There are times in wrestling, as in other sports, when pushing the tempo doesn’t need to yield short-term results in order to prove successful in the long run.

Tristan Bremer’s title match in the Idaho state tournament at Nampa was one of those times. He and his Lewiston HIgh coaches believe his efforts to stay active and relatively aggressive were a key factor in his 2-1 win, via tiebreaker, against top-seeded Roddy Romero of Post Falls in the Class 5A final at 106 pounds.

The performance prompted Tribune online voters to anoint him Prep Athlete of the Week.

A week before State, the Bengal sophomore had absorbed a frustrating 1-0 loss in the District I-II championship match against Romero, a defensive-minded wrestler who may have had an edge in physical strength. He pulled off an escape early in the second period and then prevented Bremer from doing the same in the third.

If the state tournament produced the same matchup in the final, Bremer wanted to muster more takedown attempts, even if they weren’t successful, and see if he could win an endurance test.

The plan worked. Bremer matched Romero’s second-period escape with one of his own in the third, tying the score, then duplicated the feat to win the tiebreaker.

“The tempo had to be our tempo, not the other kid’s,” Lewiston coach Stuart Johnson said. “Tristan did everythng that I and the other coaches wanted him to do.”

Bremer improved upon his third-placing showing at 98 pounds last year and finished the season with a 36-6 record.