WEST LAWN - Last week, Ryan Farber stood atop the podium after collecting his third straight District 11 title.

Saturday, the Northern Lehigh senior recorded another milestone victory.After runner-up finishes the last two years, Farber earned his first Southeast Regional title, topping Panther Valley's Hunter Kennedy 4-2 in the 160-pound final.The contest was a rematch of last week's District 11 final, which Farber won 13-3."Every time you wrestle someone, or wrestle (someone) multiple times, it's always going to be a little different," said Farber. "I had more of a tough time getting legs and scoring points this time."It was a little closer of a match than I would have liked. But I still won and that's all that matters at the end of the day."Northwestern's Baily Wehr (120) and Caleb Clymer (152), along with Northern Lehigh's Jason Schaffer (285) and Palmerton's Jared Mooney (182) also advanced to the championship finals at Wilson West Lawn High School.Wehr lost a 5-2 decision to Saucon Valley's Josh Jones while Clymer fell 5-3 in overtime to Susquehanna Township's Edmond Ruth.Schaffer had a rematch of his final at last week's district tournament, going up against Tri-Valley's Dan Scheib. Scheib pinned Schaffer for the second consecutive week, this time in 4:58.Mooney took on Northern Lebanon's Luke Funck in the 182-pound final for the second straight year. After pinning Mooney in their previous meeting, Funck notched an 11-4 decision against his counterpart this time.A total of nine Times News area wrestlers advanced to next week's PIAA Wrestling Championships by placing in the top six in the Class 2A regional tournament.Tamaqua's Tanner McHugh (132) made it to Hershey with a third-place result.In addition to Clymer and Wehr, Northwestern's Colin Rex (132) and Jackson Bernhard (145) both qualified for states by taking sixth.Different scores, same resultsFarber breezed through the district tournament a week ago, recording two first-period pins before securing a major decision against Kennedy in the finals.Regionals offered a little more resistance. Farber recorded a 14-2 major decision against Upper Dauphin's Jackson Kennedy in the quarterfinals before topping Delone Catholic's Brian Shermeyer 3-1 in the semis.The closer scores didn't bother Farber."I'm pretty confident," said Farber. "My conditioning is great, so I can go as long as I want. That's not an issue."The tighter bouts also weren't a concern for Bulldogs' head coach Scott Snyder."I think it's a good thing," said Snyder. "I was explaining to a few people earlier, people were saying, 'Are we a little worried that he's been keeping the scores a little closer here.' No. You're in the postseason; everyone wrestles differently from week-to-week."You're not really going into these matches … trying to rack up points and work, work, work. You're more or less looking to advance. I think he's doing a good job of doing that. I never felt that he was in any kind of real danger. He's dynamic."But Farber couldn't deny that he was looking for a little more Saturday."Scoring only four points in the final match here gives me a little motivation to really get out there (states) and really get on it," he said. "To score points, to get takedowns, to get back points. To really keep my intensity up and keep scoring."Kennedy won several close matches of his own throughout the tournament. The junior edged a familiar foe in Mahanoy Area's Colin Fegley 5-3 (SV) to reach the finals.Kennedy beat Fegley 4-3 in last week's district semifinals."It kind of helps, because I've wrestled him about five times already," said Kennedy. "So I can feel him out and know what I'm doing."Déjà vuWehr and Jones not only squared off for the second straight week, the two met for the fifth time this season in the 120-pound final.Like he did in the district final and their previous meetings this season, Jones managed to hold off Wehr."He had him close every time they wrestled," Northwestern head coach Jim Moll said of Wehr's previous meetings with Jones. "Jones is real good on top, that tilt. We kind of have a game plan for that. We'll maybe practice that a little bit more this week in case we run into him again at states."Wehr reached the finals by knocking off Upper Dauphin's Bronson Garber, 6-5, in the semis. Garber, the District 3 champion, entered the tournament 36-0."It was pretty exciting, (to) not be expected to be in the finals," Wehr said afterward. "But it was pretty exciting to be in the finals, and knowing I could win the finals."It was a good finals match. Just some little things I need to tweak for next week. It was a good finals match, though."After getting pinned by Funck last year, Mooney, who entered the regional tournament 30-0, acknowledged he was more tentative in their rematch."I know he's a really good wrestler," Mooney said of Funck, the District 3 champion