The Lehi wrestling team earned two state titles and three other medals, finishing sixth overall at last week's state 5A wrestling tournament at UVSC's McKay Events Center.

Cam Phillips earned the crown in the 135 weight class, while Jacob Sasser was the champion at 160.

In addition, Dylan Stadel was the runner-up at 285, Taylor Savio came in fourth at 189, and Ryan Bennion captured sixth place at 152.

Viewmont (145 points) edged Weber (140.5) for the state title. Of the Region 4 teams, Spanish Fork (107) was the top placer at fifth, with Lehi (101.5) right behind.

The Pioneers posted an overall mark of 20-18 for the three-day event. Though the Dons finished higher, Lehi had the better final day with wins in two of their three state title matches.

"We started the tournament a little rough but we finished strong," head coach Dan Rice said.

Lehi also had the most grapplers place (finish in the top six) with five, while Spanish Fork and Lone Peak had four placers apiece.

It seemed like a no-brainer to pick a winner in the 135-pound title match Friday evening.

Spanish Fork senior Rodney Cox had defeated his opponent, Phillips, in each of their three meetings this season, often by dominant margins.

Everyone knows that usually that type of record indicates that one athlete is simply a little bit better than the other, and thus is most likely to continue that dominance on the sport's biggest high school stage.

Everyone except Phillips, that is.

The match started fairly predictably, with Cox scoring an early takedown to get the lead.

But then the Pioneer wrestler simply took over. He came up with a pair of big 2-point near falls, then added a reversal.

On this day, when it mattered most, Phillips was simply too much and rolled to the 7-2 decision and the individual state title.

"I was warm and ready for him," Phillips said. "I wanted it. He beat me three times but I beat him last."

Rice couldn't have been more proud of the performance by Phillips.

"That kid (Cox) had his number this year," Rice said. "He worked him over earlier but Phillips didn't give up. He improved match to match and just dominated out there.

"He'd wrestled Cox so many times this season that he knew what to do against him tonight," the coach continued.

"Once Cam made that reversal and put Cox on his back, we knew his chances for winning this time were going to be really good. Cam set the tone for us tonight."

Phillips had some other senior company as a state championship winner on the team, though Sasser once again needed a heart-stopping finish to get the victory over Jordan's Hayden Moss in the 160-pound classification.

"He was tough," Sasser said. "He's a strong kid that knew what he was doing."

Moss took a 2-0 lead, but the Beetdigger couldn't keep the Pioneer under control. Escaping just before the end of the first period, Sasser quickly scored a three-point near fall in the next period.

Though Moss twice escaped during the match, he couldn't regain the lead. The pair were still knotted at 4-4 late in the third round but — as he did in the semifinals — Sasser found a way to get the points he needed with a takedown, this time with 30 seconds left.

After that, he just tried to keep Moss from getting any leverage and ended up with the 6-4 win.

"I knew I had to hold him or else I could've gotten into trouble," Sasser said. "This was the first time I wrestled him this season. Though I did take region last week, taking state tonight is 10 times better."

Rice said, "Sasser just kept moving in his match. If you stop in a wrestling match, you're in trouble. His constantly moving about was what earned him the state title. When his match was over, he didn't have any energy left."

"It feels really nice (to win a title). I've been waiting for this forever," Sasser said.

One day earlier at about 8 p.m., things weren't looking very good for Sasser.

The final seconds of his 160-pound semifinal match against Viewmont's Eric Call were winding down and he was behind in a very low-scoring contest.

Call had built a 3-1 lead with less than 30 seconds left on the clock and Sasser looked to be headed for defeat.