The Ada High School wrestling team battled rivals Allen East and Parkway in a meet featuring four teams at Coldwater on Tuesday night, January 18.

The Bulldog grapplers lost to the Mustangs 61-12, and were defeated by Parkway 60-21.

"Wrestling a good team like Allen East requires you to do all the little things right," said Ada head coach Eric Perkins.  "They have some experienced guys who have been very successful in high school wrestling that are going to take advantage of every opportunity you give them."

The two Ada wins vs. powerhouse AE both came by forfeit at 126 lbs. for Rowan West, and at 132 lbs. for Trevor McGue.

Bulldog Clayton McClain lost a close 2-1 decision at 138 lbs. to AE's Jacob Pinks.

"In our match with Parkway, there were only a couple matches so it felt a little bit disjointed as far as a team dual goes," said Perkins.

Against the Panthers, West won by pin after leading 4-2 at 1:09 of the first round.

Colton Cole provided the other Ada win at 165 lbs. He was ahead 11-3 when he pinned his opponent at 2:25 in the second round.

"Colton and Rowan are starting to finish matches and get some of those positive results that come from a lot of hard work and commitment," said Perkins.

McClain captured a 10-6 decision victory at 138 lbs. Liam Vieira also won by forfeit vs. Parkway at 120 lbs.

"Clayton won a close match against Parkway and dropped a close one with Allen East," noted Perkins. "It is hard to consistently win those one-point matches because the margin for error is so tight.  

"If he really opens his offense up as we go into the last month or so of the season, I think he will have some opportunities to have a lot of success," he added.

"It definitely was not our best day of wrestling," Perkins summed up. "We made some mistakes that we don’t usually make. We need to find ways to be more consistent with our technique, especially when we get tired."

Ada competes at the Clyde Invitational Saturday, January 22. The Bulldogs then travel to the Marion Pleasant Invitational Jan. 28-29.