Jared Johnson of the Jefferson City Jays will look to take that final step tonight.
Johnson, a junior, advanced to the 189-pound title match with a win by fall Friday night in the Class 4 State Championships at Mizzou Arena.
Johnson (50-0) defeated Will Owen of Hickman in 5:06 to advance to the championship round for the second straight season. The junior used a takedown and near-fall points to lead 4-0 after one period. He stretched his advantage to 7-1 after two periods before getting a takedown and the fall in the third.
Johnson will meet Louis Foutz of Blue Springs (41-4) in tonight's title match. Johnson edged Foutz 1-0 in the district title match last Saturday at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Johnson was the only one of four Jays to advance out of the semifinals.
"The kids wrestled hard," Jays coach Phil Cagle said. "Things just didn't go their way in a lot of cases."
At 112, Hunter Neighbors dropped a 4-3 decision to Michael Olsen of Park Hill.
After a scoreless first period, Olsen got a takedown before Neighbors escaped to make it 2-1 heading into the third. Neighbors (35-4) tied the match with an escape, but Olsen got another takedown to finish off the win.
Neighbors, a junior, advanced with a 1-0 win over Levi Rayburn of Jackson in Friday afternoon's quarterfinals. Neighbors scored the lone point of the match with an escape in the second period.