DES MOINES — Marshalltown’s Xayvion Anderson sat on his knees on the wrestling mat in Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday night as his opponent celebrated the state championship victory Anderson felt could’ve been his.

A gut punch that no wrestler wants to face on that big stage, particularly for their final high school wrestling match.

But those moments after Anderson’s 5-4 loss by decision to Carlisle’s Jaxon Miller in the Class 3A 165-pound title match on Saturday serve as an example of the adversity that Anderson continuously overcame in his path that led him to the state championship match — a path that can serve as a blueprint for what it takes to overcome, to grow to be a respected leader for his teammates in the Marshalltown wrestling room and a beloved member of the Marshalltown community.

When Anderson walked off the mat for the final time as a Bobcat on Saturday night, MHS head coach Luke Cross and assistant coach and former teammate Nick Rebik were there for him, taking a shoulder each from Anderson, to help him carry the weight of it all.

“The first thing I told him was I loved him,” Cross said. “I love all these guys. Wrestling is a very physical sport, but it’s also very emotional, and we put so much into it where we’re like family. And Xayvion is the big brother, all the kids look up to him, they want to be like him. What he’s done for our program and our community really is phenomenal.”

After a pensive start to the first period, Miller grabbed the first takedown, sliding past Anderson and able to lift him just enough to bring Anderson to the mat and jump on top for three points with 15 seconds left in the first.

“There was some hesitation in Xayvion’s normal activity that first period,” Cross said. “His feet weren’t moving like normal, and he got going in the second and third period but he needed that the whole match.”

Miller escaped from bottom position in the second period, and Anderson wasn’t able to find any angles, going into the third down 4-0.

The third period was Anderson’s opportunity, escaping from bottom and finding more aggressiveness, moving Miller around with shots and eventually getting in on Miller’s leg, taking Miller to the ground to tie the match at 4-all with about a minute left in the third period.

“Miller was quite defensive in that moment, and Xayvion’s just got such long arms that he was able to snag a leg,” Cross said.

Anderson was able to ride out for a bit, but Miller eventually got to his feet and spun out for the 5-4 lead, leaving Anderson 25 seconds to try for an answer. Despite Anderson’s best efforts to wear Miller down, Miller was able to stay upright and hang on for the win.

“If I could do it all over again, I would’ve cut [Miller] earlier,” Cross said, “because we would’ve had more time for a takedown, but then again he was on the other side of the mat so there was probably no hearing me anyway.”

Anderson added: “I just didn’t believe in my shots as much until the end. If I just would have taken more shots, more good things would’ve happened.”

Nothing was guaranteed about Anderson’s road to Saturday night. A broken ankle during Anderson’s senior football season would have derailed other wrestlers’ state championship dreams, for Anderson it was just another disadvantage to work through.

“It took a lot of hard work and dedication,” Anderson said, fighting back tears. “There’s a lot of hours spent in the wrestling room working on my craft, and getting back what I lost. … [Getting here] meant a lot, but my dream was to be state champion. That was the biggest thing I wanted to do, and I just couldn’t get it done.”

Adversity arrived again on Saturday night, and Cross was confident that this, too, will pass.

“He can handle anything,” Cross said. “This loss stings, but he’s gonna handle it just fine. He’ll wrestle in college, and this will be fuel for whatever he does at the next level.”

After qualifying for the finals on Friday night, Anderson said messages of support poured in from the Marshalltown community, rooting him on for this final match.

“It feels great to have people like that supporting you and I just want to thank Marshalltown for cheering me on,” Anderson said. “I know this is just gonna build Marshalltown wrestling up more, it’s going to give everyone more confidence and show that we’re a good team, and we’re coming.”

Nicholas Wise will be the leader of that next wave, winning his seventh place match on Saturday morning with a first-period pin of Ethan Sodergren of Ankeny Centennial.

After going 1-2 in the district tournament as a sophomore, Wise was on the Class 3A 138-pound podium as a junior on Saturday night.

“I was pretty nervous today — I wanted to beat this kid really bad and got in my head a bit, but once I started practicing and drilling, I really leveled out,” Wise said.

Cross said Wise just had to look out for a counter shot from Sodergren that he had used to defeat other opponents in the tournament.

“He just had to maintain his pressure and stay in a good position and he wouldn’t get to that,” Cross said. “And when Nick got the chicken wing in and started to take him over in the first period, I just knew he had it.”

Wise will be the first returning placewinner for Marshalltown since Josh Edel finished fourth at 170 pounds in 2015, a mark Edel matched in 2016.

“That will be huge to have him still be working in our program,” Cross said. “He’ll have been there, done that, and the kids can see that they’ll need to emulate his work ethic to get there with him.”

Weight room will be a big part of Wise’s improvement plan heading into next year.

“More weights, more wrestling,” Wise said. “I’ve got to have fun with it now, too — I know that I can hang with these kids at state now. Have fun with it, keep working. … It’s super amazing to be part of this program.”