A loss in the second round of the Class 4A 145-pound state tournament didn’t derail the spirits of Redmond Mustangs senior Jeremy Hernandez at the Mat Classic.

Hernandez, who battled his way through the consolation rounds, registered a sixth-place finish in the 145-pound weight class at the Mat Classic on Feb. 16 at the Tacoma Dome. Hernandez finished the final tournament of his high school career with a record of 5-3. Hernandez won four consecutive matches in the consolation brackets to place at the tourney.

Hernandez, who earned second place last year at the Mat Classic as a junior, had the right mindset on the second day of the tourney.

“Sometimes when you get punched, you got to roll with the punches. There was’t really much I could do about that. It is about staying committed to saying what I would do. I can’t get first but I will try to finish as high as I can,” Hernandez said after his fourth match of the tournament. “I was in the same position my sophomore year. I have wrapped my head around it. It is the same mindset. When your back is against the wall, the only way you can go is forward.”

Hernandez lost to Union’s Noah Talavera 4-3 in the fifth place/sixth-place match.