KAYSVILLE — The Davis Darts wrestling team was coming off a strong performance in the Rocky Mountain Rumble, finishing eighth out of 57 teams.

Facing the No. 2 ranked Layton Lancers Wednesday night, however, proved to be a difficult task, as the Darts couldn’t recover from an early deficit and lost 40-24.

The Darts had won two of the first three matches on the night, picking up a pin at 112 with a forfeit at 119 to pick up an early 12-6 lead.

Davis dropped three straight tough matches to fall behind by six points. Ken Astle of Layton pinned Chris Wirthlin at 125 to tie the match, followed by Lancer Colton Marshal pinning Jared Bovee to give the Lancers the lead.

A major decision by Layton gave them a 10 point lead.

The Darts had a comeback effort in place when Joseph McKay, Jared Taylor and Andrew Silotti picked up close wins to pull to within one point of taking the lead.

McKay’s match ended when he picked up two points on a reversal with less than 30 seconds remaining in the match.

Those points gave him the 3-2 win to make the score 22-15 for Layton.

Taylor’s match was nearly the same. After battling Layton’s Davis Marriott to a 3-3 tie entering the final period, Marriott allowed Taylor to escape, hoping to pick up another point.

Taylor hung on to win the match.

After the score was 22-21 Layton, the Lancers won four of the last five matches to close out the night with the win.

The Darts will host Syracuse Wednesday for the team’s final home match of the year.