HUDSON - Neither of them weighed 100 pounds the first time they met as second-graders.
Ten years later, East Marshall of Le Grand's Sam Upah and Don Bosco of Gilbertville's Taylor Kettman met again for what seems like the umpteenth time and, they hope, the last.
Two of the top upper-weight wrestlers in the state squared off Saturday at the Hudson Invitational. Upah is ranked No. 1 in Class 2A and Kettman is ranked No. 1 in 1A.
Kettman took home the 189-pound title with a 5-3 decision in a match that drew the entire attention of a capacity crowd.
Don Bosco captured its seventh straight title in the event, although it was less dominant this year.
Last season, the Dons put 11 wrestlers into the finals and had seven champs. Saturday, Don Bosco advanced seven to the finals with six earning titles. Eleven of the Dons' 14 starters finished third or better.
The Dons got titles from Ben McMahon at 119, Brandon Welter at 125, Cole Welter at 135, Clay Welter at 145, Curtis Weber at 171 and Kettman.
"It was a great tournament against good competition and close to home," Don Bosco head coach Tom Kettman said. "Before that last round we had hoped to win all of our matches and I think we went 10-1 and the one loss was in the finals to a real tough kid.
"It was a good day, another step forward. Thought we wrestled real solid. That is what we talk about before every time we go out, taking it up notch, and we did."
Although he wouldn't call himself and Upah buddies, Taylor Kettman said there is a ton of respect between them.
"We wrestled a lot from the second grade on," Kettman said. "Until last year, we probably hadn't wrestled since the sixth grade.
"It was a good win, especially against a strong wrestler like Sam."
Kettman trailed Upah 1-0 in the second when a scramble on the mat went Kettman's way to the tune of a five-point move. Upah got a reversal as the whistle blew to end the period. Neither wrestler scored in the third period as Kettman avenged a 3-1 loss to Upah that came just before the Christmas break.
"I shot in, felt pressure and whipped him over to get my three back points," Kettman described of his winning move. "I got a little greedy going for the pin and he flipped me over right at the end."
Upah and Kettman were set to meet in last years Hudson Invitational, but in the 171-pound championship match, Upah went for a shot, hit Kettman's knee and that was the match.
Also Saturday, Waterloo West's Alonzo Henderson repeated as the 103-pound champion. Henderson registered a 13-7 decision over Riceville's Tyler Bartels.
Waterloo Columbus' Will Hansen, ranked fourth at 160 in 2A, earned a hard-fought 7-6 win over East Marshall's Jake Schossow, ranked eighth in 2A, in the finals.
"When you see the rankings and you see you have a ranked kid you know he is going to be tough," Hansen said. "I just went out there with the mindset to take control of the match and I did."
Schossow rallied with pair of late takedowns, which was the only thing that bothered Hansen about his performance.
"I still need to get better shape," Hansen said. "You take pride in wrestling a hard, non-stop six minutes and maybe longer. I have to be able to do that if I want to win a state championship."
Charles City finished second behind Don Bosco as the Comets got titles from Tanner Schmidt at 130 and Brian Halligan at 215.
Hudson's Ben Huber became the first finalist for the Pirates since Charlie Ettelson in 2005. He lost to Don Bosco's Cole Welter, 13-5, in the 135-pound title match.
TEAM STANDINGS - 1. Don Bosco 238, 2. Charles City 179, 3. East Marshall 165.5, 4. Nashua-Plainfield 164.5, 5. West 98, 6. Columbus 96, 7. Hudson 66, 8. Sigourney-Keota 61, 9. Riceville 45.5, 10. Highland Riverside 43.5.
103 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Tyler Bartels (Rice) pinned Jamie Medina (Hud), 1:22; Blake Dietz (NP) pinned Bret Hildebrand (Col), 1:47; Drew Mangrich (DB) pinned Austin Hoeft (CC), 1:21; Alonzo Henderson (West) pinned Justin Aman (EM), :46.
SEMIFINALS - Bartels techncial fall over Dietz 16-0; Henderson dec. Mangrich 10-0.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Henderson dec. Bartels 13-7.
THIRD PLACE - Mangrich pinned Dietz, 2:46.
112 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Kalen Greiner (SK) bye; Cole Hoeft (CC) dec. Dylan Rhoads (DB) 11-5; Blake Adams (Col) pinned Michael Grams, 1:14; Garrett Bellinger (NP) bye.
SEMIFINALS - Greiner pinned Hoeft, 2:57; Adams dec. Bellinger 7-2.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Greiner dec. Adams
THIRD PLACE - Bellinger dec. Hoeft 12-5.
119 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Ben McMahon (DB) pinned Brett Armstrong (Col), :53; Cory Clubb (SK) pinned Clint Matthews (NP), 3:55; Joey Shillinglaw (Hud) pinned Cole Harre (EM), :12; Jesse Hahn (HR) technical fall over Adam Staudt (CC), 15-0, 6:00.
SEMIFINALS - McMahon dec. Clubb 15-1; Hahn dec. Shillinglaw 14-6.
CHAMPIONSHIP - McMahon dec. Hahn 5-3.
THIRD PLACE - Shillinglaw pinned Clubb, 4:17.
125 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Brandon Welter (DB) technical fall over Jacob Showalter (West), 16-0; Kyler Deutsch (NP) dec. Zach Frank (HR) 3-2; Jesse Etherington (CC) dec. Chad Smith 15-4; Scott Thomas (Col) dec. Jeremy Roberts 11-2.
