Free State's Tate Steele takes down Lawrence High's Melle Dye in the City Showdown on Wednesday at FSHS. Steele won by decision over Dye, 11-4, and helped the Firebirds win the dual, 60-9.

Free State senior Sky Carey was not feeling 100 percent going into Wednesday’s City Showdown wrestling dual against Lawrence High, but he was not going to let anything get in the way of him taking the mat one last time in front of the Firebirds’ home crowd.

Carey rounded out his senior night dual with a second-period pin of Kevin Nichols to cap off the Firebirds’ 60-9 victory over Lions in the 285-pound match.

“It was really exciting for me because for the last week, I’ve been dealing with a really bad mucus infection and it causes me to have asthma,” Carey said. “I was really proud of myself to be able to finish the whole match even though I wasn’t completely there.”

Although the Firebirds earned a sizable victory over the Lions, Carey wasn’t the only Free State wrestler who really had to grind it out in order to come out on top. The closest match of the night also involved one of Free State’s three seniors, as Ben Hill went up against Lawrence High 152-pound Stanley Holder III. Hill outlasted Holder in double overtime to win by a 3-2 decision.

“I just think that the conditioning that my coaches put me through really worked and set in, and that was really what made the factor for me to win,” Hill, who lost to Holder last season, said. “Just going hard in the (practice) room and conditioning harder than any other team out there is really what made the difference for me at least.”

Hill was the first of Free State’s three seniors to wrestle. Joining Hill and Carey in being honored before the City Showdown for senior night was 220-pounder Nick Eddis. Eddis was one of six Firebirds to win by fall, as he pinned Lawrence High’s Billy Phiavilayvong in the second period.

“Being the City Showdown and just kind of the atmosphere, it’s always a much more stressful night. You want to prepare because you don’t want to lose in front of the whole city,” Eddis said. “We prepared 10 times as hard during the week. To come out and get the pin and everybody else do their job, it’s just showing everybody how we come together as a team.”

Along with the three Free State seniors winning, Garrett Bradley, Isaiah Jacobs, Charlie Bermel and Devin Beers helped highlight the night with pins for the Firebirds. Tate Steele, Elijah Jacobs and Joey Eddis all won by decision for Free State, as the Firebirds won their 20th consecutive dual. The Firebirds have not lost a dual since falling to Olathe East in a double dual to begin the 2014-15 season.

“It’s pretty awesome because Free State wrestling kind of used to be not much at all. The coaches just push us to our absolute limit,” Hill said. “I think that really pays off, and I think that’s why we’re winning all these duals. We all just work hard and push each other.”

Free State coach Mike Gillman deflected a lot of the credit for the winning streak to his three seniors.

“These kids have been with me for four years. I had them in class at West Middle School,” Gillman said. “I just love these kids. So for these seniors to go out and all three of them win, that’s pretty big.”

The Firebirds will put their streak right back on the line when they compete at the Olathe Northwest double duals at 4:30 tonight.

Wilson, Gee win for Lawrence High

The Firebirds had a commanding 42-0 lead before Lawrence High’s Santino Gee put an end to the shutout in the 170-pound match against Gage Foster. Gee won by an 11-3 major decision.

One of the people in the gym that could understand the difficult time that Foster was having was Gee’s practice partner, Tucker Wilson.

“Santino is weird to wrestle. He doesn’t wrestle like a conventional wrestler,” Wilson said. “He just wrestles funky. It’s weird.”

Wilson followed up Gee’s victory with one of his own. The Lawrence High 182-pounder won by tech fall over Elijah Denmark, 17-2, in the second period.

“I watched this kid’s film from an earlier tournament that we were at together, and he hit the same exact thing,” Wilson said. “So I already knew off the bat what he was going to hit, and I already knew what I was going to do.”

Lawrence High coach Pat Naughton was hoping that the Lions would be able to notch a few more match victories to go along with the ones from Gee and Wilson, but he felt like the dual was a good experience for his squad — especially his younger kids at the lower weights.

Naughton was also quick to credit the effort from the Firebirds.

“Free State really wrestled their butts off really, and they came prepared — all the way through the JV lineup to the varsity lineup,” Naughton said. “My hat is off to them. That No. 8 (in Class 6A) is not just for show. They should be able to do some damage if they can get their guys through their regional.”

Wednesday at Free State

Free State 60, Lawrence High 9

106 — Lou Fincher (FS) def. OPEN (LHS)

113 — Garrett Bradley (FS) won by fall over Julien Cassella (LHS), 3:21

120 — Bennett King (FS) def. OPEN (LHS)

126 — Isaiah Jacobs (FS) won by fall over Marcus Cassella (LHS), 1:31

132 — Charlie Bermel (FS) won by fall over Fransior Jones (LHS), 2:14

138 — Tate Steele (FS) won by decision over Melle Dye (LHS), 11-4

145 — Elijah Jacobs (FS) won by decision over Relle Dye (LHS), 12-8

152 — Ben Hill (FS) won by decision over Stanley Holder (LHS), 3-2 2OT

160 — Joey Eddis (FS) won by decision over Alden Hunt (LHS), 9-2

170 — Santino Gee (LHS) won by major decision over Gage Foster (FS), 11-3

182 — Tucker Wilson (LHS) won by tech fall over Elijah Denmark (FS), 17-2, 2:54

195 — Devin Beers (FS) won by fall over Isaac Flint (LHS), 1:37

220 — Nick Eddis (FS) won by fall over Billy Phiavilayvong (LHS), 3:36

285 — Sky Carey (FS) won by fall over Kevin Nichols (LHS), 3:29