COLUMBIA - Lucas Laux doesn't care if it's a cliché. He's glad the third time was finally the charm.
The Fatima junior, a two-time state runner-up, got his revenge Saturday night against Whitfield junior Logan Ferrero. Laux scored a reversal with 11 seconds remaining, rallying from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 and take the Class 1 state title at 126 pounds at Mizzou Arena.
"I was so excited," said Laux, who finishes the season with a 48-2 record. "I'm only the second person in our program to win a state title."
Laux joins Ryan Strope as Fatima's other state wrestling champion. Strope won the title at 126 pounds in 2013.
Saturday was a rematch of last year's state title match between Laux and Ferrero at 120. Ferrero, who also won a title as a freshman at 106, repeated with a 3-2 win in 2019 against Laux.
"I've been hunting him all year, watching videos and stuff," said Laux, who hadn't faced Ferrero since last year's state championships. "I've been working on my stuff just for this moment.
"You're training for someone that you won't see until the state tournament. Beating him in the finals is just amazing."
Ferrero scored the first points with a takedown at the :56 mark of the first period. He added an escape early in the second period to make it a 3-0 lead.
Laux answered with a takedown just before the wrestlers reached out of bound with 1:14 left in the second. Those two points were the first points Ferrero had allowed all state tournament.
"I was so irritated that he got the first takedown, because I knew it was coming," Laux said. "In that second period, I had to come out and at least get an escape and make it close again. That takedown was a bonus."
Laux was able to ride out Ferrero for the rest of the second period, trailing by one point going into the third.
Now came the tough decision. Would Laux decide to start down for the third period, or would he choose to start neutral against Ferrero?
"I put it on him, to see where he was more comfortable at, where his head was at in that match," Fatima coach Kurt Strope said, as Laux decided to start down. "He said he wanted to go down, so we went down."
Strope said the hope was for Laux to get an escape to tie the match and then score a takedown for the win. It didn't go quite as scripted, but he found a way to get back in the lead.
As Laux began to turn the tables on Ferrero, the Whitfield wrestler did everything he could, holding onto Laux's left ankle and then his left leg for about 30 seconds. But Laux was able to escape Ferrero's grasp, score the go-ahead reversal to make the score 4-3 and ride out that final 11 seconds for a title.
"All I had to do was get my leg back a little bit, and it was going to be two points," Laux said.
Laux lost in the state title match as a freshman at 113, losing by fall to Whitfield's Connor McAteer. With Saturday's win against Ferrero, Laux has a career record of 129-11.
Fatima junior Jason Strope also wrestled for a state title Saturday. He lost a 6-2 decision to Whitfield's Evan Binder, taking runner-up at 113.
"I feel I did pretty well," Jason Strope said. "I just didn't come out on top this year."
Strope and Binder met in the quarterfinals at 106 last year. Binder also won that matchup 5-4 in overtime.
"I just put that out of my mind," Strope said. "People change over a year. They choose different shots, they set up differently."
Just like last year, Strope scored the first takedown against Binder in the first period. But Binder, now a two-time state champion, tied it at 2 with a reversal, and added another reversal in the second period and a takedown in the third for the win.
"I failed at riding him out last year, which is how I lost," Strope said. "This year, I did a little better, except I gave up reversals instead of escapes."
Strope, who had a 38-match win streak come to an end, finished the season with a 42-2 record.
"He's happy with second, but he's not content," Kurt Strope said. "I would've liked to have done a few things differently in the match. He's capable of beating him, the points just didn't go our way this time."
Earlier Saturday, Blake Wiles finished fourth at 145. He won 8-1 against Whitfield's Reese Callahan in the fourth-round wrestlebacks, then lost by fall in 3:40 to Polo's Wyatt Segar in the third-place match, finishing his season with a 33-8 record.
"His only losses were to the same person twice," Kurt Strope said. "We saw him in the quarters and we saw him for third."
Fatima finished eighth in the Class 1 team standings with 71.5 points. Whitfield won the state title with 172 points, followed by Centralia (111), Lathrop (107) and Lawson (102) to round out the top four.
In addition to the Comets' three medalists, their other three state qualifiers - Alex Even, Zakery Tune and Jason Woodruff - will also return next season.
"They're all juniors, so all those points are coming back," Kurt Strope said. "They've got the experience to go for a push for the top four next year."
III
Versailles senior Riley Rademann became a two-time state medalist Saturday, finishing in fifth place at 195.
Rademan lost 4-2 in overtime to Centralia's Trevor Bodine, but he finished his high school career with a win by fall in 1:50 against St. Paul Lutheran: Concordia's Samuel Long. Rademann ends the season with a 41-9 record.
Versailles placed 24th in the Class 1 team standings with 27 points. Tipton tied for 44th place with three points.