COLUMBIA, Mo. - After suffering a tough loss in Friday night's semifinals, it would have been understandable if Fatima's Cody Huhn was still hurting Saturday.
Instead, Huhn put the hurt to his opponents in a pair of matches at the Class 1 state tournament.
Huhn bounced back from a 4-3 loss to Maplewood's Romelle Person in the semis to place third in the state at 120 pounds.
"Today's performance wasn't questionable," Fatima coach Kurt Strope said. "It was go out and get a pin and then a decisive win in the second match. He did a good job getting refocused."
Huhn said it was a chance for him to get the bad taste out of his mouth from Friday.
"It felt good knowing that I wasn't out and I could come back and still get third," he said. "That's what I was pushing for after I lost. I wanted to prove I should have been third, or higher."
The sophomore started Saturday with a win by fall in just 53 seconds against London Gaydos of Blair Oaks.
"He came back and got right after it," Strope said. "That's what you want to see."
Then in the third-place match, the Comet never trailed while beating Gallatin's Wyatt Bird 8-2.
Huhn got a first-period takedown to lead 2-0. Two more takedowns in the second period, sandwiched around an escape for Bird, made it 6-1 heading into the final period.
Huhn got another takedown for an 8-2 lead and an escape by Bird with :17 left closed out the scoring.
"I knew the kids in the back were guys I'd beaten already, so I just had to come in and clear my head and wrestle smart," Huhn said.
With the wins, Huhn ends his season with a record of 23-4.
"A third-place finish for a sophomore, you can't ask for more than that," Strope said.
One other area wrestler, Versailles' Willie Schotte, earned a medal Saturday by going 1-1 to finish in fifth place.
After losing by fall in wrestlebacks to Whitfield's Andrew McLaughlin, Schotte won his fifth-place match by injury default when Polo's Jake Hicks was unable to compete.
Schotte ends the season with a record of 23-6.
Additional state wrestling coverage:
Blair Oaks captures state wrestling title