With the season in its final stretch, the Illinois Valley Central wrestlers continued to look for room for improvement last week when they took on the Princeton Tigers Jan. 12.

Freshman Bret Hoover won his match by forfeit, and junior Zach Switzer took his foe down with a pin in 1:53.

Senior Scott Ladd was the last Ghost winner when he bested his opponent with a pin in 3:33.

The Ghosts lost, 58-18.

“We had a few injuries going into the Princeton duel,” coach Matt Russell said. “Overall, the kids wrestled well and we lost a few close matches.”

The team headed to Kewanee for the Kewanee Invitational Saturday.

“We wrestled really well at Kewanee,” Russell said.

The Ghosts finished seventh of 12 teams, with 96 points.

Senior Frank Barrett started things off for the Ghosts in the 103-pound division when he won his first match by a 5-4 decision and advanced to the championship match with a dominant 12-6 decision.

Barrett was unable to topple his foe in the championship match and lost a close 8-7 decision to finish second.

“Frank Barrett had as good of a day wrestling as I have ever seen him have,” Russell said.

Switzer won a 9-8 decision in his first match in the 112-pound division.

Switzer then edged out a 7-6 victory before being pinned in the championship match.

Junior DJ Hummer dominated his first opponent in the 160-pound division with a 9-3 decision.

Hummer lost his next match and then began his way through the consolation bracket by pinning his opponent in 5:10.

To win third place, Hummer came out on the right side of a close 8-6 decision.

The Ghosts next wrestle at 5 p.m. Thursday at Manual.