The top-ranked wrestler in Class 3-A at 112 pounds according to The Predicament scored a third-period pin Saturday over Valley's seventh-ranked Brandon Thomas, helping the Rams to 264 points and a team title in their own Red Owens Holiday Tournament at Southeast Polk High School.
"I've wrestled (Thomas) before, so I knew that I could beat him," said Clark, who won a state crown last season at 103 pounds and handed the tough-minded Thomas just his second loss this season. "I just wanted to score a lot of points."
He did - and so did his team, which also benefitted from titles from Alex Meyer (152), fifth-ranked 171-pounder A.J. McBroom and Bryan Varisco at 215.
McBroom and Varisco won by fall.
"We're pretty happy with our first three rounds especially," said Rams coach Jason Christenson, whose eighth-ranked team had nine finalists. "We were hoping to put an exclamation point on the day. Didn't quite get that done, but four champs, that's pretty good. And I've got to give a lot of credit to Jeff Evans, our assistant coach who has developed kids on the JV team."
Valley, which climbed to No. 5 in Class 3-A this week, finished second with 201 points, but endured three overtime losses in the finals. The Tigers' Brandon Jones - who won the 3-A state crown at 112 last season - provided a dominant bright spot at 119, winning by technical fall over James Stittsworth of Knoxville.
Jones, ranked No. 1 in 3-A at 119, was one of three returning 3-A state champions in the field.
The others: Top-ranked 125-pounder John Meeks of Roosevelt - who scored a takedown in overtime to outlast Valley's fourth-ranked Kyle Larson - and Clark, who improved to 14-0 this season.
The Roughriders' Matt Riley, a runner-up at state in 2009, scored a pin over Southeast Polk's Joe Bell at 189.
Roosevelt's Blake Meeks, fourth-ranked at 140, also eked out a 3-1 win over the Tigers' Jacob Bell.
"We still have a lot of things we need to improve on: Keep wrestling to win, not to protect the lead, but to keep scoring more points," said Roughriders' coach Jay Groth, who saw his team take fourth.
ADM, which took third, enjoyed a solid day, too, gleaning championship efforts from Ryan Krugler (103), Keegan Mumma (130), Kyle Wallace (135), and Dakota Friesth (160).
Mumma won by major decision, while Wallace won by fall and Friesth won by technical fall.
"Coming in, you feel a little weak from cutting weight, but in here, you just like the feel of wrestling," said Mumma, who is ranked fourth in 2-A at his weight. "You get in the mode."
Des Moines East's Sean DeGoey topped Valley's Trey Lewis 9-7 in overtime to earn the title at 145 and fourth-ranked 3-A heavyweight Conner Herman of Cedar Rapids Jefferson edged ninth-ranked Dakota Tennant of Roosevelt 3-2.
"There's some good kids here," Christenson said. "Valley's got a real nice team and Roosevelt's got some good kids. ADM has got a real nice team, so it was a good challenge."
Final Team Scoring
1. Southeast Polk 264; 2. W.D.M. Valley 201; 3. ADM (Adel) 172.5; 4. D.M. Roosevelt 134; 5. D.M. East 125.5; 6. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 107; 7. Knoxville 90; 8. Clarinda 70.
Championship results
103-Krugler (ADM) beat Strickland (SEP), 14-9; 112-Clark (SEP) pinned Thomas (V) 4:10; 119-Jones (V) won by tech, fall (17-1) over Stittsworth (K); 125-J. Meeks (R) beat Larson (V) 6-4 (OT); 130-Mumma (ADM) won by major decision (11-2) over Blackford (SEP); 135-Wallace (ADM) pinned Wilson (SEP) 1:16; 140-B. Meeks (R) beat Bell (V) 3-1; 145-DeGoey (E) beat Lewis (V) 9-7 (OT); 152-Meyer (SEP) beat Matter (V) 8-6 (OT); 160-Friesth (ADM) won by tech, fall (19-4) over Knipp (SEP); 171-McBroom (SEP) pinned Phillips (V) 1:08; 189-Riley (R) pinned Bell (SEP) 2:23; 215-Varisco (SEP) pinned Joshua (R) 4:45; Hwt-Herman (CRJ) beat Tennant (R) 3-2.