Even though he trailed in his championship match at 157 pounds at home on Saturday as part of the Class 3 District 2 tournament, it turns out that Warrenton senior Max Teson has his opponent – McCluer’s Tristen King – right where he wanted him.

A sharp reversal allowed Teson to flip King and set up a pin, which came at 51 seconds to earn Teson the title.

In danger of facing a possible inside cradle, Teson made good on a move he’d used in practice plenty of times before, he said.

“I know it looked a little crazy, but I have worked on that with some of my stockier (practice) partners,” Teson said. “I knew I couldn’t just sit there and let myself get cradled, so I just threw him over. It feels great. It feels like I’m slowly climbing the ladder and getting up there to my brother Zayden.”

Just like his brother, Warrenton junior Zayden Teson, and five other Warriors, Max Teson will take part in the Class 3 state tournament, based on his top-four district finish.

Colton Tinker finished fourth at 120, Nathan Donovan was second at 113 and Daniel McChristy was a runner-up at 285, while Max Teson, Zayden Teson (132), Jamarion Fulton (165) and Korben Johnson (190) all won titles.

Bolstered by the efforts of the seven wrestlers, Warrenton finished in third place in the district with 158.5 points, which was bettered only by Fort Zumwalt South (159.5) and district champion Hannibal (196).

Warrenton coach Clayton Olsson said that, even with the great finish, the team still has more it can accomplish in the coming days.

“They wrestled really well, I think there were some matches we left out there,” Olsson said. “We could have gotten them if we made a couple of adjustments, but that’s what practice for state coming up is for.”

Just like Max Teson, Johnson had to overcome a measure of adversity to win his title.

Facing Washington’s Camden Dewert, Johnson trailed 7-0 in the first period before three takedowns and four near falls racked up the points on the way to a 24-10 major decision win.

“I knew I couldn’t give up, because coaches always put it into your mind to not stop wrestling from beginning to end,” Johnson said. “Not to have any fear is the mindset we work on every day in practice, so I wanted to hold to it. It feels amazing to be a champion, two years in a row now. I’ve put in a lot of work. This all sets me up for next week. These are just the pennies that will add up to a dollar.”

For his part, Olsson said that Johnson was able to make up for the rotten start because he remembered his training.

“I told him that champions adjust, bad things happen but champions adjust,” Olsson said. “If you keep wrestling hard, good things will happen and that’s what he did. He was in a bad position, and some guys stopped there. He didn’t.”

Warrenton’s other two champions were Jamarion Fulton and Zayden Teson.

Fulton defeated Hannibal’s Jaxson Essig by a 10-3 decision while Teson bested Washington’s Gable Ohm by a 7-4 decision.

Tinker, Donovan, and McChristy each qualified for the state championships based on their results.

McChristy may well have been the surprise of the tournament, finishing second to Fort Zumwalt South’s Rolen Lundstrom by fall in 3 minutes, 39 seconds.

The result came for McChristy, who entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed but, having beaten the top seed, St. Charles’ DeRay Coleman in the semifinals, guaranteed a place at state.

“He got caught in a move and went down early,” Olsson said. “He knew that kid was going to hit that move again and he countered it two more times for big points. He wrestled smart there.”