DES MOINES — It’s been a long wait for Gavin Bridgewater to get back to the state wrestling finals.

The South Tama County senior intends on using that pent-up energy on his opponent for Saturday night’s 215-pound championship in Class 2A at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, after punching his ticket with a 5-2 decision in the semifinals on Friday.

Bridgewater makes it to Saturday night for the second time in the last three years after finishing second two years ago, only to come up short last season in the semifinals before eventually climbing back to third place.

He’ll wrestle in the tail end of Saturday’s final session that begins at 5:30 p.m., taking on New Hampton/Turkey Valley’s Braden McShane in the championship. McShane defeated Henry Christensen of Ballard by 3-2 decision in the other semifinal on Friday.

“I know that I belong in the state finals,” Bridgewater said. “I’m gonna give that guy hell, and nothing’s going to stop me.”

In the semifinal with Glenwood’s Mason Koehler, Bridgewater grabbed the first takedown with 21 seconds left in the first period.

Koehler reversed out of bottom position to start the second, the first two-point move scored on Bridgewater this tournament. Koehler briefly had Bridgewater rolled over into a pinning predicament, but Bridgewater busted out and got a reversal of his own for a 4-2 lead after two.

“We knew he was going to try and do some stuff, but I know wherever I was out there, I was going to be all right,” Bridgewater said. “I was ready to keep wrestling, keep pushing the pace.”

In the third, Bridgewater escaped from bottom and kept Koehler from getting any further offense, looking confident rather than cautious.

“There’s no reason to go out there and be scared with the lead because there’s always something that can happen,” Bridgewater said. “So you keep pushing, you work your ties, because you’re the one in control and you know where you want to be.”

South Tama coach Nate Van Dyke admits things got “a little hairy” in the semifinals but believes Bridgewater wouldn’t be denied on Friday.

“I think he’s on a mission,” Van Dyke added. “He was so close last year where it boiled down to one bad match or one bad situation and that’s wrestling, but I had no doubt he’d make it back this year and now he’s got one more.”

STC’s other semifinalist, Amare Chavez, lost to Webster City’s Carson Doolittle by 14-3 major decision. Chavez can still earn as high as third place for his third state medal of his career, a process that begins Saturday morning in the consolation semifinals against CJ Davis of Burlington Notre Dame.

“He was ready to wrestle, but I think he ran into a pretty good kid,” Van Dyke said. “But with the score the way it was, it was time to move forward and get the next best thing, and now we’ve got 24 hours to get that mindset.”

MaCael Bear did not advance beyond the “blood round” fourth-round consolation, losing a 7-4 decision to West Marshall’s Shane Hanford at 138 pounds.

“I think that 138 bracket is one of the deepest brackets here,” Van Dyke said. “It always hurts when someone wrestles the last match of their season or career, whatever it may be. It’s gonna hurt a little bit because he’s going to see some people that he beat earlier in the season on the award stand, but we’re so proud of him. He had a great season, great career and was right there in those matches.”

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Shane Hanford had to get back to doing what he is uniquely equipped to do.

The returning state medalist for Trojans boys wrestling defeated MaCael Bear of South Tama County, 7-4, to clinch his second state medal in a fourth-round consolation match on Friday.

“I didn’t wrestle how I’d like these past few days,” said Hanford, a junior for West Marshall. “I figured stuff out last night, did Shane Hanford wrestling, and won the match.”

Hanford caught an incidental knee to the face trying to take a shot in the match with Bear, which led to some stop-start action from the second period on as they tried to stop nose bleeding, but was able to get a takedown in the second period, then answered a takedown from Bear in the third period with a reversal into two back points that helped him stave off the STC senior.

“I definitely wasn’t moving on bottom yesterday,” Hanford said. “I just realized that I needed to keep moving, and not force anything.”

Hanford also scored his 100th career win with the victory over Bear.

In the fifth-round consolation, Hanford kept it moving with a dominant 14-5 major decision against Barrett Morgan of Algona.

“Once he got that first match over, he really returned to some bully wrestling and showed some true character in that second match,” West Marshall coach Stephen Adams said. “It’ll be good for him to get multiple matches so that he can prove who he is and what he’s capable of.”

Hanford wrestles Solon’s Jordan Schmidt in the consolation semifinals tomorrow morning. A win gets him to the third-place match, a loss places him in the fifth-place match.

West Marshall’s semifinalist, Jon Gonzalez, ran into Webster City’s Linden Phetxoumphone, who defeated Gonzalez for the third time this season with a 12-2 major decision.

“He wrestled tough, I loved that Jon fought all the way to the end, he went for a big move late and had him on his back for a moment, but just not quite enough to get points out of it,” Adams said. “Can’t respect enough what he’s done so far down here at state, and he’ll have two big matches tomorrow.”

Gonzalez takes on Crestwood’s Mitchell Schmauss in the 113 consolation semifinals tomorrow.

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State week has been tough on Trent Cakerice.

Afflicted with strep throat, he said his health has improved daily, and the Aplington-Parkersburg/Grundy Center senior heavyweight had the strength to wrestle down Dubuque Wahlert’s Michael Bormann for a second-period pin and secure his first state medal in a 2A 285-pound fourth-round consolation match.

“I’m relieved now,” Cakerice said. “Feeling much better today.”

Cakerice lost his fourth-round consolation match last year but looked like the better wrestler on the mat on Friday against Bormann.

Leading 2-0, Cakerice grabbed a leg and drove into Bormann, bowling him over and pinning him down late in the second period.

“I knew he’d be a little lighter than most heavyweights, I’d have to be a little smarter,” Cakerice said. “I just had to keep grinding, keep grinding, he was trying to use the same stuff and he just gave it to me and I took it.”

His next match was a setback against Creston’s Max Chapman. Cakerice appeared to have the pin with time expiring in the first period but time ran out just before the official slapped the mat. In the second period, Chapman was able to wrench Cakerice over with a reversal into a pin.

Cakerice will wrestle Webster City’s Landon Griffin for seventh on Saturday morning. And no matter what happens, he’ll end the day on the podium at 285 pounds.

“It’s a sign that hard work pays off, and if you buy into something, anything’s possible,” Cakerice said.