PARK CITY – For the last eight years, quality depth up and down the lineup allowed the Goddard Lions to stake their claim as Class 5A’s top wrestling team and repeatedly fend off all challengers.
 
The same formula brought an end to that reign Friday and Saturday at Hartman Arena.
 
Maize, foreshadowed to have that capability in the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association’s preseason rankings, proved worthy of a No. 1 ranking by placing 10 of its 11 wrestlers – including individual champions Connor Padgett at 175 pounds and Ayden Flores at 215 – at the 5A boys state tournament. The Eagles won the first team title in program history.
 
Maize had nine top-three finishers in the 14 weight classes and scored 214 points. Fellow Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail Division I member Newton was second with 175.5 and St. Thomas Aquinas finished third with 122.
 
“Every year, we’ve had that thought,” Maize coach Mike Schauer said of being the team to unseat Goddard, the 13-time state champion that began its run of eight straight in 2015. “For whatever reason, I think more of our focus this season may have been on, ‘How do you beat Newton, and how do we go into the tournament being our best?’”

 
Newton and Aquinas each had three individual champions, one more than the Eagles. And Goddard didn’t go down without a fight, producing 144-pound champion Jacob Goodwin among its five medalists to finish fifth.
 
But no team could match Maize’s stable of talent and experience. The Eagles’ medal haul started with freshman runner-up Talon Verbeck at 106 pounds and included one in each weight class from 132 pounds through 215.
 
“They were wrestling a bunch of tough, hard-nosed guys,” Padgett said of the challenge opponents faced when working their way through Maize’s lineup this season. “We work our butts off every day and are pushing each other outside the room and in the room.
 
“We’ve been wrestling together since we were little, and it’s just really cool having that core group of guys right there in the middle who just dominate everyone.”
 
Padgett, a Fort Hays State wrestling signee, completed a 48-3 season and 157-22 career with an 11-3 major decision over Lansing’s Tyler Henson on Saturday. Ranked No. 2 in all classes at 175 behind 6A champion Luke Barker of Dodge City, Padgett delivered another dominating finals performance after pinning Eisenhower’s Mason Levin the 170-pound state title match a year ago.
 
“I just wanted to do it for my team,” Padgett said. “I knew my team would need these points to go get that team title, which was our ultimate goal. The individual title was really nice to get, but it was cooler to get that team title.”
 
Flores was sidelined from competition for a short time with a minor pectoral tear he sustained in the Newton Tournament of Champions semifinals in mid-January. But he showed no signs of the injury in the 215-pound final, pinning Aquinas junior Pierce Cunningham in 1:21 for his first state title.
 
The victory capped a 22-2 season for Flores and helped him turn the page after a disappointing finish to his 2022 season. Flores dropped a 5-2 decision to four-time state champion Quentin Saunders of Goddard last February after pinning Saunders the previous week in the regional finals.
 
“It was a big learning experience. Very humbling,” Flores said. “I let a very good wrestler outwrestle me. I thought about it for a long time and I thought about the huge celebration he gave.
 
“It just pushed me to keep wrestling and working hard. That way we as a team could win a title and me individually win a title.”
 
Maize had a firm grip on the team title with six finalists and a 42½-point lead over Newton after the third- and fifth-place matches. With the championship round starting at 165 pounds, the Eagles’ first opportunity came with junior Jayden Ford facing reigning 160-pound champion and Navy signee Dylan Elmore of Aquinas.
 
Ford, who won a grueling ultimate tiebreaker against Newton’s Keon Edwards in Friday’s semifinals, dropped a 13-5 major decision to Elmore. The Aquinas standout’s relentless attack produced his 123^rd victory in 127 matches over the last three seasons.
 
After Padgett and Flores followed with victories, Verbeck, the top-ranked wrestler at 106, yielded a reversal in the final minute to Aquinas sophomore Caden Gallet and lost 6-5. Andover’s Adam Maki scored three points in the final 30 seconds to hold off Eagles senior Nakaylen Shabazz 9-6 at 138, and Emporia’s Xerarch Tungjaroenkul won his second state title with a 3-1 decision over Maize senior Clayton Bowers at 150.

 
“That turns out to be an emotional rollercoaster because on one hand, we knew pretty early on that we had wrapped it up,” Schauer said. “So you know you’ve got the first-place trophy in your pocket. That feels pretty good, and then you watch those guys who have just dedicated their entire season to standing on top of the podium, and they can’t.
 
“You’re not going to win every match that you wrestle, and sometimes you’re going to meet a kid who’s more experienced right now or is a little more seasoned veteran, and it’s just hard.”
 
The Eagles still had plenty to celebrate. Senior Camden Padgett, Connor’s brother, ended his high school career with a 5-4 decision over Andover’s Bradley Trimmell in the 144-pound third-place match. Juniors Daniel Gomez and Ronan Wunsch also finished third, with Wunsch outdueling Valley Center’s Dai’Mont Mucker 3-1 at 190 pounds in one of the 5A tournament’s strongest brackets.
 
With a sixth-place finish from senior Cody Hughbanks at 157 and a 1-2 record from junior heavyweight Basilio Wilson, each Eagle contributed to the team’s point total.
 
“We started the season off with five duals at Ark City, and right then we saw we were pretty solid top to bottom,” Schauer said. “It definitely felt like we could get on the podium at several weight classes, and that’s what you have to do to be a good team. Whether it’s Goddard or Newton, this year you had to get points out of about everybody, and we had that team.”