North Tama's Addy Hochstetler has her hand raised by the official after triumphing in her first-round match over Mount Vernon's Addi Whisner (left) during the Thursday evening session of the Class 1A IGHSAU state wrestling tournament at Xtream Arena in Coralville. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

CORALVILLE – Briar Blake bounced back from a disappointing loss in the quarterfinals to quietly dominate her blood-round match as the North Tama senior assured her second state medal Thursday evening at the IGHSAU state wrestling championships.

She’ll have some company on the podium this year, as Redhawks teammate Addy Hochstetler won her blood-round match by fall as well for her first state medal at 145 pounds in Class 1A.

For Blake, it’s not what was expected from the 170-pounder that has been at the top of the Class 1A rankings all year, only to take her first loss of the year at the state tournament in a 10-3 decision for Fairfield’s Samantha Lyons.

Blake had pinned Lyons twice, including just last week at regionals, but Thursday’s match was a different tale.

After a scoreless first period, Lyons escaped from bottom to start the second period and scored the first takedown on Blake 50 seconds into the second period. Blake escaped and escaped again from bottom position to start the third, but Lyons added another takedown and rode out Blake, adding three nearfall at the end.

Redhawk Briar Blake overpowers Humboldt's Danica Diedrick in her blood-round Thursday night - a win that ensures Blake a state podium finish for the second year in a row. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

“I didn’t really know what to do when I was down,” Blake said. “I do, because I do it in practice every day, but in a match it was just different.”

North Tama head coach Andrew Knaack noted that Blake might have been the most anticlimactic blood-round winner on Thursday night, smashing Humboldt’s Danica Diedrick in 60 seconds.

“She really hasn’t been pushed like that all year,” Knaack said of the quarterfinals match. “I don’t think she’s gone to the third period all year and it just all caught up with her. But she’s gonna fight back. She was heartbroken but I told her that she wouldn’t be happy if she didn’t bring a medal home, and that we had to go out and get it.”

Blake will wrestle Iowa Valley’s Raelene Hawkins in a third-round consolation match on Friday morning.

“We’ve got to refocus tomorrow and just start piling them up, that’s all we can do,” Knaack said. “I’d love to have that match back, I know she’d love to have it back, but now we just got to go get third place.”

Hochstetler triumphed on Thursday after a 1-2 finish at last year’s state tournament. Hochstetler won her first-round match by fall over Mount Vernon’s Addi Whisner, but was knocked to consolations after a loss to top-seeded Anastasia Simon of Decorah.

She pinned Lisbon’s Emma Dietsch to ensure her top-8 finish.

“I think I was more nervous for regionals than I was for this,” Hochstetler said. “I just knew I had to win it. I just had to get my shots, my offense going, and that got me somewhere.”

Hochstetler wrestles Cheyenne Dike of East Union this morning (Friday, Feb. 7) in a third-round consolation match.

“I’m looking forward to just having fun,” Hochstetler said. “I just need to do whatever I can overall, but if it doesn’t work out in the end, I just want to have fun with it.”