Linahon loses in 220 championship

DES MOINES -- Newton senior Gage Linahon knows he had a successful season on the wrestling mat.

But losing a state championship match hurts. And Linahon walked out of Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday night with a lot of disappointment.

His only two losses of the season came to top-ranked Brayden Wolf of Waverly-Shell Rock, and the latest was an 8-6 decision in the Class 3A 220-pound state championship match at the Iowa High School State Wrestling Championships.

"It will take awhile to get over this one. This was my last match in a Cardinal singlet so that sucks," Linahon said. "There's definitely positves there. I placed high but I know there was more that I could have done.

Linahon (33-2) trailed Wolf 2-1 after the first period. He led briefly in the second period but fell behind 5-4 after two. Wolf (39-1) closed out his first state championship with a takedown with 36 seconds to go in the bout.

"I just wasn't aggressive enough I guess. We are both great competitors and a tiny little flaw can spell disaster," Linahon said. "I probably just made a little mental mistake."

Wolf scored the first takedown in the match about midway through the first period. Linahon got an escape before the end of the first two minutes to make it 2-1 after one.

"He felt him out in the first period. He started to get on his offense after that, but it's really hard to prep for this environment," Newton coach Andy Swedenhjelm said.

In the second, Linahon got an escape and a takedown in the first minute to go up 4-2, but Wolf answered with an escape 20 seconds later and scored a takedown with 3 seconds left in the period.

The only points Linahon could muster in the third was an escape and penalty point. Wolf's final takedown extended the Go-Hawk senior's lead to 8-5 late in the bout.

"You have to give them credit, too. They have some great wrestlers over there," Swedenhjelm said. "We always about finishing periods on top but we weren't able to do that in this one."

Linahon was attempting to be the Cardinals' ninth state champion. He was the school's first finalist since Bryce Skaggs lost a 160-pound championship match in 2008.