who came into the weekend with a record of 43-3. "I don't know. I was a little too conservative in this match. I didn't really do anything."Last year, I (was more aggressive) and it got me on my back. This year, I was a little conservative, and I still ended up on the losing end of the stick."Though he was pinned by Scheib, Schaffer's appearance in the finals was something Snyder pointed to as a mark of how far the senior has come this season."I'm happy for Jason Schaffer. He stepped it up," said Snyder. "I don't think a lot of people at the beginning of the season, they kind of wrote him off a little bit and didn't see him going this far into the season."Now he's out here, in the district finals, in the regional finals, back-to-back, and he has himself in a good spot for Hershey. It's exciting."Lessons learnedClymer had no easy task in the 152-pound final against Susquehanna Township sophomore Ruth, another District 3 champ who held a record of 33-0 entering the tournament.But Clymer pushed the action for three periods before falling in overtime."Experience. I learned a little bit more about what he does," Clymer said of Ruth. "He's strong, he's quick, and I need to learn to finish a shot. I was in on a bunch of them, and I just couldn't quite come up with it."He was quick, and he countered with a nice go-behind, and I have to give it to him. He's No. 1 in the state for a reason. It's regionals; it's not the end of the world. But there's definitely experience to be taken out of it, and just a little bit more to take out to states."McHugh suffered a setback in the semifinals, getting pinned by Northern Lebanon's Trevor Leonard in 5:43.What could have been a devastating loss served as a motivator for the senior. McHugh rebounded by picking up a 6-1 decision against Northwestern's Colin Rex in the consolation bracket before earning a 5-2 decision against (District 3) Bishop McDevitt's Bodee Tolbert for third place.McHugh also beat Tolbert in the quarterfinals, 3-2."It just proves that when you lose a tough match, that I can bounce right back," said McHugh. "After that loss (to Leonard), I was a little heartbroken, I guess. But I just stayed calm and I knew I just had to keep wrestling, because the day wasn't over."And I knew I wanted to get that third place spot because it all matters now. But from here on out there won't be any easy matches. I knew I just wanted to wrestle back."Like Clymer, McHugh learned plenty about his opponents - and himself - in the final tune-up for the state tournament."With states, you don't get a couple days off to train and talk about your mistakes," said McHugh. "So now … if I see him (Leonard) again, I'll know what to do from here."And it helped, because in that match, I was in a couple times on a few shots, and I just couldn't finish them. But in my next two matches, I got in on a couple of shots and just wrestled until I got the two."When opportunity knocks …Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend came from Northwestern's Rex. The junior, competing as an alternate, made the most of his opportunity, winning three straight consolation matches to secure his spot in Hershey after losing his opening bout to Northern Lebanon's Leonard."It definitely sunk in after my match against (Saucon Valley's Justin) Kyra," which Rex won 9-3 to guarantee himself a top-six finish and punch his ticket to states. "My teammates came out and they were hugging me. My coaches were lifting me up. I got my coaches to shed a couple tears. They were all very proud.""To go from not qualifying for regionals, get in as the alternate, and take advantage of that opportunity, it's awesome," added Moll.Rex, who placed fifth at the district tournament and just missed advancing to regionals, was happy just to have another chance and keep his season alive for at least one more week."It was nice because it was like I was given another opportunity to come out and wrestle," Rex said. "I thought I was done and I was out. But it was nice to come back and use the opportunity and make something of it."NICE GESTURE … A miscommunication during the Parade of Champions led to Farber and Kennedy not shaking hands. But Farber went over to Kennedy and the Panther Valley coaches afterward to explain. "I would like to apologize for not shaking his hand," said Farber. "I was a little confused there in the beginning and I wasn't paying attention. That wasn't intended."TEAM SCORES … Northern Lebanon won the team title with 125 points. Bishop McDevitt (3) and District 11 champion Saucon Valley rounded out the top three with 114 and 106.5 points, respectively. With four state qualifiers, Northwestern placed ninth with 55 points. Northern Lehigh (45) was 13th, while Palmerton (20) and Panther Valley (20) tied for 24th. Tamaqua (19) was 27th; Lehighton (7) 40th; and Jim Thorpe (5) tied with Hamburg for 41st.