DES MOINES — It was the Lucas Feuerbach show in Des Moines at Wells Fargo Arena during the State High School Wrestling Tournament last week. After receiving a bye in the first round, Feuerbach dominated the next three matchups. Feuerbach pinned Creston’s Gunnar Martwick in his second-round matchup, his most dominant matchup of the week. Feuerbach achieved the pin in only 28 seconds, setting the tone for what was to come for the sophomore.
Feuerbach won his next two bouts by decision, but they still were not particularly close. He seemed unstoppable after he upset the two-seed in the 215-pound weight class, 10-4.
Going into Saturday evening, Feuerbach was set with a date on the mats with the top-ranked wrestler in his weight class, Mason Koehler. A big prime-time moment for the young wrestler that has made his name known around the state this season.
“At the end of the day, it’s another match and we needed to go out and wrestle how we usually wrestle,” said Aaron Hadenfeldt, Solon’s wrestling head coach. “We weren’t going to change how we wrestled as this is what has gotten us to this point.”
Living in the moment Feuerbach put up a fight against his highest ranked opponent.
Feuerbach limited the damage after a couple of takedowns and lost by only a 7-0 decision.
“I like that he competed until the end,” said Hadenfeldt, “After giving up the second takedown, he could have laid his head and given up, but he kept fighting.”
The constant fight was a theme for the rest of the Spartans at the tournament, though none were able to advance past the second round. Jackson Feuerbach had a tight battle in the first round on Wednesday, but was unable to notch the takedown needed for the victory as he lost 3-1.
Jordan Schmidt earned himself a bye in round one but was unable to get the job done against Ben Walsh of Sergeant Bluff-Luton. Schmidt lost 6-9 in the secondround battle in the 144-pound weight class.
Charlie Karam was the only other Spartan to get a victory at Wells Fargo. Karam took down Atlantic’s Kalvin Hayes with ease. Karam shut Hayes out and notched a 10-0 major decision. However, his next match against the top ranked wrestler in the 138-pound weight class was the end of the road for Karam. He held off getting pinned, but ultimately lost by a tech fall 2-17.
“Obviously, none of the other three attained their goals of getting a medal down there, but it was not for lack of effort,” said Hadenfeldt, “I’m proud of those guys and am glad they were able to wear the Solon singlet.”
Jackson Feuerbach, Schmidt, and Karam were all seniors for the Spartans and officially ended their wrestling careers as a Spartan last weekend. Finishing off their senior year by competing in the state meet was a goal for each of them and they completed it after a long season and tough offseason.
“The time they were able to put into the sport is what gave them the opportunity to get to state,” said Hadenfeldt, “They put time into the offseason when they could have done something else. You grow as a wrestler in the offseason, and those four did that.”