ARLINGTON — Well, they’re not there yet.

But despite a bruising 58-11 loss to Lake Stevens, Arlington wrestling coach Shaun Williams saw a lot of fight in his wrestlers.

“My kids were fighting,” he said. “We didn’t flop over.”

Three Arlington wrestlers won their matches out of the 14 weight classes represented in the Jan. 15 dual meet. Perhaps the night’s biggest surprise earned the Eagles the biggest points. With Arlington’s captains — mostly veterans of the state tournament — the team’s best opportunities to pick up matches, it was senior Matt Kratzer at 215 pounds who earned the only pin against Lake Stevens, taking a 2-0 lead on a takedown in the first round and pinning Viking sophomore Kodi Dinh 36 seconds into the second round.

“He started late,” Williams said of the wrestler who earned six points for Arlington. “He didn’t wrestle much before Christmas.”

Kratzer’s win injected a much-needed shot of adrenaline into the Arlington fan base. Three rounds earlier, senior Chris Myers had turned a 2-1 Lake Stevens lead into a 6-2 score in his favor with a near fall Viking senior Jake Welch late in the second round. Myers’ lead evaporated in the third round as Welch made a big comeback. Points flew fast and furious in the last 20 seconds and what had appeared a clear Myers victory was suddenly up in the air. A consultation at the scoring table gave Welch an 8-7 win and dealt a moral defeat to Arlington.

The blow proved temporary. As the 171 match took place, numbers were crunched and it became clear that Myers was the 8-7 winner, earning Arlington two points after a one-point sportsmanship deduction, presumably for the crowd’s negative reception of the erroneous call.

Krazter’s win seemed to make all right with the crowd and led into the heavyweight match, Arlington’s third and final win of the night.

Lake Stevens’ Zach Teuber took a 1-0 lead in the second round against senior Bryant Dickerson. Twice after, a single point was awarded to the other wrestler as both stalled, giving Teuber a 3-2 lead going late into the third round. With about 30 seconds left to earn points, Dickerson sought an opening but continued to be stalled by Teuber. On third stalling call, just moments before the end of the match, Teuber was penalized two points, giving the Arlington wrestler a 4-3 come-from-behind victory.

In the losses, there were also bright spots. In the opening round, sophomore Nathan Shortt nearly pinned his Lake Stevens opponent from underneath him, flipping him over his shoulder and holding him for a few seconds. Others took moral victories from going all three rounds with Lake Stevens, avoiding the pin and limiting their points per round.

“I thought we did well,” Williams said. “There were moments in all the matches where I could tell we were almost there.”

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