Nobody finishes their season with a perfect record without winning it all. At least that’s what junior Bryce Palmer thought when he faced Whitehouse’s Carter McLaughlin in the UIL 5A 150 pound state championship.

Going into the final match of his season with a 28-0 record, Palmer was looking to get his first state title.

Last year, Palmer placed fifth in the same tournament after a disqualification, forfeiting the match.

Despite his confidence going into the finals, the match up between McLaughlin and Palmer was anything but easy.

In the first of three periods, it was a zero point game with neither side getting any points on the board.

The second period saw Palmer put up the first points with a takedown escape (1-0), followed by an executed takedown by McLaughlin (1-3) and another escape for Palmer (2-3).

In the final period, McLaughlin put more on the board with a takedown escape putting him up by two and then was penalized for stalling, attempting to run down the clock and win (3-4).

With the last 30 seconds on the clock, Palmer had to take initiative.

While McLaughlin continued to avoid any attacks from his opponent, Palmer struck, got around him and took him down in the final three seconds of the match (6-4).

At that moment, Bryce Palmer became a state champion. 

“I just knew I had to do it for my coach,” Palmer said. “He’s the reason we had a season this year.”

After the passing of previous wrestling coach Tim Clarkson, the wrestling program struggled.

Bouncing between temporary replacements, nothing was working and morale on the team was low.

“We didn’t know what was going to happen,” Palmer said. “We were thinking about moving just so I could have a season this year.”

When all hope was lost, Coach Thomas came in.

“He stepped in when nobody else would,” Palmer said.

Coach David Thomas spent 21 years in the Air Force and 23 years coaching in Maryland and New York.

When Thomas moved to Texas he decided not to coach anymore as UIL required him to have his teaching license.

With the team on the verge of breaking apart, Thomas felt the need to do something.

“I couldn’t in good conscience sit on my couch and do nothing,” Thomas said.

He got to researching and found a way to get a temporary teaching degree through his military service and filled the role as coach.

Through a lengthy process of reform and rebuilding, a team that formerly thought they didn’t have a season now had nine state qualifiers.

“Bryce and coach Clarkson had a great relationship,” said Thomas. “That’s something that really weighed on him, not getting it [the state title] done with him.”

Palmer would drape a shirt covered in Clarkson’s sayings over a chair at every state match to honor his coach.

“He has earned the right to be called a state champion,” Thomas said.

With Palmer now achieving a state championship, his next steps are national tournaments in Virginia and Nevada, hoping to add to his growing list of titles.