READING - The main objective for many coming out of the opening night of competition at the Class AA Southeast Regional Tournament is simply to advance.

Mission accomplished.A total of seven Times News area wrestlers already punched their ticket to next week's PIAA Championships in Hershey by advancing to this afternoon's semifinals, while several others are still alive in the consolation bracket.Jim Thorpe's Kevan Gentile, coming off a dominant performance in the District 11 tournament a week ago, continued his remarkable season at Wilson West Lawn High School on Friday night, pinning Newport's Isaiah Bryner and Pequea Valley's Tanner Bell to make it to the semis at 106 pounds.Gentile, who is the only returning semifinalist from a year ago, acknowledged that simply making it this far won't be good enough this time."It really made me push a lot harder this year," he said of losing the Bethlehem Catholic's Jack Riegel in the fifth place bout a year ago. "I want first this year. I don't want anything else."A week after winning three district titles, Northern Lehigh will have a chance for two regional championships, as Matt Schmall (132) and Ryan Farber (145) both advanced to today's semifinals.Schmall picked up a 13-0 major decision over Bermudian Springs' Jarod Miller in the prelims, a match he felt gave him confidence before his quarterfinal bout against Biglerville's Brady Mentzer."I came in thinking that, with this being my first year at regionals, I just wanted to win a match or two and see what would happen," Schmall said of his outlook. "Getting that first win really made me think that I could do well here."Schmall kept the momentum going in the quarters, where he pinned Biglerville's Brady Mentzer to clinch his spot in next week's state tournament.While Schmall was able to use his preliminary match as a bit of a warm up, Farber didn't have that luxury.The sophomore, who had an opening round bye, was able to fight off Delone Catholic's Brian Shermeyer to hang on for a 1-0 decision and a spot in the semifinals.Farber, who made a second period escape hold up, was happy to knock off some rust before the second day of competition."I wanted to make it to the semis to take some pressure off of myself," he said. "But I still want to wrestle for a high place and still wrestle the best matches that I can, and hopefully take home the gold tomorrow night."Two of the three returning state qualifiers from the Times News area, Lehighton's Connor Frey and Palmerton's Zachary Graver, both made it through to today's semifinals.Frey admitted to using some mind games during his preliminary match, a 6-0 decision over Boiling Springs' Austin Taylor prior to facing Hamburg's Ignacion Reynoso in the quarters."He actually had a first round bye and was able to watch my first round match so I tried not to show much," said Frey. "And then he didn't know what hit him in our match."No he didn't.Frey had control from the opening whistle, controlling the match before pinning Ignacion just before the end of the second period.Graver, too, had a stiff challenge in his preliminary bout, coming away with a 15-9 win over Wyomissing's Shawn Kilhefner before pinning Archbishop Carroll's Jake Poulos in less than 30 seconds during the quarterfinals.Knowing he can win in a variety of ways gives Graver confidence coming back today."That was my first time wrestling both of them," said Graver. "I feel really good about what I was able to do. I know tomorrow will be tough, but I'm looking forward to it."Northwestern's Caleb Clymer and Panther Valley's Ali Capobianco will face each other in the 138-pound semifinal.Clymer earned two tough wins, the second of which came in overtime of the quarterfinals against Brandywine's Hunter Gimbor."That was as hard as anything I've done," Clymer said. "That was probably harder than any of my matches at districts, honestly."I was so dead and there were so many things going through my mind. But I knew I could make it to states (with a win) and I just kept pushing. Getting that win was so huge."Capobianco pinned Lower Moreland's Joao Mariani in the prelims before mounting a charge to get past Biglerville's Scott Cooper, 9-6, in the quarterfinals."I came out a little bit nervous because I knew he was good," said Capobianco. "I was actually losing 2-0 but then I hit a big move and went up 5-2. I tried to wrestle really smart and use what my coaches were telling me, and they pretty much guided me to that victory."For Panther Valley head coach Tim Robb, the advice was simple."We told him that he had to win that match to clinch his spot," the coach said. "He knew what he was up against, and he did a great job to come through with the win."Action will resume with the second round of wrestle backs at 9:30 am, followed by the semifinals at 11:45.Following the fourth round of wrestle backs, there will be a break from roughly 2:15 to 4:00. The Parade of Champions will follow at 4:40, followed by the third, fifth and championship matches, which are scheduled to begin at 5:00.Still alive in the consolation bracket are: Northwestern's Matt Peters (106), Baily Wehr (113), Quentin Bernhard (120), Jarret White (126), Andrew Sorensen (170) and Alex Russo (195); Northern Lehigh's Colten Rex (113), CJ Young (152), Nate Farber (160), Austin Arnold (170) and Cameron Kates (285); Panther Valley's Tanner Kennedy (120), Darren Goida (126), Dylan Moyer (170) and Rian Shubeck (195); Lehighton's Zachary Kemmerery (120), Tegan Durishin (138) and Tyler Cann (160); Palmerton's Jared Mooney (182) and Tre Nelson (220); and Tamaqua's Tanner McHugh (126) and Dylan Rynkiewicz (138).