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The Eudora Cardinals wrestling squad enjoyed its time away from the mats over Christmas break, but the Cardinals’ dual against Gardner Thursday at Wellsville won’t be an easy one.

Eudora coach Bill DeWitt said Gardner was probably the best team in the league, but he added that his team would be ready to battle and could possibly upset the Blazers if the Cardinals stay off their backs.

“We can’t give up a lot of those bonus points,” DeWitt said. “We definitely can’t get pinned. If we’re against somebody that’s obviously better than we are then we have to wrestle smart and stay in good position and not allow ourselves to get put on our back and give up pins.”

DeWitt said the team was excited to wrestle against Gardner, especially after the long holiday break.

“We had a pretty good week of practice,” DeWitt said. “It’s hard to get guys cranked up over the break but for the most part attendance was good. We had a few kids who were out of town for various reasons, which is understandable. But I feel good coming into Monday. We’ll get everybody back and get some good, hard practices in and hopefully we’re ready for Gardner.”

DeWitt said knocking off Gardner would be difficult, but he added that his team was capable of meeting that challenge.

“We might have to steal a match here and there but we’ve got a lot of good kids on our team, too,” DeWitt said. “We’re just going to have to win close matches and avoid getting pinned. If we do that we’re going to be in pretty good shape.

“They do have some kids on that team who are very, very good and that will be a good task for some of our kids. We just can’t let it get away from us and wrestle smart.”

DeWitt said the team probably wouldn’t have trouble making weights, even though the holidays are a time when it’s not uncommon for wrestlers to pack on a few pounds.

“Most of the guys are still pretty well within their weight,” DeWitt said. “Those first couple of weeks (of the season), once you get on your diet and you start to get down to your weight your body starts to settle in a little bit even if you are a little undisciplined during the holidays. But weight-wise we should be in pretty good shape.”

After the dual against Gardner, the Cardinals will wrestle in the Bonner Springs Invitational on Saturday. DeWitt said the Bonner tournament, which usually has about 12 teams, would be good preparation for the Basehor-Linwood Invitational next weekend.

“This Bonner tournament is a good warm-up,” DeWitt said. “It’s a smaller tournament but it’s a good, solid tournament to help get us back in the flow of wrestling on the weekends.”

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