BETHLEHEM - Pleasant Valley's Trent Thomas may have been the happiest person inside Liberty's Memorial Gymnasium Saturday evening.

Not only did he clinch a berth to the PIAA state wrestling championships this week in Hershey, but he vindicated a district finals loss to Freedom's Evan Callahan during Saturday's Northeast Regional AAA 220-pound finals en route to a 3-1 overtime victory to claim his first regional crown.Thomas broke the 1-1 deadlock with a single leg takedown at the buzzer in overtime to claim the most dramatic victory of the evening.That prompted him to hop up on his feet after the winning score and pump his fists, exclaiming an emotional triumph.For Thomas, it also validated the game plan that he and his coaches implemented all week in preparation for a rematch with the Freedom junior."I practiced against his stance where he wrestles like a lightweight on one knee all week," said Thomas of Callahan. "It's really unorthodox for my weight class, and out on the mat he gave a mixture of some different styles, so I really knew what to do."Thomas (32-4) was able to hold off any dangerous action from Callahan (27-4) throughout the first six minutes, but gathered momentum toward the end of the third period when his Freedom counterpart was visibly winded from the match.Thomas nearly scored on a double leg takedown with 24 seconds left in the match, but the takedown was waved off by the officials. Once overtime came to the table, Thomas used his superior fitness level to tire out Callahan even more, eventually pushing enough action to score at the buzzer."It was kind of a blur for me at the end," said Thomas. "I shot the single and that's something that I've been working on all year. I knew that he was looking for me to shoot a double and I switched it up on that last shot. I heard him breathing heavy late in the match and that's when I knew it was time to go."For Bears head coach Justin Micklos, the plan against Callahan worked out for PV, but it transpired differently from what they had hoped."I think we expected to score more points offensively," said Micklos. "We wanted to tire him [Callahan] out and the longer the match went, the better our chances of winning became. The bottom line is that Trent got the win and that's all that matters."After winning the district title matchup 4-3, Callahan felt he took his foot off the pedal coming into regionals."I think he wanted it more this week," Callahan said of Thomas. "I didn't prepare myself like I usually do. I didn't go through my normal routine, but I give him credit."Thomas was the only Bear to advance to the state tournament this week, which starts Thursday afternoon at the Giant Center in Hershey, as Jason Jacobi (132) and Trevor Dorn (170) each settled for fifth-place finishes.Jacobi (31-8) made it to Saturday's semifinals, but lost to Bethlehem Catholic's Joey Gould by a 12-4 major decision, bumping him to the consolation bracket, where he then fell victim to Emmaus standout and eventual third-place finisher Lucas Schaf, by an 8-3 score.Jacobi would finish the tournament with a 4-2 decision over Coughlin's Josh Brown in the fifth place bout.Dorn lost in the quarters to Freedom's Ryan DeLoach 7-4, but battled back to win two consolation bouts, before losing by fall to Nazareth's Cade Wilson in 4:48.Dorn (28-11) finished the weekend off with a bit of revenge against DeLoach, stifling him in the fifth place bout 7-1.While Thomas would have liked his teammates to join him on the mats in Hershey, the Bears big man is ready to test his mettle against the state's best."This is what you work for all season," said Thomas. "This is now my time to shine."