BETHLEHEM - Pleasant Valley got off to a successful start during Friday's Northeast Regional AAA tournament at Liberty's Memorial Gymnasium.

The Bears trio of Jason Jacobi (132), Trevor Dorn (170) and Trent Thomas (220) all advanced to the second day of competition, keeping their dreams of a trip to the PIAA tournament alive.For Jacobi and Thomas, those steps to Hershey are a little bit closer when they gear up for the 11 a.m. semifinals this morning.Jacobi (30-6) kicked off the quarters with an exciting 5-3 victory over Scranton's Rui Evanitsky. A third period takedown by Jacobi gave him a 3-1 lead in the bout, but with 12.4 seconds remaining in the period, Evanitsky (32-11) scored a reversal, much to the dismay of Jacobi to even the match.Still, the PV senior wouldn't settle for overtime, as he flipped Evanitsky from bottom and scored the winning reversal with five seconds left to advance to his first regional semifinal."That was a little too close for me," Jacobi said. "It was upsetting to give up that reversal late, but it got me even more angrier to then score again before the end of the period."As far as the winning move went, Jacobi just read what his opponent was giving him."I saw him [Evanitsky] drop his head and I just reached and pulled him over," he said. "I was confident I could score at the end. Coming into the tournament, I knew I was going to face some tough matches and I really mentally prepared myself for this."Thomas (30-4) kept his postseason run rolling with a 3-2 quarterfinal decision over Roman Catholic's Matt Galasso (27-5).Thomas connected on a first period double leg takedown and parlayed that into enough offense to advance.Knowing that his speed and cardio are keys to his success at 220, he also understands that being able to defend in tight bouts the rest of the postseason will be equally important."Getting the first takedown is really a big key momentum-wise," said Thomas, who is also making his first regional semifinal, "but the farther you get into the postseason, matches are low scoring affairs, where one takedown can win it. You got to have a good defense to stop shots."With the semifinal bouts set, Jacobi and Thomas now have unequally difficult matchups in front of them.Jacobi will take on Bethlehem Catholic's Joey Gould (33-5), who won districts a week ago and enters as a heavy favorite to return to the finals, while Thomas squares off against Wallenpaupack's Kyle Hartman (37-2).Both Gould and Hartman received preliminary byes, but Thomas isn't going to let anyone's seed dictate his mentality."I don't care where guys are seeded or who they are," he said. "I'm wrestling my match."Dorn (25-10) squared off against Freedom's Ryan DeLoach (28-12) in the quarterfinals and lost by a 7-4 decision. Trailing 4-3 at the end of the second period, Dorn kept fighting DeLoach on bottom, but eventually cracked when he was turned to his back, nearly getting pinned, but battled to give up three back points to decide the bout.Dorn will kick off the wrestling this morning for the Bears with the second round of consolations at 9:30 a.m. Semifinals follow at 11 a.m. Consolation and championship finals will take place at 5 p.m. tonight.