The high-seeded Trojans handled the pressure well, and Urijah Courter, Jon Gonzalez, and Shane Hanford are all quarterfinals bound for West Marshall after the first Class 2A session of the IHSAA Boys State Wrestling Tournament on Wednesday night.

All three quarterfinalists had first-round byes, meaning their second-round opponents often came in with a little more vigor after already putting a win under their belt.

“That bye can be tough,” West Marshall head coach Stephen Adams said. “They’re excited to have them, but those other guys have those jitters out, they’re ready to go, they’re feeling good, so you have to be ready for them.”

Courter, the top seed in the 113-pound bracket, won a 13-7 decision against Carl Shew of North Butler-Clarksville, a match where the two were tied at 4-4 after the first period. Even after an eight-point swing for Courter to start the second period with an escape, takedown and four back points, Shew kept coming.

“Urijah will go for big things that lead to him giving up points at times, but the thing I always respect about him is that he’s never fazed,” Adams said. “It doesn’t rattle him, he’s just on to the next thing and collecting his next set of points.”

Courter will wrestle Burlington Notre Dame’s Rowan Berndt in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

“My offense was working pretty good, but when I stopped, he got his offense and took me down,” Courter said. “I’ll be more prepared for the quarters tomorrow.”

Gonzalez felt similarly so-so about his 120-pound second-round match with Atlantic’s Braxton Hass, a 13-8 decision for Gonzalez.

After scoring the first three takedowns, Hass scored a late takedown to get within 10-6 heading to the last period. Gonzalez was able to add one more takedown for insurance in the third period, but had to fight off some shots from Hass down the stretch.

“I need to be quicker finishing my shots,” Gonzalez said. “There was one or two where I could have finished but it took me a little bit and he was able to scramble out. So when I get on the leg, I need to finish quickly, and when I’m on top try to work a tilt. … I got the nerves out and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Gonzalez, the fifth seed in the 120 bracket, gets a rematch with Mitchell Schmauss of Crestwood in the quarterfinals. Schmauss won a 5-4 decision over Gonzalez on Jan. 4 at an Osage tournament.

Hanford, the other top seed for the Trojans, won his 150-pound second-round match with Brody McKinley of Harlan Community by fall in the second period.

“I was able to get the bar, and knew I was good on top, I was just a little rusty there in the beginning,” Hanford said. “First-match nerves will still get me even though I’ve been here multiple times, but I’m top-seeded and I have to go out there and show them why I’m here.”

Hanford wrestles Aiden Hippen of Clear Lake in the quarterfinals on Thursday, the first time the two have met this season.

“Today was just a good reminder that everybody’s ready to take a swing at you,” Adams said. “It’ll help us be ready for day two.”

West Marshall also has two wrestlers in second-round consolations prior to the quarterfinals on Thursday night — Jack Decker at 126 pounds and Kinnick Geers at 144.

Decker won his first-round match by 12-1 major decision over Audubon’s Lane Elmquist but fell short in the second-round by 7-1 decision against Davis County’s Emmitt Newton.

“He wrestled a great first match, and that second guy was just tough,” Adams said. “We wrestled really well with him, but he was just hard to get past and kept getting in the same spot.”

Decker will take on Aplington-Parkersburg/Grundy Center’s Carter Liston in the second-round consolations tomorrow.

Geers lost a heartbreaker of a first-round match, leading Anamosa’s Andrew Tjaden for most of the match before a late reversal and four nearfall points led to a 10-6 loss for Geers knocking him to the backside.

His consolation opponent will be North Fayette Valley’s Tate Germann.

“We broke down how that happened for him and what we can do better tomorrow,” Adams said. “We’re looking at tomorrow and hopefully we attack that next match a little better.”

East Marshall/GMG senior Drew Wheater won his first-round match with Burlington Notre Dame’s Bridge Anderson by fall in the second period, but wasn’t able to get past fifth-seeded Thomas Sexton of Decorah in an 11-5 decision that sends him to the consolation bracket, trying to keep his hopes of a state medal alive in a second-round consolation with Quinten Polking of Carroll.

ALSO IN THE AREA: EM/GMG 138-pounder Jordan Meling lost his first-round match by 11-0 major decision against Sergeant Bluff-Luton’s Dax Koedam. … South Hardin-BCLUW’s Beau Towne dropped a 4-2 decision to Anamosa’s Miken Wheeler in a 157-pound first-round match. … Aplington-Parkersburg/Grundy Center’s Jesse Brouwer went 1-1 on Wednesday with a come-from-behind win in the first tiebreaker period with Benton’s Troy Kupka but was pinned by Glenwood’s Mason Koehler in the second round. A-P/GC’s Carter Liston fell in a 10-6 decision at 126 pounds against West Delaware’s Jarrett Engel and Brayden Jara was pinned by Independence’s Benjamin Anderson at 113 pounds. Maison Copp went to consolations after a tech fall against Dubuque Wahlert’s Brody Schmidt in the 190 first round.

Thursday’s schedule

Class 2A session, 6 p.m.

Second-round consolations

113 pounds — Brayden Jara, A-P/GC vs. Ryan Cassady, West Liberty

126 pounds — Carter Liston, A-P/GC vs. Jack Decker, West Marshall

138 pounds — Jordan Meling, East Marshall/GMG vs. Will Larson, Decorah

144 pounds — Kinnick Geers, West Marshall vs. Tate Germann, North Fayette Valley

157 pounds — Beau Towne, South Hardin-BCLUW vs. Brady Grier, Williamsburg

190 pounds — Maison Copp, A-P/GC vs. Donovan Hedrington, Atlantic

190 pounds — Drew Wheater, EM/GMG vs. Quinten Polking, Carroll

215 pounds — Jesse Brouwer, A-P/GC vs. Cody Elliott, Webster City

Quarterfinals

113 pounds — Urijah Courter, West Marshall vs. Rowan Berndt, Burlington Notre Dame

120 pounds — Jon Gonzalez, West Marshall vs. Mitchell Schmauss, Crestwood

150 pounds — Shane Hanford, West Marshall vs. Aiden Hippen, Clear Lake