As the final whistle blew, Clackamas’ Jeremiah Wachsmuth couldn’t contain himself. He ran over to his coach and gave him a hug. He took off his headgear and spiked it to the ground. While the OSAA Class 6A wrestling state championship tournament was scheduled to run until at least 1 p. m. on Sunday, its most hotly anticipated matchup was up at 113 pounds between Wachsmuth and Roseburg’s Gage Singleton. And Wachsmuth won it. Not only did Wachsmuth win the state championship, he was able to exorcize a demon of sorts. Last season, Singleton beat Wachsmuth for the 106-pound championship. Wachsmuth stomached the 9-5 loss for a whole season. “I’m so happy,” Wachsmuth said after his match. “I just believed in myself all season. And I got the job done. ” The match was electric from the opening whistle, as Singleton immediately went after Wachsmuth’s legs to test his defense. Singleton tried a low ankle shot just seconds into the match, but Wachsmuth was able to defend it and got a stalemate call from the referee to break it. After the two were separated, Singleton tried another shot — this time a double leg — that again saw both wrestlers go to the mat. After a little bit of scrambling, Singleton and Wachsmuth were ruled out of bounds and returned to the center of the mat. “I knew for the first minute, I knew he was going to be really active,” Wachsmuth said. “I just needed to be quick on my feet and cautious of him going for the single. So I just kept moving my feet around the circle. I never stopped moving. ” After a scoreless first period, Wachsmuth gained the upper hand in the second. After choosing bottom, Wachsmuth got his one-point escape. Singleton attempted another leg shot, but Wachsmuth defended it and got a takedown off a go-behind from a front headlock. In the third period, Wachsmuth ate up nearly a minute and 45 seconds of the clock with a leg ride that kept Singleton on his stomach. With 15 seconds left, Singleton got a reversal to score his first points of the match (making it 3-2 for Wachsmuth). After a quick escape by Wachsmtuh, Singleton attempted a throw, but was unsuccessful, leading to another takedown for Wachsmuth and the 6-2 win. One thing that Wachsmuth thinks worked in his favor this time was his conditioning. After the first round, he said Singleton was not as quick after two offensive attacks yielded no points in the first two minutes of the match. “I knew I needed to have better conditioning. Last year, I gassed out in the second round,” he said. “This year, I know I need to be able to go as hard as I can for six minutes. ” Since Wachsmuth and Singleton are the same age, it’s likely the two will cross paths again at least once next season. Wachsmuth said he is looking forward to continuing one of Class 6A’s hottest wrestling rivalries in the future. “I just want to keep my momentum going,” he said. “I’m pretty confident. I feel like now that I beat him, I’m more confident. ” -- Nik Streng, ,.