South Tama senior Gavin Bridgewater hugs his mother, Tiffany, after falling 5-4 in the Class 2A 215-pound state championship wrestling match Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

DES MOINES – Gavin Bridgewater believes there’s always a plan.

Heartbreak visited Bridgewater once again on Saturday night, the senior for South Tama County boys wrestling admitting to the mistakes that led to his 5-4 defeat in the Class 2A 215-pound championship match at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Bridgewater ends his wrestling career with two runner-up finishes bookending a three-year run at state that also included a third-place finish last season.

Braden McShane of New Hampton/Turkey Valley stood tall on the podium as 215-pound champion, who going into Saturday was the only wrestler that had defeated Bridgewater this season in a 6-5 match at Independence in December.

The emotional pain seemed to flow in waves after Bridgewater’s match on Saturday night and will no doubt linger for some time to come.

New Hampton/Turkey Valley’s Braden McShane works toward a takedown of South Tama’s Gavin Bridgewater, front, during their state championship match Saturday night in Des Moines. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

“I’m grateful for everything, but at the same time, it hurts right now,” Bridgewater said. “I know where I should be.”

But there’s always a plan.

“I wouldn’t go back and change anything,” Bridgewater added. “I started my high school career playing basketball, I thought that was what I was going to do. And then I moved to a family that I can’t even explain. My coaches are like brothers, someone I can always turn to, and I created a family. So the loss, what hurts the most is more that I let people down, even though I know I didn’t.”

McShane scored the first takedown off an attempted shot by Bridgewater, McShane reversing the momentum as they went off the edge of the mat. Bridgewater escaped but faced a 2-1 deficit at the end of the first period.

“I didn’t need to take that shot in the first, I should’ve slowed it down a little more,” Bridgewater said. “I was kind of in his element there and made a little mistake.”

PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

Bridgewater needed a response and got it in the second period, escaping from bottom and then roping in McShane by the arm for a takedown and a 4-2 lead after two.

“I knew I was going to have to push it and take him to deep waters, which I did,” Bridgewater said.

McShane made a quick escape to start the third and tensions rose as the two tied up for a few moments, then successfully defended each other’s shots. But McShane was able to grab a leg and the two wrestled down to the ground, with Bridgewater holding on to McShane’s leg to prevent him from rotating around for the takedown.

But Bridgewater eventually let go of the leg with 15 seconds remaining, giving McShane the two-point takedown and leaving himself with little time to escape.

“I shouldn’t have let go of the leg in that situation. I wasn’t sure how much time was left, it was more just mat awareness,” Bridgewater said. “We were scrambling and I knew I was OK there, but I just made a mistake. And you can’t make a mistake in the championship.”

McShane immediately wrapped up Bridgewater’s leg to keep Bridgewater on the mat for the final seconds.

“He was tough enough to scrap his way back into it and eventually have a lead in the third period,” STC head coach Nate Van Dyke said. “It just didn’t work out. It doesn’t take anything away from Gavin’s excellent career and being a three-time place winner and being in the finals twice.”

Saturday’s final match hurts further for Bridgewater knowing he won’t be in the wrestling room anymore with coaches that have become family.

“Bailey Chyma’s my cousin, but he feels like my brother. He’ll go in anytime I want,” Bridgewater said. “[Levi] Kaufman does the same, we mess around, it’s a blast with him. And Steve Chyma and Van Dyke both feel like fathers. So it’ll be tough saying goodbye.”

Gavin made a point to find his mother, Tiffany, matside after the match and embrace her as he has so many times both happy and sad at Wells Fargo Arena.

“She’s my everything,” Gavin said. “She’s the first person I go to with anything, the one I need at all times. That’s why I always represent her and when anyone asks who I am, it’s her, she makes me who I am. When I hug her, it’s a different feeling, because I know that she’s always there whenever I need her.”

Gavin intends to play football at the next level, stepping off the mat for the final time on Saturday night.

“It’s always tough to see someone wrestle their last match and come up just short of their goal, but he worked his tail off and we appreciate everything he did,” Van Dyke said. “He’s got a lot of things going for him though, a great support system behind him with his family, his teammates, his coaches, so I think he’s going to be alright.”

Saturday was also the last hurrah for another senior three-time placewinner in 126-pounder Amare Chavez, finishing sixth after an 8-2 decision victory for Burlington Notre Dame’s CJ Davis and a 5-2 decision for Sergeant Bluff-Luton’s Ethan Skoglund.

“He didn’t capture his ultimate goal this year, but everybody’s proud of him,” Van Dyke said. “Like Gavin, he’s been a captain these last couple of years, and is one of those guys who isn’t scared to step up and say something if something needs to change or if he needs to motivate his teammates. He’s put in a lot of work his whole life for this, so it’s sad, but at the same time we celebrate his career.

“The upperclassmen do a good job of setting the expectations for the underclassmen, and they learned it from the guys who were seniors when they were freshmen, and the group before them. So it’s about building a culture that their friends and classmates want to be a part of. And if getting here and being able to watch your teammates wrestle in a big environment like this doesn’t make you hungry, then it should be.”