T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown junior Xayvion Anderson, top, tries to escape the grasp of Dawson Fish of Dubuque Hempstead during their 157-pound consolation match Friday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

DES MOINES — Maybe if Xayvion Anderson had just one more second.

Perhaps the Marshalltown junior would’ve been awarded a takedown that would’ve turned the tables on Dubuque Hempstead’s Dawson Fish in a Class 3A, 157-pound fourth-round consolation match at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on Friday afternoon.

Six minutes is six minutes, though, and Fish was the one who had his arm raised, halting Anderson one win shy of the podium in a 3-2 decision.

Anderson took a shot with just under 30 seconds left and Fish fought and looked for his own two as they jostled for position. It seemed like Anderson was rolling into position on Fish when the whistle finished the match.

“When I got on his leg, I was pretty sure I was going to take him down, but he held on pretty tight and I just wasn’t able to take him down,” Anderson said.

Fish scored the first takedown of the match in the first period, with Anderson trying to avoid it by getting out of bounds before Fish was able to reel in Anderson’s ankles for two.

“I would’ve preferred he fled the mat and taken the technical penalty for fleeing the mat rather than giving up two,” MHS head coach Luke Cross said. “One of those experiences where you have a guy who you know is good on top, you want to give up a technical violation before you give up two. So that started the match in a weird state for us.”

Anderson escaped from bottom position in the second period, but Fish did the same in the third period and was able to hold off Anderson’s offense.

“I was trying to get to my shots but it just didn’t work,” Anderson said. “He was just the better wrestler in that moment.”

Cross said a lot of work went into helping Anderson get experienced to break the tie-ups that hampered his offense against Abe Bushong of Southeast Polk.

“Even in the hotel room, we were working on getting out of ties quickly and trying to get our shots on it,” Cross said. “He was able to finish up an opportunity there at the end on the guy’s legs and yeah, if the period is two minutes, one second long, we get our hand raised, but that’s not the case.”

Anderson has gone from 0-2 at state as a freshman, to missing state as a sophomore, and now one win away from the podium as a junior. The work will begin again soon for Anderson’s senior year.

“He’s had a great season, wrestling healthy all year, and he had lots of energy which you could see wrestling all six minutes there,” Cross said. “He’ll use this loss as fuel, he’s training all year round, even while playing other sports. I’m sure it stings right now, I’m sure he’s heartbroken, but I don’t have any doubt that he’ll be on the podium next year.”

Anderson said he’ll have a lot of fire for next year.

“I just have to be the aggressor, be the one taking the shots, don’t look past any matches and just go out there and handle business,” Anderson said.