Unfinished Business: West Hancock wrestlers show the triumph and heartbreak that comes with the State Tournament

Four West Hancock wrestlers competed at the Iowa High School State Championship tournament on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Each individual had different outcomes from their tournament.

Three of the four found their way to the podium at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Kellen Smith at 138 finished runner-up.

Mathew Francis at 220 placed third.

Kane Zuehl at 160 earned fifth place.

Finally, Creighton Kelly at 152 did not place.

For some, they outdid their outside expectations.

All four would likely tell you they wanted more.

It’s the highs and lows that make “The Big Dance” one of Iowa’s most beloved sporting events.

This is the stories of those four West Hancock wrestlers.

 True Believer

It was never a case of if Kellen Smith was going to be standing on the upper half of the podium on Saturday.   

Having wrestled for much of his life, it was apparent since his freshman season last year that he was a special wrestler.

But, getting seeded on the same side of the bracket as undefeated Clayton McDonough of Central Springs, made for a tough road to the finals.

Three of Smith’s four losses going into the tournament were from the senior Panther.

And, despite having closed the gap in their last meeting at the Top of Iowa Conference finals, many would assume that McDonough would win a fourth matchup if they were to meet in the semifinals.

Smith was not one of those people.

On Friday night, the two would put on one of the best matches of the tournament.

Tension was mounting as the first point wouldn’t be scored until 41 seconds into the second period, when McDonough scored an escape.

Smith was fortunate to have the second choice, going down for the third period.

He’d take the lead, 2-1, with a reversal 25 seconds in.

It would take half a minute for McDonough to get his own reversal on the Eagle, which was quickly followed up with a Smith escape.

The match was set at three each.

Unable to find the winning takedown in the last minute of regulation, the match was sent into sudden victory.

Again, what would have been the only takedown of the match was not in the cards for either wrestler as the overtime period expired.

Going into tiebreaker rounds, McDonough was able to break from Smith’s control after a stall warning.

Down 3-4, Smith would assume the bottom position.

The Eagle attempted to base up to a standing position before his opponent forces him back to his knees.

Smith’s right shoulder dips down and he nearly gets caught in a pinning situation, before rolling over with a grip on McDonough’s right leg.

The two desperate scramble in this new found position, Smith on top while McDonough clings to the shred of control around the back.

McDonough relinquishes that control in an attempt to find a reversal, as the clock counts down to 10 seconds.

He nearly gets that reversal with a sit out, both wrestlers having each other’s leg at this point, but the time ran out.

In their fourth match of the season, Kellen Smith was finally able to pull off the upset.

Smith sits on the mat and looks at the ref and his coach, unsure of what’s happened.

When it finally hits him, Smith raises his arms to let those who are watching know he belongs with the best the bracket has to offer.

“State semifinals are what matters and I got him,” Smith said after the match. “It’s a relief knowing all that hard work wasn’t wasted.”

Coach Mark Sanger said that only someone who has a love for the sport and determination to keep chipping away at a challenge can pull off a high-stakes victory like that.

“He came back and had a game plan and he executed,” coach Mark Sanger said. “He did what he needed to do to win.”

On Saturday night, Smith’s task proved to be just as challenging as the night before.

His opponent, Cade Siebrecht of Lisbon, also needed tiebreaker rounds to get to the finals.

It wouldn’t be any less easy for either wrestler as the match was decided in sudden victory – in fact, the 1A 138 bracket was so evenly matched that both semifinals, the third-place match and the championship needed extra periods to decide victors.

The opening of the match was Siebrecht’s, gaining a takedown a minute in and giving up an escape.

Smith soon found himself down 1-5 as Siebrecht escaped to start the second period and worked to get a takedown halfway through.

Smith did well to escape from that situation and net a takedown.

The Eagle managed to make up ground in less than 15 seconds after giving up the takedown.

Down 4-5, Smith started from bottom position in the third period, as he did the night before.

He added the equalizing escape in about 20 seconds.

In sudden victory, Smith shot in on Siebrecht.

Siebrecht sprawled back and started to work on getting to Smith’s left ankle.

The Lisbon wrestler managed to lift Smith’s leg up.

Smith attempts to roll out near the edge of the mat and ends up sitting towards Siebrecht who was awarded the fateful takedown for the 7-5 decision.

“I did what I could, but it wasn’t enough,” Smith said.

The Eagle may have been an underdog, but he always believed in himself.

Saturday night he showed everybody that he was right to believe.

“[Most people] are probably proud of me, thinking finalist and stuff, but for me it’s unfinished business,” Smith said. “I know I could have won that, I wish I would have, but I didn’t and I just got to keep working. I’ll get my mind right and we’ll be back.”

Finished Business

Senior Mathew Francis didn’t allow his two opponents to score on him on Saturday.

As the Eagle had his hand raised, securing third place on the podium, it reads all over his face that he wasn’t satisfied with where he ended up.

He gives a brief thumbs up to acknowledge the West Hancock section cheering for him, but he doesn’t share in their enthusiasm.

The number one seed in the 1A 220 bracket, Francis was short of the finals as he was the year prior.

