GILLETTE, Wyo. - Rapid City Central coach Lance Pearson knew his team didn't stack up with Gillette, Wyo. on paper.

However, he wasn't about to let his charges go down without a fight.

"We just challenged our kids to wrestle hard no matter who showed up in their weight class," Pearson said.

The Cobblers heeded the call.

And they nearly gave the top-ranked team in Wyoming's Class 4A more than it bargained for. But once again, Gillette's middle weights came through, securing five of the six final matches as the Camels avoided a Rapid City sweep with a 45-30 win.

Rapid City Stevens beat Gillette last Thursday at home 37-35.

"We tried," said Pearson, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know if you can call it a good run, but you have to be happy when you put 30 points on this team.

"They have a lot of nice kids."

So does Central - especially in the upper and lower weights.

Tyler Jones (171), Chad Gibson (189) and Chapman Ham (215) each controlled their opponents and pulled the Cobblers even 12-12 after five matches. Gibson and Ham were particularly dominant, posting a 16-6 major decision and a 19-3 technical fall, respectively.

After Gillette's R.J. Boylan made short work of Casey Chilstrom at heavyweight, the Cobblers' Aero Amo (103) and Tanner Spilde (112) followed with pins for a 24-18 lead.

"They are fairly solid in their upper weights," Gillette coach Tom Seamans said. "We did just enough to win."

The teams traded third-period pins before the the Camels closed strong.

Gillette's Tyler Cox produced oohs and ahhs from the crowd with a number of slick moves against Central freshman C.J. Clark at 119. The Cobblers' Tyler Harter then took advantage of a miscue by his opponent at 125 to pull out a pin with nine seconds left.

A date with cross-town rival Stevens looms on the schedule for Central next week.

"The Stevens dual is a lot like this one," said Pearson, whose team is 6-4 in duals. "On paper, we don't match up.

"We will just continue to wrestle our game."