Derek Morrison stands in second place after his 4-1 weekend at the Al Smith Classic. Morrison lost in the final to Aidan Abad of Lowell. (Photos provided by Jamie Salazar)

It was uncharted territory for Derek Morrison.

The Wawasee junior hadn’t placed at the Al Smith Classic in his first two seasons, but found himself wrestling for a championship at 215 Saturday afternoon in Mishawaka.

Morrison won his semi-final matchup against Garrett’s Aiden Hunt, though was in big trouble quickly after a takedown and near fall after just 35 seconds. But Morrison worked into a reversal and got the pin at 53 seconds to advance to his first championship matchup.

In the 215 final against Lowell’s Aidan Abad, there would be no reversal magic as Abad got the first takedown and didn’t let Morrison wriggle his way free in a pin at 1:04. Abad, the top seed in the tournament and ranked No. 7 in the latest Indiana Mat 215 weight class rankings, barely made the final after scoring a last-second takedown of Crown Point’s Austin Reading, squeaking out a 5-3 decision.

Morrison’s tournament, which had him go 4-1 overall, moves the junior stud to 21-2 on the season.

Wawasee will return to action on the boys side Tuesday, Jan. 7, with a home make-up date with East Noble, a 6:45 p.m. start, and then again Thursday, Jan. 9, when it visits NorthWood in a Northern Lakes Conference showdown. The Warriors are 5-0 and tied with Mishawaka atop the NLC standings, the Panthers down the list at 2-3 overall. Wawasee’s girls will begin the first IHSAA state tournament with entry in the Goshen Sectional on Friday, Jan. 3.