Clarke's Saucedo headed to Des Moines

Rod Gall won't have to buy a ticket to get into his final State Tournament as head coach of the Clarke wrestling team.

Indian heavyweight Tony Saucedo saw to that, as he finished second at a Class 2A District Tournament Saturday in Chariton, to qualify for this week's State meet in Des Moines. It will be the ninth-ranked junior's first trip to State.

Saucedo fought off his back in his first-round bout against Matt Wilkson of Carlisle to earn a fall to reach the finals. There he faced rival Jake Tool of Prairie City-Monroe, who Saucedo had split a pair of matches with earlier in the season.

The Indian was up 6-2 after the first period and led 8-2 after a takedown in the second, but Tool got a reversal and three near falls points to make it 8-7 with one period to go. Tool got a takedown in the third to go up 9-8 and Saucedo escaped to tie the score. Tool was called for stalling with less than 30 seconds left to give the Indian a 10-9 lead. But Tool took Saucedo down with eight seconds left to earn the wild 11-10 decision.

Gall was happy to get Saucedo to State, but knows he could be going in as a District champion.

"He should have never been in that situation in the first place. He nearly had him pinned in the first period," Gall said.

Now it's all about getting Saucedo (26-7) ready to go when the 2A State Tournament begins at 1 p.m. Wednesday. The Indian drew a tough first-round opponent in second-ranked Tyler Swope (38-1) of Davenport Assumption.

If Saucedo wins that bout, he would move on to Thursday's quarterfinals. If he loses, he will need to win later in Wednesday's session to stay alive for another day.

"Hopefully he can win at least a couple of matches and place," Gall said. "There's a lot of good heavyweights in 2A. That's a good weight class."

Also wrestling for the Indians at Districts but seeing their seasons come to a close were freshman Jesse Gilbert at 119, senior Tannor Schuldt at 140 and junior Caleb DeVore at 171.