TROY – Peyton Lane didn’t get the result he wanted, but he will still get a chance to get the main prize next weekend.

The National Trail senior suffered his first loss of the season in the semifinal at the Division III district wrestling tournament, but bounced back to qualify for the state tournament by placing third.

Lane, last season’s state runner-up at 138 pounds, went 2-0 during the first day of the district tournament at Troy’s Hobart Arena on Friday, March 6.

In the semis at 145 pounds on Saturday, March 7, he dropped a 7-6 decision to Nick Alvarez of Xenia Legacy Christian.

“We knew coming into the tournament that his semifinals match was going to be one of the tougher matches of the weekend,” Trail coach Bobby Clark said. “Peyton had beat (him) previously at the holiday tournament and we knew Alvarez was going to bring everything he had against him this second time.”

After the loss, Lane was dominant in fighting his way back into the top four.

He scored a 13-0 decision over Caden Conner of Reading in a state qualifying match. In the third place match he beat Evan Davis of Greenon, 11-1.

“I think the pressure of not losing a match all season has lifted off his shoulders and he’s now got a chip on his shoulder going into the state tournament,” Clark said. “Just as I said to him yesterday (Saturday), it’s better to lose that first match here at districts then it is to lose it next weekend at state. Peyton is a kid who will keep pushing and this one loss won’t affect him, it’s done and over with. We’ll get him prepared this week to battle for a spot on the big stage again next weekend at the state tournament.”

For Preble Shawnee’s Tyler Stevenson he was looking to make his second straight state appearance.

The Arrows heavyweight (285 pounds) entered the tournament with a 21-1 record after missing most of the season recovering from a football injury.

After opening the tournament with a pin of Madeira’s Tim Lewis in 16 seconds, Stevenson dropped back-to-back matches to have his season come to an end.

He suffered a 3-2 defeat to Brennan Davis of Allen East in the quarterfinals and lost by pin in 4:06 to Carter Butler of Lima Bath.

Preble Shawnee freshman Brayden Doran was making his first trip to the district tournament.

He went 1-2 to finish in the top 12.

Tri-County North sent four to the district tournament.

“As a team I felt satisfied with how we prepared for districts. Going into the week we thought we were going to have three for sure wrestling but found out Tuesday that even our alternate Andrew (Hutchinson) was getting to wrestle,” North coach Brad Statzer said. “They wrestled well for it being three of the four of them first time on that stage. Andrew had been a two time district qualifier that didn’t wrestle last year. He placed fifth to be the alternate that got in.”

Hutchinson took advantage going 2-2 and finishing in the top eight.

Josh Duncan at 145 pounds went 0-2.

At 220 pounds, Blade Root went 2-2 to finish in the top eight, while heavyweight Peyton Giolitto went 0-2.

“A mistake here or there can cost you a match at this level. Asking a high school athlete to be perfect isn’t always going to happen. So we focused on game plans that they executed for the most part. All four in some aspect proved that they belonged in the field of 16,” Statzer said. “Blade Root was able to win matches at the district level and so was Andrew who both made it to the second day. Blade was a third string heavy weight last year, Peyton Giolitto was a second string heavyweight. Josh and Andrew didn’t wrestle so to say the least they surprised people in the area. I feel positive that this will build up for the four of them for future endeavors. As for the season we made leaps and bounds for only filing at most eight weight classes. We will lose two seniors but hoping that our numbers go up and we pick up those we lost and gain some for the future and this team have set up that opportunity for others to look up to them. If you look at our team where we started the season I felt that each and every one of them improved drastically.”

The OHSAA state tournament will be held Friday through Sunday, March 13-15 at the Jerome Schottenstein Center. Division III will begin at 3 p.m.