Lawrence High junior Brian Cain, top, maneuvers around Leavenworth's Justin Eldridge. Cain won by pin, but the Lions fell, 38-35, Wednesday at LHS.

Lawrence High wrestling coach Patrick Naughton said he figured his team’s dual meet with Leavenworth on Wednesday night would be close.

But this close? For it to be decided on the 14th and final match of the night? Not even he could have predicted how the night would unfold.

With the Lions clinging to a three-point lead, Elijah Costa – a ninth-grader at South Junior High – stepped onto the mat in the heavyweight class to square off with Leavenworth’s Brett Johnston. Experience and patience prevailed, however, as Johnston earned the pin with 10 seconds left in the first period, and the Pioneers escaped with a 38-35 team victory.

“Once you get on bottom with a heavyweight, it’s hard to escape from that,” said Costa, who had a large scrape over the right side of his face from the tough final match.

The team defeat was made harder to swallow because Lawrence had established a 23-6 lead after six matches.

Naughton said he was proud of how Costa, one of four freshmen wrestling for the Lions on Wednesday, performed.

“It’s real easy for him to get a little gun-shy, get a little nervous in front of a big crowd, especially when it comes down to either you win or you lose,” said Naughton, who noted Costa had been in these situations before at the junior high level. “It’s a big experience for all our freshmen.”

Even in defeat, Lawrence had plenty to be proud of. In the middle weight classes, Chris Lane, Jake Pfannenstiel, Blake Greenfield, Dustin Walthall and Brian Cain each scored six team points by pinning an opponent. Levi Florschutz also earned five points for his major-decision victory at 125 pounds.

But Lawrence was hurt at the 215-pound weight class where it had no wrestler because of illness.

That set up the final showdown with Costa and Johnston.

“It was kind of disappointing that our 215-pounder got sick and we couldn’t get those points that we needed,” said Cain, who qualified for state last year. “It’s not the easiest thing in the world, but Leavenworth’s a good team.”