SEMIFINALS - Welter dec. Deutsch 16-3; Etherington dec. Thomas 9-4.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Welter pinned Etherington, 1:17.
THIRD PLACE - Deutsch pinned Frank, 5:54.
130 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Tanner Schmidt (CC) pinned Connor Watson (Col), 2:32; Justin Jensen (Rice) pinned Shay Ingles (Hud), 3:21; Nate Dixon (EM) dec. Brice Dietz (NP) 7-0; Austin Demuth (DB) dec. Dustin Phillips 9-2.
SEMIFINALS - Schmidt pinned Jensen, 3:24; Dixon dec. Demuth 2-1.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Schmidt dec. Dixon 6-1.
THIRD PLACE - Demuth dec. Jensen 4-0.
135 POUNDS
QUARTERFINALS - Cole Welter (DB) pinned Garret Bloomquist (NP), 1:44; Taylor Hotek (Col) dec. Buzz Linkenmeyer (Rice) 2-1; Ben Huber (Hud) dec. Jay Reisetter (EM) 2-0; Tyler Mitchell (CC) pinned Clayton Steimel (West), 3:59.
SEMIFINALS - Welter dec. Hotek 16-3; Huber dec. Mitchell 7-6.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Welter dec. Huber 13-5.
THIRD PLACE - Mitchell dec. Hotek 8-1.
140 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Blake Meling (EM) pinned Elliot Lamb (Hud), 3:04; Andrew Martin (West) pinned Adam Montgomery (HR), 4:30; Taylor Wedeking (NP) pinned Zach Mitchell, 4:42; Troy Hansen (DB) pinned Frank Schmitz (Col), :58.
SEMIFINALS - Meling dec. Martin 9-2; Wedeking medical default over Hansen.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Meling dec. Wedeking 11-5.
THIRD PLACE - Martin dec. Montgomery 4-3.
145 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Clay Welter (DB) bye; Lucas Jones (Col) dec. Oscar Guzman (CC) 8-2; Austin Wrage (Hud) pinned Trey Brennemean (HR) 8-2; Matthew Dettmer (NP) pinned Tom Shaefer (EM), 5:03.
SEMIFINALS - Welter pinned Jones, :54; Dettmer pinned Wrage, 1:00.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Welter dec. Dettmer 10-7.
THIRD PLACE - Jones pinned Guzman, 1:39.
152 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Ryan Valline (EM) technical fall over Alex George (CC) 19-4; Cam Neuendorf (Hud) pinned Nick Olson (SK), 1:26; Josh Becker (DB) pinned Mitchell Relaz (West), :36; Andy Glaser (NP) bye.
SEMIFINALS - Valline dec. Neuendorf 16-4; Becker pinned Glaser, 3:00.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Valline dec. Becker 7-4.
THIRD PLACE - George dec. Neuendorf 10-8.
160 POUNDS
QUARTERFINALS - Jase Schossow (EM) bye; Ian Brauer (West) dec. Josh Van Natta 9-0; Jacob Frost (NP) pinned Nick Wrage (Hud), 3:15; Will Hansen (Col) bye.
SEMIFINALS - Schossow dec. Brauer 11-0; Hansen pinned over Frost, 4:50.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Hansen dec. Schossow 7-6.
THIRD PLACE - Brauer dec. Frost 8-3.
171 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Curtis Weber (DB) pinned Luke Johnson (CC), 1:27; Ben Krull (EM) dec. Alfredo Real (Col) 7-3; Clint Deutsch (NP) technical fall over Stephen Foote (Hud) 15-0; Michael Steimel (West) pinned Austin Uphold (SK), 1:33.
SEMIFINALS - Weber dec. Krull 7-1; Deutsch pinned Steimel, 2:56.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Weber dec. Deutsch 12-10 SV.
THIRD PLACE - Steimel pinned Krull, :17.
189 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Sam Upah (EM) pinned Ty Sexton (HR), 1:20; Dan Etter (SK) dec. Dan Theilen (NP) 3-2; Dalton Schutjer (CC) pinned Drew Klein (Col), 2:18; Taylor Kettman (DB) bye.
SEMIFINALS - Upah pinned Etter, 1:32; Kettman dec. Schutjer 5-1.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Kettman dec. Upah 5-3.
THIRD PLACE - Schutjer dec. Etter 12-2.
215 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Tony Becker (DB) pinned Austin Moore (West), 3:08; Tanner Hameleau (EM) pinned Shelby Seekins (Hud), 2:59; Logan Linkenmeyer (Rice) pinned Devin Mapp (HR), 1:22; Brian Halligan (CC) dec. Ray Morehouse (Col) 13-5.
SEMIFINALS - Hameleau pinned Becker, 3:06; Halligan pinned Linkenmeyer, 3:59.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Halligan pinned Hameleau, 3:02.
THIRD PLACE - Becker dec. Moore 6-2.
285 POUNDSQUARTERFINALS - Caleb Wilken (NP) pinned Terrance Hartmann (West), 1:21; Michael Buchanan (EM) pinned Austin Rentz (Col), 4:54; Nick Phillips (DB) pinned Kyle Schneider (HR), :36; Mark Tiedemann (CC) bye.
SEMIFINALS - Wilken pinned Buchanan, 1:57; Tiedemann pinned Phillips, 2:40.
CHAMPIONSHIP - Wilken dec. Tiedemann 5-1.
THIRD PLACE - Phillips pinned Buchanan, 2:29.