AUBURN HILLS -- Chelsea High School hasn’t had an undefeated state wrestling champion since 1969, back when coach Kerry Kargel was rocking a singlet.

Dakota Cooley joined his coach in the record books Saturday night, defeating Gage Pederson of Hastings, 6-4, to win the 140-pound Division 2 individual state championship at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Cooley prides himself on his offensive style from the neutral position, so it was fitting that all his points in the championship match came from takedowns.

“He’s a tough competitor. He’s real strong and his style is the opposite of mine. I like to shoot, he likes to get up top and tie up,” Cooley said. “I knew I had to use fakes and set ups to beat his attacks and get underneath him.”

Cooley hit a low single-leg in the first period to take the lead early and, after giving up an escape, was up 2-1 to start the second.

So confident is Cooley in his offense, that he chose neutral in the second, rather than bottom where maximum points are possible. Cooley showed why conventional wisdom didn’t apply to his situation, scoring on an ankle pick off a restart to take a 4-1 lead. After Pederson stood up in the second and again after choosing down in the third, the score was 4-3.

Cooley was twice hit for stalling in the last minute, but no sooner than the ref raised his hand to award Pederson a point, Cooley was in deep on another takedown with just 30 seconds remaining.

“It feels good. I went out there thinking like it's any other match,” Cooley said, pausing to smile as he realized it wasn’t quite like any other match. “Except there’s only four mats and thousands of people here.”

Kargel said he’s happy to share the undefeated state champ distinction with Cooley, the winningest wrestler in Chelsea history. Though Kargel said Cooley’s previous two nail-biters -- he won quarterfinal and semifinal matches by one point apiece -- didn’t make him worry, that wasn’t the case with the final.

“This one made me nervous,” Kargel said. “He’s worked so hard for it. He deserves it.”

Cooley is Chelsea’s first state champion since George Fairley won the 160-pound title in 2001.

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While Cooley made Chelsea a perfect 1-for-1 in the finals, Manchester wrestlers went 0-for-3 in the Division 4 finals.

Junior Austin Deacons lost 6-4 in double overtime to Hesperia senior Mike Dunbar in the 119 pound final.

Deacons was up 2-0 after scoring a takedown in the first period. He gave up an escape in the second and found himself down 3-2 in the third after being turned for a two-point nearfall.

Deacons, regained the lead with a minute left after hitting a reversal, but was penalized a point for stalling, sending the match into overtime.

Three times in the first extra session, which is a minute long, Deacons was in deep on double leg attempts, but stalemates were called each time and the wrestlers went into double overtime, which is split into two, 30-second periods.

In the first session, Dunbar hit a reversal with three seconds on the clock to take a 6-4 lead. Deacons chose neutral in the second part of the overtime, but couldn’t get past Dunbar’s defense.

“I usually don’t complain about officials, if you watched the match he sort of took it out of his hands," said Manchester coach Steve Vlcek. "The stalemates, warned Austin for stalling, then Austin’s got three four shots in overtime and he puts the whistle away.

"He gave it everything he had."

Senior Jimmy Hamilton lost a 4-0 decision to Springport senior Chase Baxter in the 145 pound title match.

After a scoreless first period, Hamilton chose down and was rode out for the second. Baxter chose down and stood up in the third, was awarded a point after Hamilton was called for stalling. Baxter sealed the win with a takedown in the last 30 seconds.

In the heavyweight title match, junior Dylan Neff had his magical run come to an end. Neff, one of just two No. 4 seeds in the entire tournament to make the finals, faced undefeated defending state champion Devin Pommerenke of Rogers City. Neff was pinned at 4:37 of the first period.

"Dylan was a dark horse, and went after him. The kid hasn’t been taken down all year until now," Vlcek said in reference to Neff scoring a takedown in the second period. "Can’t ask more of the kids all you do is tell them to wrestle hard, all three did. Sometimes it goes for you sometimes it doesn’t.“

In addition to the four finalists, eight other Washtenaw County wrestlers were awarded all-state medals Saturday evening.

-- Bob Gross contributed to this article.

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by e-mail at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.