Good for one team. Not so good — OK, really bad — for the other team.

And it was Webster City that was on the short end of the stick.

Ballard seized the momentum from the opening whistle and was the more composed team, particularly early in the dual, as it raced out to a 30-0 lead and never let the Lynx back in the dual.

The Bombers (3-0) captured the first six matches, four of them by fall, and took 10 of the 14 bouts overall to throttle WCHS, 48-23.

WCHS senior Evan Estlund (top) works an arm bar during his 170-pound bout against Ballard’s Gunnar Peterson last night. Estlund won by fall in 3:20. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Any way you slice it, not a good night for the Lynx (2-1).

“We did not wrestle well, it’s as simple as that,” WCHS head coach Chad Hisler said. “It was definitely a momentum thing, but they only had four returning kids in their lineup and we’ve got a lot of kids that have wrestled. Our fight was not there and we’ve got to get a lot better.”

WCHS actually secured plenty more takedowns (15-6) and owned a 54-37 edge in match points scored, but that was aided by hammers Carson Doolittle and Cam Phetxoumphone in the final two matches. Doolittle, ranked third (Class 2A) at 113 pounds, rolled up a 12-3 lead before he decked Tucker Vitzthum in 4:39. Phetxoumphone, a two-time state champion who is ranked No. 1 at 120, toyed with Jacob Harrison for 1:49 with three takedowns and a series of turns for a 17-2 technical fall.

But the Lynx claimed just two other weights, as Ballard held the upper-hand in each of the close tussles. The Bombers earned three decision wins by one point, and scored falls in three other matches that were close when the slap of the mat sounded.

Jack Shephard got Ballard off to a solid start with a 1-0 win over Tristan Mason at 126. A locked hands call on Mason in the second period accounted for the only point and Shephard was able to put a tough ride on in the third period to secure the win.

Webster City 160-pounder Brady Jessen (front) shoots in on the legs of Ballard’s Blake Fleischmann last night inside the WCHS gymnasium. Fleischmann won the match and Ballard won the dual, 48-23. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Luke Hartsook (132), Daniel Hyman (138) and Thomsen Harrison (145) rattled off consecutive pins to push Ballard’s margin to 21-0. Hyman was able to lock up a cradle twice on Luke Estlund, who led 4-2 when he was reversed and put on his back.

Evan Estlund, a senior, finally got WCHS on the board with a fall at 170. He opened up a 4-0 lead after one period over Gunnar Peterson and then added a second period takedown before he whipped Peterson to his back for the pin in 3:20.

CJ Hisler, a junior who is ranked No. 9 at 195, made his season debut for WCHS. Still nursing an injured foot that first flared up at the end of the track season in May, Hisler didn’t waste any time in getting off the mat. He hit a double-leg takedown on Henry Christensen in the bout’s opening seconds and needed just 37 seconds to finish it off.

Jaxon Cherry, a Lynx sophomore, gave 10th-ranked Nick Wacha a scrap at 220. Cherry led 4-2 after one period, but got put on his back midway through the second and couldn’t get off.

Kale Krogh, an Iowa football recruit and the starting center on Ballard’s 2021 Class 3A state runner-up basketball team, added wrestling to his resume this winter and he tacked on a 2-1 overtime win over the Lynx Landon Griffin at heavyweight.

WCHS third-ranked 113-pounder Carson Doolittle locks up a cradle and pins Ballard’s Tucker Vitzthum last night. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Doolittle and Phetxoumphone allowed WCHS to creep closer on the scoreboard. Doolittle notched three first-period takedowns, with a reverse and takedown in the second. He locked up a cradle to end Vitzthum’s night.

Phetxoumphone notched three takedowns in his short time on the mat. He twice tilted Harrison for near-fall points and then ended it near the edge of the mat.

WCHS will attempt to put the disappointing performance behind it on Saturday when it takes part in the Grinnell Duals starting at 10 a.m. The Lynx will face Grinnell, East Marshall, Mount Pleasant, Bondurant-Farrar and Cedar Rapids Prairie in the round-robin format.

Hisler is hopeful that last night will serve as a wake-up call.

“We think we have a team that can do some big things, but if we do the things we did (last night) then we’re not going to be able to accomplish our goals. It’s that simple.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

“If this isn’t a wake-up call, there are going to be a lot of teams that do this to us. We have to get better and fast.”

Ballard 48, Webster City 23

Thursday at Webster City

126 — Jack Shephard (B) dec. Tristan Mason, 1-0 (3-0). 132 — Luke Hartsook (B) pinned Cole Reiling, 1:48 (9-0). 138 — Daniel Hyman (B) pinned Luke Estlund, 3:39 (15-0). 145 — Thomsen Harrison (B) pinned Tristan Maxwell, 1:49 (21-0). 152 — Rhett Hedrick (B) dec. Austin Mason, 7-4 (24-0). 160 — Blake Fleischmann (B) pinned Brady Jessen, 2:27 (30-0). 170 — Evan Estlund (WC) pinned Gunnar Peterson, 3:20 (30-6). 182 — Gabriel Christensen (B) pinned Skyler Scott, 1:18 (36-6). 195 — CJ Hisler (WC) pinned Henry Christensen, 0:37 (36-12). 220 — Nick Wacha (B) pinned Jaxon Cherry, 3:41 (42-12). 285 — Kale Krogh (B) dec. Landon Griffin, 2-1, TB-1 (45-12). 106 — Jace Rhiner (B) dec. Addison Scott, 3-2 (48-12). 113 — Carson Doolittle (WC) pinned Tucker Vitzthum, 4:39 (48-18). 120 — Cam Phetxoumphone (WC) tech fall Jacob Harrison, 17-1, 1:49 (48-23).