But after a long wait and Balow won his following match, the New Ulm Area senior heavyweight earned a wrestleback match and the chance to earn more mat time on Saturday.

Drill’s first-round match with Balow saw a scoreless first period. Drill started on the bottom in the second before Balow worked to grab a takedown, which he got before closing the period out with a 2-point nearfall to lead 4-0.

Balow was then able to hold Drill off in the third for a 4-0 decision.

After Balow won his next match to move on to Saturday’s semifinals, Drill was allowed a wrestleback match against Albany’s Jacob Adrian. In the match with Adrian, Drill was calm, cool and collected as he stamped his ticket to Saturday’s consolation quarterfinals.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Area's Jaden Drill wrestles Lake City's Max Balow in a first-round match at the 2022 State Individual Wrestling Tournament at Xcel Energy Center on Friday.

In the first period, Drill grabbed a takedown for a 2-0 lead after one. He started the second period from the top and worked for 3 more points with a near fall to lead 5-0 heading into the third.

In the third, Drill got up from the bottom and transitioned into a takedown for a 7-0 lead. Drill allowed an escape but denied a late double leg takedown to win 7-1 and move on to Saturday.

“I trusted my moves,” Drill said of his win over Adrian. “I kept him off the top, I escaped the bottom, didn’t wait for him to do anything, didn’t let him get any chances.”

Drill will now need to beat Bryce Kuschel of Becker in a consolations quarterfinals match if he hopes to end his senior campaign with a medal at state. A loss to Kuschel would end Drill’s season.

“I just gotta power through,” Drill said about Saturday. “It’s always been a goal of mine to get a medal at the state tournament. I was at a different location last year, I finished eighth, so no medal, and this year I came back for my revenge.”

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Area's Dylen Carreon wrestles Princeton's Kaden Olson in a first-round state match at 195 pounds on Friday.

Parker Kamm was another NUA wrestler to compete at state this year. He took the mat first for the Eagles on Friday as he wrestled Gavin Peterson of Cannon Falls in a first-round match at 113 pounds. The NUA sophomore took fourth at state last year at 106 and was looking to build on that during his second trip.

Peterson took a 2-1 lead into the second period before Kamm evened things up with an escape in the second. Peterson then got a takedown and a 3-point near fall to lead 7-2 after two periods before getting a reversal in the third to pull out a 9-2 decision.

Peterson dropped his quarterfinals match to Dawson-Boyd/Lac Qui Parle/Montevideo United’s Daniel Gunlogson, which meant that Kamm was denied a wrestleback opportunity and finished his season with a 17-5 record.

“It was a lot different from last year where we were just all together and just walked out there and whatever,” Kamm said. “This year, everybody’s just staring at you on that one mat, and it’s a lot more pressure.”

Kamm added that while things didn’t turn out as he hoped, being at the Xcel Energy Center to wrestle for the first time at state after last year’s tournament at St. Michael-Albertville High School was a good experience.

“[It was] definitely a way to get the nerves out,” Kamm said. “Just to come here and see what’s up about it and hopefully come back stronger next year.”

NUA’s third wrestler at state this year was senior Dylen Carreon, who wrestled second on Friday for the Eagles and took on Princeton’s Kaden Olson in a first-round match at 195 pounds. Carreon trailed 5-0 heading into the second period before he got an escape and a takedown to close the gap.

Olson ended the period strong, however, getting an escape, a takedown and a 2-point near fall to lead 10-3 heading into the third. In that third, Olson got another escape, a takedown and a 2-point nearfall to close things out with a 15-3 major decision.

Carreon saw his strong senior run come to an end later in the day after Olson lost his quarterfinals match against unbeaten Bennett Berge of Kimball. Berge moved to 50-0 on the year with the win over Olson, which meant Olson was allowed a wrestleback match later on Friday and Carreon finished his senior year with a 32-17 record.

While he was denied a wrestleback, Carreon still had a smile on his face later on Friday night when reflecting on how far he made it over the past few years.

“I joined three years ago and I didn’t even think I could go to state, I didn’t think it was possible,” Carreon said. “So to go to state senior year — it’s amazing — the best feeling ever.”

New Ulm Area’s Ellie Dake will also compete Saturday in the girls’ 152-pound bracket.