HERSHEY – There was no quit in Nate Wickersham.

Not when the Tamaqua senior’s season was on the brink at districts.

And certainly not when he had the chance to move up on the podium in Hershey.

Wickersham’s fighting spirit lifted him to a third-place finish Friday at the PIAA Wrestling Championships.

He closed out his career in style, pinning Bermudian Springs’ Savauri Shelton for third-place at 215 pounds in the Class 2A bracket.

“We always preach, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” said Blue Raiders’ head coach Jim McCabe. “And he finished one hell of a way.”

Wickersham controlled much of his match with Shelton before getting the pin in 4:09.

His day started with a 2-0 decision over Corry’s Hayden Linkerhof in the quarters, getting a reversal in the third period to secure the win in a bout where he controlled the action throughout the majority of the contest.

In the semifinals, Mount Pleasant’s Dayton Pitzer posted a 12-0 major decision over the Blue Raiders’s senior.

With only eight wrestlers competing in each bracket, Wickersham was guaranteed a spot on the podium.

But he wanted to outperform his eighth-place result from a year ago.

“Winning that first match was big, and knowing I would finish higher on the podium than last year was definitely big.

“Pitzer, he’s a good kid, and he put it to me pretty good, I guess. Coming back and winning the next two matches, I knew I would have to wrestle hard because everybody is good, and it’s really narrowed down to the best eight kids in the state, but I think I wrestled very well today.”

Wickersham bounced back from his semifinal loss with a convincing 6-1 win over Knoch’s Eli Reese in his consolation bout. Wickersham recorded a takedown in each period and never let Reese get to his offense.

“With the (one-day) format this year, normally you’re wrestling 40, 45 minutes after that semifinal loss,” said McCabe. “With the format this year, we had to get out of here, and we were able to relax a little bit … and talk about some things that we need to do in the consolation semifinal.

“And I felt confident. I would have expected nothing less than third. I knew that the semifinal match was going to be a tough one, but what it comes down to is that you can’t dwell on that match, and he didn’t.”

Wickersham’s postseason almost ended at districts, where only the top two in each weight class moved on.

The senior suffered a 2-1 loss to Saucon Valley’s Dante Mahaffey, who was sixth at states, in the finals, and advanced to regionals with a 7-5 decision in sudden victory overtime against Notre Dame Green Pond’s Jason Sine in the true second place bout.

“I think everybody at some point in their career is going to dwell on some things,” said McCabe. “I think he was struggling really hard after the loss at districts (his first of the season), and that was probably the most we had to really bring him back to, ‘This is what has to happen now.’

“Other than that situation, he had tight matches at regionals, and came through with the wins; he had tight matches at super regionals and came through with the wins; and like I’ve said about him, he knows how to win.”

And he showed it once again on the biggest stage of the season.

“It’s awesome. There’ s a lot of guys, very good wrestlers that came through the Tamaqua wrestling room, and being able to place twice here out at states is awesome,” Wickersham said. “Especially being with my coaches, Coach McCabe, him coming back my freshman year, he really taught me a lot. And Coach Brandon (Eberts), he’s been around since I was young.

“So it’s great having those two around, and being able to do it with the Tamaqua support, they’re always behind all the sports, and I feel like they really were behind me this year.”

QUITE A HAUL … Notre Dame Green Pond enjoyed tremendous success Friday with five state medalists. Senior Brett Ungar highlighted the day, winning the 120-pound title and earning Outstanding Wrestler honors.

The Crusaders also won the team title with 59 points over Montoursville (54) and Burrell (53) in second and third, respectively.

LAST YEAR … In addition to Wickersham, Tamaqua’s Bronson Strouse also placed sixth at last year’s state tournament.