No heartbreak for Tahoma this year when Mat Classic XXIV concluded Saturday night at the Tacoma Dome.

Tahoma won its first 4A state title and its first wrestling championship since 1996 racking up 190 points, with 12 of those coming from pins in the finals, to Mead’s 168.5 points for second place.

Two years ago, though, the Tahoma finished second to University – despite having four top notch athletes who made it to the finals in their respective weight classes — and learned from that experience.

Bears head coach Chris Feist said he was naïve going into that weekend two years ago.

“We left heartbroken two years ago,” Feist said. “I learned from that weekend that we needed more depth. We needed to work with our second string kids. We’ve been talking for two years about coming out of here with the title through the back door.”

This year Tahoma brought 15 wrestlers and 10 of them earned medals compared to the five placers the Bears had when they finished second in 2010.

Tim Whitehead lost a tough match to Michael Nguyen of Evergreen in the 113 pound final and Steven Hopkins scored a take down with just a few seconds left in the 126 pound title match to send it into overtime.

Hopkins, however, just couldn’t hold off Eric Soler of Lake Stevens, who got a take down halfway into the one-minute sudden death overtime to win the title.

Joey Palmer sealed the team title in the next contest as he pinned Adam Romano of Graham-Kapowsin with 11 seconds left in the first period.

“If I had the chance to pin him, I would, for the team points,” Palmer said. “We’ve been working for a state title ever since I was in sixth grade.”

That team title, though, was not just about the Bears who made it to the finals Palmer explained.

“All the back door guys, they’re the ones who sealed the deal,” Palmer said. “They’re the ones who deserve the credit.”

Palmer also credits Feist for the work he’s put into the feeder programs such as Bear Claw which prepares kids for the demands of the Tahoma High mat room.

And as a senior bound for Oregon State, Palmer said he hopes he raised the intensity in the mat room, that he leaves his energy as a legacy as much as his second individual state title – he won at 125 pounds a year ago when he was at Rogers High.

And as soon as he was done with interviews, Palmer walked over to the girls mat where his girlfriend Jenny Anderson of Emerald Ridge was busy winning her own state title.

“Phenomenal young man,” Feist said of Palmer. “He’s one of the quickest kids I’ve ever worked with. He epitomizes what we preach and believe in.”

Palmer’s energy and intensity, Feist added, “it’s just contagious. It spread in our room”

Tahoma’s second state champion, 220-pounder Aaron Davis, did exactly what Feist thought he would do: come out and win.

Davis may not have been on the radar after finishing third at the Region III tournament the previous weekend but Feist knew a year ago that Davis could win a title. In fact, he joked with another member of the coaching staff that if Davis didn’t, he would quit.

Looks like Feist won’t be leaving anytime soon.

“Since he’s been a freshman he’s been getting better and better,” Feist said. “He’s calm, cool and collected, no matter whether it’s wrestling, football or track.”

After Davis pinned his opponent Jake Hollister from Woodinville 33 seconds into the match, Feist gave him a huge hug and told the senior he just pinned his way through the bracket and to put an exclamation point on it, Davis scored the most points in a single tournament of any Tahoma wrestler ever.

“I just wrestled,” Davis said. “I had a good first match. Then I won the second one. Now I’m doing pretty good, I can place. I got to the semis… I went into that one feeling a little bit nervous.”

And though Davis said he was a bit surprised by the fact he pinned his way through the bracket he had been confident in his ability coming into the tournament.

“I knew I wasn’t going to do this next year,” he said. “I figured in the summer… I’m going to go out hard. I just feel great about it. It’s great to be where I am at now.”

Feist, who has been the head coach for seven years, said in a scratchy voice that it had been a long weekend and a long three months.

That trophy makes losing his voice worth it.

“It’s confirmation that we’re doing the right things,” Feist said. “We challenge our kids to learn and grow at every experience.”

And as the kids have learned, so has Feist and his coaching staff, whom he credited for helping the wrestlers meet the demands of his program.

“I guaranteed from the get go that if you buy in, we’ll be there for you,” Feist said. “As a group, our juniors and seniors pulled them together and said, ‘It can’t just happen November through February.’ And every time you have high demands, you need high support.”

Whether a kid needs someone to talk to, help finding a tutor or anything else a wrestler might ask for, Feist said, the coaching staff has been there for the kids.

In the end, though, Feist knows his wrestlers will walk away from the Tahoma mat room with more than just trophies and medals.

“The (championship) trophy is great. We chase it,” Feist said. “But, whether we place first or 10th, our wrestlers are going to be better students, better fathers, better husbands, better men.”

Feist knows this because he believes wrestling at Fife High in the 1990s made him a better father, husband, teacher and person.

“My boys will be better men for the experience on the mat and in my room,” he said. “That’s why we do this.”

This time at the end of the second day of Mat Classic there was no heartbreak for Tahoma. Instead there was jubilation as the Bears crowned two state champions and won the team title.