Adam Sams was one match away from a dream, but the Fairfield senior lost his last three decisions to place sixth in the Division I 138-pound bracket Saturday at the state wrestling tournament.

“Being that close where you can taste the finals, it definitely sucks,” said Sams, who finished his season 38-6 and ended his career with 121 victories, which ranks fourth in school history.

Sams got pinned by Madison senior Nick Montgomery in Friday night’s championship semifinals, leaving him one win shy of a coveted spot in the finals. He had a chance to place as high as third with a pair of wins Saturday morning, but Sams fell 8-5 to Massillon Perry junior Casey Sparkman in the conso semifinals and 4-2 against Lorain senior Elijah Garcia in the fifth-place match.

The ending was disappointing, but his career was anything but, assistant coach Jason Laflin said.

“Adam is a coach’s dream,” Laflin said. “He has a 4.2 GPA. He’s a goal-driven kid and the kind of kid we want to be the face of our wrestling program.

“I could not be more proud of his efforts,” he continued. ““It was a weight class with tough matches. When you get here, the difference between first place and eighth place is really not that much. He went down swinging, and I think at the end of the day he can feel good about his efforts and be proud of what he’s done.”

A four-time state qualifier, Sams joins Laflin as the only two wrestlers in school history to win four consecutive sectional titles. Sams also won league and district titles as a junior and a senior.

He said he is not going to wrestle in college so he can focus on academics at Miami University. When asked what he will remember most about his career at Fairfield, Sams said, “Just all the love that everyone who has gone through the program has for each other. They’re always Tweeting at us and writing us letters and congratulating us and wishing us good luck. It’s meant a lot.”

Also placing sixth was Lakota East senior Jacob Burton, who lost a 3-2 ultimate-tiebreaker decision to Northwest Ameer Daniels in the 285-pound fifth-place bout.

A two-time state qualifier, Burton placed eighth as a junior. He finished his senior year with a record of 37-7.

Division II: Thirty-two years after his father made school history, Ross senior Joseph Jones had a chance to grab a piece of his own.

Wrestling in the 145-pound third-place match, Jones had a chance to match Aaron Ray (1999) and Dylan Ray (2006) for the best finish in school history, but a 4-3 loss to Millersburg West Holmes senior and three-time state placer Max Rohskopf forced Jones to settle for fourth.

His father Stephen was the first state qualifier in Ross history in 1981. This year Joseph was one of six qualifiers, the most in school history, and one of four placers, another program high mark. And Joseph also ends his career as the school’s all-time wins leader and single-season leader with his 52-3 mark this year.

Senior Frank Heimkreiter placed fifth at 220 with a 4-2 victory against Sandusky Perkins freshman Kordell Chaney, while seniors Cordell Byrd (138) and Tyler Bridwell (195) lost close matches to finish sixth.

Byrd lost 5-4 to Parma Padua Franciscan sophomore Kyle Kaminski to finish 30-9, while Bridwell fell 4-1 in double overtime against Minerva junior Harrison Hoppel to cap his season with a record of 47-8.