And in two of the most tightly-contested matches of the night, NUA came out on top in both, with Rieser flipping a late takedown by LCWMA’s Brody Herbst into a reversal for a 6-5 decision, and Kral coming back from a 3-0 deficit to earn a 17-8 major decision.

New Ulm took that momentum all the way to the finish, as Braxton Kiecker and Candon Briggs both followed with first-period takedowns to help NUA to a 52-15 win.

Rieser started his match with a takedown before a Herbst escape. Rieser matched the escape in the second period, but Herbst made it a 4-2 match with another escape in the third. Herbst managed a takedown late in the third, but Rieser quickly twisted that into a reversal to maintain a 6-5 lead. Rieser held on until the final buzzer for the decision.

“I knew there wasn’t a ton of time left, so I knew I needed to go for something,” Rieser said. “I was just like, ‘I should hit it before it’s too late.'”

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Area’s Elijah Rieser clings on to Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial’s Brody Herbst during a Section 3AA Wrestling Tournament match Thursday at New Ulm High School.

Rieser said he wasn’t ready to give up the match when Herbst earned his takedown.

“Just the confidence in myself knowing that the match wasn’t over yet,” he said. “Just going for it and not letting that takedown that he got at the end make myself lose hope.”

Kral, meanwhile suffered a takedown at the hands of Levi Gilman to start the match. Kral worked to an escape before the end of the period, but Levi Gilman earned an escape of his own to open the second to maintain a 4-1 lead. Kral scored a takedown to tie the match, and while Levi Gilman escaped once more, Kral earned another takedown for a 7-5 lead. Levi Gilman was awarded another point for a clasping violation as the match headed into the third period, but Kral scored an escape and two takedowns for a 14-7 lead. With time winding down, Kral allowed Levi Gilman to escape to try to earn the major decision, and managed to earn the extra team point with a late takedown and a 17-8 win.

“I beat him before, and I was hoping I could beat him again,” Kral said. “I knew that I had that in me. I just got my takedowns on him, and that’s all I needed to do. I started slow at the beginning, but once I got my first takedown on him, I just started wrapping him up. I just kept on going.”

Now NUA will travel to Fairmont for the final two rounds of the Section 3AA Wrestling Tournament, where it will face off first with Dawson-Boyd-Lac Qui Parle-Montevideo United. The winner of that match will face off against the winner of Marshall and Windom/Mountain Lake/Butterfield-Odin.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey New Ulm Area’s Tegan Kral takes down Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial’s Levi Gilman during a Section 3AA Wrestling Tournament match Thursday at New Ulm High School.

“Our whole team is going to need energy,” Kral said. “And we’re all going to need to believe in each other. We’re going to have to have good attitude and wrestle our hearts out.”

Rieser added that the team should continue what it has done to stay undefeated so far this season.

“I think if we just keep doing what we do all year,” Rieser said. “If we stay consistent and don’t change too much — it’s been working all year, why change it now.”

The match started with a pin by NUA’s Chase Wilson at 107 over Wyatt Schultz in 3:57, then Regan Johnson earned his 100th career win with NUA with a pin in 1:01 over Gabe Gilman. Ryder Antony got LCWMA on the scoreboard with am 18-2 technical fall over Chael Johnson at 121 to set the score at 12-5, but NUA responded at 127 with a 15-0 technical fall in the second period as Alex Porter recorded two takedowns, an escape and two 4-point near falls on Jack Buss for a 17-5 lead. Kane Johnson got another 21-4 technical fall over Rowen Antony at 133 for a 21-5 lead, setting up Rieser and Kral for their matches.

With Braxton and Briggs earning pins in 46 seconds and 49 seconds, respectively, NUA held a 41-5 advantage. Lane Zimmerman earned LCWMA’s second win of the night with a 10-0 major decision over Dirk Haynes at 172, but Lane Ruch got NUA back on track with a 15-0 technical fall in the second period. Tilken Fruhwurth accepted a forfeit at 215 for NUA, and LCWMA’s Mason Adams won by fall over Emerson Johnson at 285 to close out the match.

Saturday’s matches start at 12:30 p.m.