Unlike his teammate, Smith, there won’t be another chance.

It’s unfinished business that ended up being finished.

Francis had made his way to the semifinals with a pin over Isaac Olson of Eagle Grove and then surviving in a 5-2 decision over Logan Wright of West Branch where he was almost caught in a headlock.

In the semifinals, the undefeated Eagle faced Jonah Clark of WACO.

Francis just didn’t look like himself out there on Friday.

A scoreless match going into the second period, Francis gave up a reversal right away and was taken down after an escape.

Down 2-4, he’d work his way from bottom for an escape and started to aggressively shoot on Wright.

“I gave up some stupid points right away,” Francis said. “He did well what he wanted to do, he held off stalling calls really well.”

Eventually, he was caught out of position and gave up a final takedown to make it a 3-6 decision.

Losing is never a good feeling, and for Francis, this was the same position he was in last season.

A mistake that cost him dearly.

But, the senior talked with his coaches after the loss and was determined to not let this setback define his season.

“The natural thing is to give yourself so many negative thoughts,” he said. “There’s no point in doing that. I came back and obviously I was disappointed, but we were just going after the next best thing.”

On Saturday, Francis defeated Jayden Soard of South Central Calhoun in a 6-0 decision and then beat Kuemper Catholic’s Cal Wanninger via 8-0 major decision.

“I think it was a bit more like stress relief for him,” coach Mark Sanger said. “I know he’s still not happy with it, but sometimes life doesn’t leave you happy.”

Sanger said that he was proud of him and his fellow seniors for what they’ve done for the program.

Sanger said that Francis has been very mature handling the loss, stating he and the coaches showed their distress over it much more than Francis has.

It’s been written before in The Leader that Mathew Francis isn’t the typical high school athlete.

The mental toughness and emotional maturity to handle an upset like he has is beyond some adults well beyond his years, let alone the average high school wrestler.

Instead of throwing his headgear or lashing out at his opponent as some wrestlers have done in the past, Francis took the adversity and made it a positive learning experience.

“I came up short,” Francis said. “When stuff like that happens in life, it’s a test to see what you can do after it happens. [Placing third] showed I wasn’t going to break.”

 A great end to a career

Kane Zuehl, like his fellow senior Mathew Francis, didn’t appear all that enthused on Saturday when he won his fifth-place match in the 1A 160 bracket.

It can’t be stated for sure what Zuehl’s ideal placement was for him, but knowing the type of competitor he is, he wanted to be closer to the top of the podium.

Zuehl started his tournament with a 3-2 decision over Jackson Boese of Van Meter.

He’d run into the eventual champion, Maximus Magayna of Columbus Catholic in the quarter final round on Saturday.

In the consolation round that session, Zuehl would secure a 9-2 decision over Caleb Iliff of Treynor and then go on to the next session to defeat Kaden Broer of West Moana in a 13-1 major decision.

He’d fall short of the third-place match up when he went up against Cullen Koedam of West Sioux.

The Eagle lost a 2-6 decision, putting him in the fifth-place match.

Zuehl would gain three nearfall points on Cade Molyneux of Sigourney-Keota, which secured his 9-6 decision victory.

Like Francis, he didn’t appear all too enthused with the victory when his hand was raised.

Coach Mark Sanger said that getting to the podium was for sure a goal of Zuehl’s, but it was a matter of finding out where.

“We just wanted to keep climbing as high as we can get,” Sanger said.

A fifth-place finish is still a big win to end his career on, Sanger pointed out.

Zuehl finished his career with a 51-9 record, many of those losses coming from state finalists and third-place winners.

There weren’t too many wrestlers at 160 that can claim to be above Zuehl, that’s for certain.

 Early Exit

At a record of 33-23, freshman Creighton Kelly was one of two wrestlers to qualify in Class 1A with over 20 losses.

Kelly would be pinned twice on Thursday to finish his first year of varsity wrestling.

There is a wide variety of wrestlers that exit early from the tournament on Thursday.

Some had greater aspirations than others, but qualifying for the tournament alone is a great accomplishment.

“The difference between the beginning of the season and the end of the season [is huge],” coach Mark Sanger said.

To occupy one of the 16 spots reserved for Wells Fargo Arena, that’s exciting for any freshman.

The goal was to work towards getting a victory here, which didn’t happen, but it was valuable experience.

“A learning experience for him, it will pay dividends down the road,” Sanger said.

Kelly was set up against eventual 152-pound champion Wyatt Reisz of Logan-Magnolia in round one.

He was pinned in the first period.

Sanger said that like many first-time state qualifiers, Kelly was likely caught up in the atmosphere of the state tournament and going up against the number one seed.

In his second match of the day, Kelly looked much more relaxed.

Wrestling Nolan Moore of Riverside, Kelly held a 2-1 lead after one period.

Moore would choose bottom and find a reversal that put Kelly on his back for the pin.

It’s not an ideal way to finish at the tournament, but Kelly went against the odds as a freshman to make it to the tournament and that’s huge for what the next three years could hold for him and West Hancock.