COLUMBIA, Mo. -- After 28 total matches against 51 schools, Nevada's hopes of bringing home a state finals championship trophy lays in the hands of two Tiger wrestlers.

Ryan Herda and Spencer Daniels are the final two Nevada High School wrestlers with an opportunity to bring home the championship.

189 pound senior Daniels has survived three matches since Thursday and is set to face Kyle Gustin of Pleasant Hill for the title match. Gustin moved up in weight from 171 pounds after he was knocked out of title contention in the first round of state championships last year. Daniels, who is the favorite in his final match, is the 2007 District 2 189 pound state wrestling champ.

Daniels entered the tournament with a 31 - 0 record and continued to dominate his competition with; a technical-fall win over Chilicothe Junior, Clayton Dahlberg, a major-decision win over Oak Grove Senior Tony McMullen and his semi-final match win by way of a 6 - 3 decision over James Alter, a 34 - 5 senior out of Kirksville.

215 pound senior Ryan Herda entered state 37 - 1 and has also added three more wins to his record. Herda came out strong with a 14 - 0 major decision victory against Benton senior, Eli Relford and followed a winning path through the bracket defeating St. Clair senior, Robert Herman by major decision 10 - 2 and Oak Grove junior, Riley Glasgow in a 6 -3 decision.

Herda will be in a rematch at championship finals facing 45 - 0 Westminster Christian senior, Orion Ross, the same wrestler he fell to last year in a 5-3 decision loss for the third place title.

Nevada senior Mason Heard started off with 2 wins in the 119 pound class but lost by pin at 1-minute 53-seconds in his third match, against 37 - 1 Monett freshman Ethan Davis. Heard is set to wrestle Alex Larson, a Ft. Zumwalt East sophomore for a chance to recover from the loss and place third overall in his weight class.

Both, 160 pound Nevada senior Cole Bond and 285 pound Nevada senior Jerrod Alexander took wins in their first bouts but were defeated in the following 2 matches. Bond was pinned at 5-minutes 51-seconds by Union senior Jake Rice and later lost in a hard fought 13 - 11 decision against Oak Grove junior Darrick Smith.

Alexander fired out of the gate with a 2-minute 56 second fall victory over Sullivan senior Joe Hulsey, then lost 2 very close decisions; 8 - 6 against Ruskin junior Anthony Duncan and 1 - 0 against Odessa senior Jason DeHaven.

Nevada's 125 pound Trey Miller, 130 pound Austen Payne, 140 pound Colby Sheperd, 145 pound Austin Denning and 152 pound Josh Palmer, also suffered defeats over the last several days, eliminating them from competing for a title.

Nevada's team point total left them in seventh place out of 51 participating schools after the closing match on Friday with 62-and-a-half points. As of Friday night Monett stood on top of the board with 89 points followed by Excelsior Springs with 84 then Oak Grove and Platte County tied at 77 apiece.

Look for final results and championship match photos in the Tuesday Feb. 19 edition of Nevada Daily Mail.