought that we were just going to walk all over them. That obviously didn’t happen.”

From there, the Firebirds needed a lot of pins to get back into the match. They never came, and Free State fell behind by as many as 34.

Sophomore Caleb Gress moved up a weight class and won a late match at 171 pounds by technical fall. Freshman Jack Caywood (140) and Josh Fowler (160) also chipped in with decisions to make the score a little more respectable. But in the end, Washburn Rural won in a blowout.

Free State High's Jack Caywood, top, wraps up Washburn Rural's Blake Shipley. Caywood won his match Thursday at Free State, but the Firebirds lost the team title.

After the dual, Andrew gathered his team for a postgame talk.

Gress said Andrew told them that, for the most part, nobody was ready to wrestle.

“We’re not preparing ourselves properly for matches,” Andrew said. “We’re stepping out there and we don’t have a good sweat going. We’re just lacking that intensity we need to be competitive in the sport of wrestling.”