2-For-2! Lopez wins again

DES MOINES - Nobody can touch New London's Marcel Lopez when he's wrestling at Wells Fargo Arena. The Tiger senior cruised to his second-straight state wrestling title this weekend, winning Class 1A's 113-pound bracket. Lopez won a state title at 106 pounds last season and is not a perfect 8-0 on Wells Fargo mats, with two state championships to show for it.

'I knew I was going to win it. I'm the top dog,” said Lopez in an interview with iawrestle.com shortly after his match. 'I didn't care what my draw was. The best person in the bracket is going to win it every time.”

Lopez, who came in as the No. 2 seed despite being ranked first in his weight class, beat top-seeded Clayton McDonough of Central Springs 6-2 in the championship match on Saturday night. He defeated West Sioux's Braden Graff 6-0 in the semifinals and Lisbon's Cade Siebrecht 8-6 in the quarterfinals on Friday.

'I thought it was a lot easier (this year),” said Lopez. 'Being used to the environment and being used to wrestling here.”

Lopez was one of three New London wrestlers to crack the top four in Class 1A. Younger brother Dominic Lopez took fourth at 138 pounds, and Gabe Carter placed fourth at 160 pounds.

Dominic made the semifinals with a 5-3 win over Jordan Khommanyvong in Friday's quarterfinals. He dropped his semifinal match against Underwood's Logan James, 5-2. In the consolation semifinals, Lopez took down Karter Krapfl of Hudson in a thriller, winning 7-6 in the ultimate tiebreaker, but narrowly lost the third-place match 2-1 against Heath Moyer of North Linn.

Carter had to get to the consolation semis via wrestlebacks after dropping his quarterfinal matchup with Don Bosco's Cade Tenold on a 10-1 major decision. Carter pinned Nodaway Valley's Austin Wilson in 2:43 and grinded out a 4-3 win over Spencer Roth of Graettinger-Terril-Ruthven-Ayshire to get to the third-place match. In the third-place match, Carter lost on a 4-2 sudden victory to Denver's John Ebaugh, the same wrestler he beat on day one.

The only other Class 1A placewinner for the Union coverage area was Sigourney-Keota's Mason Dye, who took seventh at 126 pounds. Dye lost his quarterfinal match on Monday against Woodbury Central's Beau Klingensmith, falling in 2:37. He wrestled back to beat Wayne County's Jackson Cobb on a 7-5 sudden victory before losing on a 6-4 sudden victory against Logan-Magnolia's Wyatt Resz, but bounced right back with a 7-3 decision against Mediapolis' Quinten Aney in the seventh-place match.

Five area wrestlers who went 1-1 on Thursday lost their first match on Friday to finish the tournament 1-2.

New London's Josh Glendening (120) was pinned in 5:13 by Bryce Shaha of Mount Ayr. WACO's Jalen Collins (132) was pinned in 3:57 by Logan-Magnolia's Brady Thompson. WACO's Jaden Williams (152) fell on a 9-1 major decision against Hudson's Tate Entriken. S-K's Jack Clarahan (152) dropped an 11-1 major decision to Woodbury Central's Nate Monahan. New London's Currey Jacobs (170) fell on a 16-1 technical fall in 4:38 against Drew Venteicher of Bedford-Lenox.

For results from the area's Class 2A wrestlers, see page 9.