ROCHESTER — It was like a flashback for Austin wrestler Erick Power.

A trip to state was on the line and he was facing a wrestler from Faribault, just like last year. Only this year, instead of getting pinned, Power came through with a win and he joined teammate Deven Felten in earning a trip to the state wrestling meet at the Section 1AAA meet in Mayo Civic Center Saturday.

Power, a 119-pound sophomore, lost his first match of the section tournament and then won four straight matches, including a 7-5 overtime win over Mitch Miller of Century in the wrestlebacks and a 4-3 win over Faribault’s Brandon Peters in a “true” second match to get to state.

“I really wanted to get to it this year,” Power said. “I think (last year) helped a lot. After you lose, you’re kind of down but after winning four in a row, you keep your head up.”

Power tied up his match with Peters, a sophomore who went to state last year at 112, by getting a takedown early in the third. Then he gave up a free escape to give Peters a 3-2 lead before Power converted another takedown with 19 seconds left in the match.

Power hung on to win, but even he wasn’t totally sure he was making the correct decision when he let Peters go.

“There were some (doubts) but you’ve always got to keep your head high and hope for the best,” he said.

After getting pinned in the first round, the sixth-seeded Power came back with a vengeance — picking up a 15-0 win and second period pin. It wasn’t until a wrestleback match against Miller that he was tested.

Power trailed that match 3-2, but he picked up a takedown in the third period to force overtime, and he pulled off a takedown in overtime to move on.

“Erick had a whale of a tournament, and there’s no more deserving kid on our team,” Austin head coach Bill Kinney said. “He’s been a tremendous leader for us, and he’s the first kid we’ve ever had voted in as a captain as a freshman.”

Deven Felten, a 103-pound sophomore, took a different path to state thAn Power.

He beat Miles Patton of Mayo 6-4 in the semifinals, but was pinned by Dakota Wagsness of Albert Lea in the first period of the finals.

In the ‘true’ second match, he led 9-2 before pinning Brenden Buryska of Owatonna with 53 seconds left in the third period.

Felten’s biggest key to success was getting over a headache and a sore throat he had during the loss to Wagsness.

“I felt a lot better and thought I could beat (Burska), but I didn’t know if I could pin him or not,” Felten said. “I just slowed down and thought it out.”

Kinney said that Felten had also earned his way to the state tournament, which begins Friday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

“Deven has been a great leader by example,” Kinney said. “He’s one of the most coachable kids on our team. We give him a piece of advice and he takes it and runs with it.”

With two wrestlers going to state, it keeps alive the Packers’ 22-year streak of sending at least one wrestler to state. Kinney admitted he was a little nervous after the semifinals, but he did have some motivation to get his wrestlers to advance.

“I was thinking I don’t want to have to buy a ticket to get in (at state) on Friday,” he said. “It wasn’t a very easy afternoon or evening for us.”

Austin’s Thomas Herrera suffered a tough loss in the 215-pound semifinals and didn’t get a chance at a ‘true’ second match. Albert Lea’s Caleb Gaudian got an escape from Herrera with 1:49 left in the second period, and Herrera could not get a takedown the rest of the way.

Herrera took third, while eighth-grader Brandon Cotter took fourth at 125, Brennen Russell took fifth at 112, Pedro Ceballos took sixth at 140, Michael Gaines was sixth at 145 and Zach Nelson was sixth at 171.