BETHLEHEM - Pleasant Valley didn't start the District 11 AAA wrestling tournament with much quantity, but the Bears got the most of their lineup on the opening night of wrestling at Liberty's Memorial Gymnasium.

Coming into the tournament with only eight wrestlers competing, the Bears advanced two entrants into Saturday morning's semifinals, led by the senior duo of Jason Jacobi (132) and Trent Thomas (220).Both veterans took care of business in their opening two bouts on the day, but with Thomas coming into the tournament as the top-seed in his weight class, all eyes are on what the under-sized 220-pounder can accomplish.Thomas took care of business in both of his matches, scoring a 10-3 decision over Liberty's Jaret Figueroa in the preliminaries, followed by a 7-4 decision over Bangor's Terry Higgins in the quarters.Thomas only led by a 3-1 margin heading into the third period against Higgins, but punctuated the final period with two takedowns, finishing strong and looking more nimble than both of his opponents.Part of that is due to Thomas bumping up to 220, where his speed and endurance trumped his opponents on day one of competition."I'm still getting used to wrestling guys in this weight class after bumping up," said Thomas, who has been wrestling at 195 all year and comes into the tournament weighing roughly 200 pounds. "It's different because I've got to learn to stay out underneath these guys and that's part of the reason these bouts stayed close, but I'm using my speed to take them down and score points."I've been working on my cardio this season because it's part of the reason why I lost close matches last year. I think I'm in the best shape of my life right now."The timing might be perfect for Thomas heading into Saturday morning's semifinal bout against Easton's John Williams. After losing in the semis last February and settling for fifth place, he's in a different world now being the favorite."Last year I was the underdog and nobody knew who I was," said Thomas. "This year everyone knows my name and I have a bulls-eye on my back, so I just have to focus on the little things. I just need to get a good warm-up in tomorrow, get my lungs open and I'm ready to out-work everyone and hopefully I can be the first district champ in my class."Jacobi also scored a pair of decisions on Friday, trumping Northampton's Michael Kistler in the preliminaries and holding off Pottsville's Richard Bentz in the quarters.After struggling to get past Kistler 14-11 in his opening match, Jacobi, who took fifth at districts a year ago as well, wrestled a more controlled bout against Bentz during a 6-4 victory to push him into a semifinal meeting with Emmaus's top-seeded Lucas Schaf."Thursday night I got sick and I was trying to recover from that today [Friday]," said Jacobi. "I don't think I ate the best coming into today. I got through it though and right now I'm just trying to win every match."Jacobi started off on the back foot in his bout with Bentz, falling behind early in the first period on an early takedown, but took control from there, taking a 5-3 lead into the second period and using a third-period escape to hold a two-point cushion."I was expecting to get the first takedown, so that was a little bit of a wake up call," Jacobi said of trailing Bentz in the quarters. "After that I was able to focus and work on my offense. That's something I'm going to need to do against Schaf. I need to score the first points and keep the pressure on him."Trevor Dorn (170) nearly pulled off an upset in the quarters against second-seeded Cade Wilson from Nazareth.Dorn took a 1-0 lead into the third period and rode Wilson for nearly 1:30 until the Blue Eagle scored a reversal with 30 seconds left in the bout to slip away with a 2-1 victory.Joining Dorn in Saturday's consolation rounds will be James Gehr (120).Bears' head coach Justin Micklos was pleased with the team's performance despite the low number of entrants in the tournament."The guys we have are all great kids and they came here and performed well for us," said Micklos. "As long as these guys come prepared and ready, they can all compete and win. I think that's the biggest thing for Trent tomorrow. He just needs to stay mentally focused. If he does that, he can win a district gold."