Friday morning’s Class 3A session was all about one letter — X.

Marshalltown’s Xayvion Anderson defeated top-seeded Ethan Bibler of Waverly-Shell Rock, 3-2, in an overtime tiebreaker to advance to Saturday night’s 165-pound championship match with Carlisle’s Jaxon Miller at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Television cameras swarmed Anderson after the match, asking how the fifth-seeded Anderson could have upset Bibler, who was a semifinalist and fourth-place finisher last season.

“To me, it’s really not even an upset,” Anderson said. “I believe myself to be the best wrestler, all year long. I’m just happy to represent Marshalltown, and make it to the finals.”

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown senior Xayvion Anderson gets a hug from assistant coach Nick Rebik after defeating Ethan Bibler of Waverly-Shell Rock in the Class 3A semifinals at 165 pounds during Friday’s state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

The Iowa Alliance Conference has its share of hammers for wrestling — Ames and Fort Dodge qualified two each for Saturday’s finals — but it’s a matter where Marshalltown can be overlooked these days.

Anderson is the Bobcats’ first finalist since 2013, when heavyweight Pedro Gomez won it all. Anderson doesn’t expect a similar drought under head coach Luke Cross.

“I love representing Marshalltown,” Anderson said. “But you know, they’re gonna start landing here soon. You’re gonna see more Marshalltown boys up here.”

Bibler scored first with an escape from bottom position in the second period, and Anderson did the same in the third period.

Both took their shots in sudden victory, with Bibler able to get Anderson down to the mat but not flat as Anderson held on and rolled both of them out of bounds.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown junior Nick Wise, right, tries to ward off a takedown attempt of Iowa City West’s Cole Krutzfeldt during their Class 3A consolation match at 138 pounds during Friday’s state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Krutzfeldt by technical fall, 18-3.

That was the end of either wrestler taking their feet off the mat in the period.

“It was definitely an interesting match because [Bibler] was so strong and was just trying to basically push him into the edge of the circle the entire match and not let Xayvion get any angles,” Cross said. “It was nerve wracking for a little while that there was nothing that we were going to be able to do to get to this guy’s legs, and we never did.”

After winning the coin flip in the tiebreaker period, Anderson opted to defer the choice to Bibler, who chose bottom position.

Bibler nearly escaped, but Anderson was able to hang on long enough to get the two out of bounds at the expense of getting a stall warning with 17 seconds remaining. On the next restart, Anderson broke Bibler down and rode out the final stretch with relative ease to keep the score tied at 1-all, and now allow Anderson to go down to put the pressure on Bibler.

“I could feel him slowing down,” Anderson said. “I could hear him breathing hard, and so I knew he couldn’t hang with me for this long.”

Anderson got to his feet and forced Bibler to work Anderson to the outside, burning 17 seconds of Bibler’s 30-second ride.

On the next restart, Bibler went to put Anderson’s head into the mat to try and stack him up, but Anderson rolled through, scrambling over top of Bibler to lock in a reversal with six seconds left.

“I knew that reversal was gonna hit,” Anderson said. “My coaches were telling me, ‘Don’t roll,’ but I just knew I was going to get that, and once I got on top, I knew it was over — he wasn’t going to get me anymore.”

Anderson began to celebrate as the whistle blew following his reversal — but it shouldn’t have, as the tiebreaker periods, unlike sudden victory, are wrestled to completion. The official’s confusion allowed Bibler extra time to breathe.

“It gave that guy a little bit of hope instead of just letting the match flow on,” Cross said. “We still got the outcome we wanted, but they shouldn’t be having those mishaps at this stage.”

As Anderson thought, Bibler was only able to get an escape and had no time to set up any shot to answer — and then the real celebration could begin.

“I said yesterday that once we got that monkey off his back, you’d see a new Xayvion,” Cross said. “And here he is.”

Jaxon Miller defeated top-ranked and second-seeded Abe Bushong of Southeast Polk by a 7-4 decision in the other semifinal on Thursday.

Miller last wrestled Anderson on Jan. 20, 2024, a match Miller won by 5-0 decision. Miller may have been the top seed in the 165 bracket this year, if Bibler hadn’t pinned Miller at the state dual tournament.

“Which worked out in our favor,” Cross noted. “I think he’s gonna finish on top, I’m pretty confident of that.”

That’s the thing — while Anderson is happy to change the minds of those who think they know what it means to be a Marshalltown wrestler in 2025, that doesn’t mean he’ll be smiling and waving on Saturday night and letting his dream of being a state champion pass him by.

“I’m not stopping,” Anderson said. “I’m going to keep coming, and just show how strong I am, keep being the predator, getting shots and even if they’re not hitting, I’ll keep taking them.”

Nicholas Wise will join Anderson as a podium placer for the Bobcats after winning his fourth-round consolation “blood round” match at 138 pounds over Camron Bennett of Des Moines East on Friday morning.

Wise won by 15-0 tech fall to lock in his first state medal in his first state appearance as a junior.

“There were a little bit of nerves, just because it’s that blood round match,” Wise said. “But I was pretty confident that I was going to take care of business in this match.”

That confidence shot up once the first takedown landed, and it only snowballed from there.

“I was more nervous than I was showing in that match,” Cross said. “That kid is really tall, but Nick stayed in good position and basically handled the kid, so it was good to get past the blood round in that fashion.”

The fifth-round consolation match went the other direction, with Cole Krutzfeldt of Iowa City West getting the tech fall over Wise, pushing Wise to the seventh-place match with Ethan Sodergren of Ankeny Centennial.

“If you dwell on that last match, we’re going to have a hard time on Saturday,” Cross said. “He got into some positions where he became that wild Nick that we’ve seen a little bit here, where good kids can take advantage of it. He just needs to stay more controlled, stay in a good position, and if he does that, he should be seventh place.”

Reaching the podium is a big achievement for Wise, by his measure.

“The middleweights in the state of Iowa are just fabulous,” Cross said. “And to come here for your first time and be on the podium is an amazing feat. And just knowing that he’s coming back is just fuel for him. He’s bumming hardcore right now, but when he puts it into perspective he’s gonna realize what he did was pretty phenomenal here.”

Johan Gomez was stopped shy of his own state medal in his 190-pound blood round match against ADM’s Jon Hatchitt.

Gomez scored the first takedown but Hatchitt moved to the edge of the mat, getting to his feet and turning quickly into a headlock of Gomez, flipping him to his back and securing the pin on the edge of the mat.

“He’s had two losses in the blood round in his high school career, and his injury last year as a junior had some heartbreak, in a sense,” Cross said. “But again, he needs to realize that what he accomplished is also very, very awesome — to get this far in the tournament is really cool.”

Gomez’ senior season ends at 41-5.

“I told him after his match that his best wrestling is yet to come,” Cross said. “He’s going to continue wrestling in college, and this is going to be fuel for you to make a better version of yourself.”

Saturday’s schedule

Class 3A, 1A, 2A consolation semifinals and finals, 9 a.m.

Seventh-place match, 138 pounds — Nicholas Wise, jr., Marshalltown, 42-9 vs. Ethan Sodergren, soph., Ankeny Centennial, 33-9

Grand march and finals, all classes, 5:30 p.m.

Class 3A, 165 pounds — Xayvion Anderson, sr., Marshalltown, 45-3 vs. Jaxon Miller, jr., Carlisle, 41-2