CLEAR LAKE — The image never wanders far from Joe Colon’s mind.

Colon, now a senior, was perched atop the podium as a sophomore, soaking in a state championship in front of thousands of fans.

He’s been a part of North Central Conference championship teams and on Saturday eclipsed the 100-win plateau.

But the one thing that drives him is always just a a glance away.

It’s a picture from the podium stand at last year’s state tournament. It was during the tournament where Colon suffered his only varsity loss — an 8-5 setback to Denver/Tripoli’s Levi Wolfensperger. It’s a loss that is firmly placed in his memory bank.

On Tuesday, Colon got his revenge, beating Wolfensperger 12-5 and helping the No. 2 (2A) Lions past the No. 3 (2A) Titans 37-26 in a matchup of two of the marquee teams in the state.

“I wanted revenge,” Colon said. “I was ready to go, but it’s only going to motivate me more. I can’t just stop working because I beat a No. 1-ranked kid.”

Colon and Wolfensperger entered Tuesday each ranked No. 1 at their respective weight class, but Wolfensperger bumped up to 125 pounds to set up a rare match between two top-ranked wrestlers.

“Give him credit, most guys don’t do that,” Clear Lake coach Gary Weber said.

Colon’s win moved him to 16-0 while the Lions are now 11-0 in duals after the win over the Titans and a 69-9 triumph over Charles City.

In the win over Denver/Tripoli, Jordan Dahl helped swing momentum to the Lions with a third-period pin at 171 pounds that sent Clear Lake into a frenzy.

“That was awesome,” Colon said. “He just fights out there. He got the ball rolling.”

The six ranked Clear Lake wrestlers took it from there, going 6-0 and racking up bonus points in four of those matches.

Jacob Colon (112) and Joe Bieber (135) each won against ranked opponents.

Colon (No. 4) beat Terry Stover (No. 8) 3-0 while Bieber (No. 5) gained a major decision over Blaze Shedenhelm (No. 7 at 130) 10-2.

“We just try to fight and go hard,” Weber said. “Most of our guys did that. Denver is very good. It was a good test for us.”

But still, the Lions aren’t content. Especially not Joe Colon, who is aiming for his second state title.

“I just really wanted him to go up and he did,” the senior said. “I just looked at that picture of him beating me at the podium stand ... I was ready to go.”

CLEAR LAKE 37, DENVER/TRIPOLI 26

145 — Blake Sorensen (DT) pinned James Moran, 3:14. 152 — Noah Minikus (DT) tech. fall Christian Trebil, 20-5. 160 — Ryan Wilcke (CL) dec. Zach Piehl, 15-9. 171 — Jordan Dahl (CL) pinned Kody Waddell, 4:54. 189 — Wes Schweer (DT) pinned Nathan Higgins, 4:45. 215 — Patrick Kolker (CL) won by forfeit. 285 — Zach Lindquist (CL) pinned Sawyer Smith, 1:19.

103 — Gunnar Wolfensperger (DT) dec. Austin Horner, 6-2. 112 — Jacob Colon (CL) dec. Terry Stover, 3-0. 119 — Cory Chapin (DT) dec. Brady Horner, 8-6. 125 — Joe Colon (CL) dec. Levi Wolfensperger, 12-5. 130 — Tucker Weber (CL) pinned Austin Brasuar, 1:28. 135 — Joe Bieber (CL) major dec. Blaze Shedenhelm, 10-2. 140 — Oz Wolfensperger (DT) dec. Jake Kopriva, 4-0.

CLEAR LAKE 69, CHARLES CITY 9

103 — Horner (CL) pinned Eli Poolman, 1:08. 112 — Jacob Colon (CL) won by forfeit. 119 — Horner (CL) pinned T.J. Houdek, :25. 125 — Joe Colon (CL) pinned Tyler Mitchell, 3:51. 130 — Weber (CL) pinned Tanner Nauman, :35. 135 — Bieber (CL) won by forfeit. 140 — Moran (CL) won by forfeit. 145— Kopriva (CL) pinned Alex George, 2:57.

152 — Trebil (CL) pinned Mike Westerer, :58. 160 — Wilcke (CL) pinned Matt Andregg, 1:48. 171 — Brandon Schmidt (CC) major dec. Dahl, 12-2. 189 — Dalton Schutjer (CC) tech. fall Higgins, 19-4. 215 — Kolker (CL) dec. Lucas Sharp, 6-2. 285 — Lindquist pinned Mark Tiedemann, 1:22.

Other result

DENVER/TRIPOLI 54, CHARLES CITY 21