Don Bosco tops Lisbon for Class 1A state duals championship

DES MOINES — Lisbon’s Brandon Paez is no stranger to the state wrestling finals.

The talented 120-pound junior won the Class 1A individual state title as a freshman and finished second last year.

Paez also helped the Lions clinch their third straight berth in the 1A state duals championship bout Wednesday — and their ultimate opponent, Don Bosco, was a longtime, but welcomed finals foe.

“We like seeing them in the finals every single year,” said Paez, who faced the Dons in the 1A championship for the third straight time at Wells Fargo Arena. “It’s what we expect from both teams.”

The second-seeded Lions beat Don Bosco for the 2020 state duals title. The top-seeded Dons reversed that outcome in last year’s championship — and followed that up with a 38-25 win Wednesday night. Back-to-back pins from No. 1-ranked brothers Cade Tenold and Carson Tenold at 182 and 195 helped seal Don Bosco’s 11th state duals championship.

“They basically won the meet for them,” Lisbon coach Brad Smith said.

The Lions advanced to the finals by beating seventh-seeded Wilton, 66-12, in the quarterfinals before dispatching third-seeded West Sioux, 43-30, in the semifinals.

Lisbon won 15 of its 28 pre-finals bouts by fall. Paez ignited a streak of seven straight pins in the Wilton match and scored bonus points in each of his first two matches before winning by technical fall in the finals.

“Everyone’s wrestling well,” said Paez, who is ranked second at 120 by IAwrestle.com. “We’ve been working our (tails) off all year to be in this matchup in the finals.”

Paez has competed in nothing but finals from his freshman season to this point of his junior year.

“He’s tough,” Smith said. “He’s gonna be tough to beat.”

But Paez knows nothing’s guaranteed, so he’s focusing on the little things in advance of the traditional state meet.

“I’m happy about how far I’ve come, but there’s always room to be better, always edging (toward) at least 1 percent better every single day,” said Paez, who entered Wednesday’s title match with a 121-9 career record. “I’m really trying to separate myself.”

He certainly did that in his semifinal bout with third-ranked Braden Graff of West Sioux. Paez built a commanding lead, but landed a shot late to cement a 13-2 victory by major decision.

“I mean, you saw in that match, 10 seconds left I get one more takedown,” Paez said. “I always have to create that space with the other competitors.”

Lisbon’s sixth-ranked 132-pounder Cade Siebrecht, No. 4 heavyweight Wyatt Smith, 195-pounder Jamien Moore, and fifth-ranked 152-pounder Lincoln Holub all notched pins in their first two matches for the Lions, who have reached the finals in 10 of their 16 state duals appearances.

Don Bosco had been on the other side of those championship matches three times before Wednesday’s late finals — and is the only team to beat Lisbon in a dual meet this season.

Now it’s on to the individual state meet. Don Bosco has a Class 1A-best 13 qualifiers. The Lions have the second-most qualifiers with 10.

“We’re gonna need some help from some other teams in order to beat them because we don’t see some of these guys in our weight classes,” Smith said. “So getting help from some other teams would really be a plus.”