It’s a long road to the top at the Coal Cracker Tournament.

Six area wrestlers are still on track to reach the summit.

Northwestern saw three area wrestlers move into the quarterfinal round after the first day of competition, while Lehighton advanced two and Jim Thorpe one.

Luke Fugazotto, Dalton Clymer and Buck Miller all moved on for the Tigers, while Aidan Gruber and Reese Balk advanced for the Indians and Steven Korte moved forward for the Olympians.

“I think this tournament’s probably increasing in difficulty compared to years past,” said Northwestern head coach Joe Killar. “There’s 60 teams in it. So for our guys to compete in it is a good test to see where they are. Some guys got it taken to them, and have work to do. Others are doing fine. So it’s a good test just to see where they all are for this time of year, right before districts, so it’s a great time.”

Fugazzotto (22-4), seeded 10th, advanced to the quarters at 162 pounds, posting three pins to move on.

The freshman will face No. 2 seed Nick Kunstek of Pottsville (29-0) in the next round.

Clymer (24-2) powered his way to the quarters at 174 pounds, ripping off three first period pins to advance.

The No. 2 seed, Clymer will face Adam Waters, seeded seventh, of Faith Christian Academy in the next round.

After picking up a pin in his first match, Miller (22-3) posted two close decision wins to reach the 191-pound quarters, topping Northern Lehigh’s Jack Tosh 4-2 before edging Faith Christian Academy’s Jason Singer 3-2 in the next round.

Seeded fourth, Miller will face Gettysburg’s Tyler Withers, the fifth seed, in the quarters.

Both Clymer and Miller were state qualifiers a year ago.

Gruber and Korte will meet in the 116-pound quarterfinals.

Gruber (25-2), the top seed in the bracket and also a state qualifier last season, had two first period pins before recording a technical fall to reach the quarters.

“(The message) coming today is wrestle. Just keeping winning, and hopefully you win your way to the top eight,” said Lehighton coach Floyd Brown. “Some of the brackets have 50, 60 kids so it’s a long road. But just keep winning the ones you can, if you lose, you need to have a short memory and bounce right back and try to keep rolling. If you lose in the first round, coming through the consis is tough, because you have to win a lot in a row.”

Korte (20-4), seeded eighth, had a bye in his first match before recording two pins to reach the quarters, another great showing for the freshman.

“For Steven, I think this is a good measuring stick for him to see where he’ll be at the end of the year,” said Olympians coach Dan Heaney. “He’s wrestled tough. He has a couple nice wins. His win in the last match (over Williams Valley’s Xzavion Tennis), he had beaten him at the league tournament a week before, and now Steven’s beaten him twice since then, which is a big step. He got pinned and then he battled back and wrestled really well and scored a lot of points. I think he was very confident in that match, and I think it helps him moving forward.”

Like Gruber, Balk (23-4) also captured a Schuylkill League title last week. The junior posted three pins to reach the quarterfinals at 287 pounds and keep that momentum going. Seeded 10th, Balk will face Wilson West Lawn’s Logan Kurzweg, the No. 2 seed, in the quarterfinals.

STILL ALIVE

... While those six wrestlers moved on in the championship round, many more are still alive in the consolation bracket:

Lehighton: Blake Muffley (129), Evan Wentz (135), Nick Zeigenfuss (141), Jacob Ferguson (154), Deven Armbruster (191) and Wyatt Sherer (217); Palmerton: Josh Merkel (123), Vincent Taglieri (129), Dillon Lombardi (135), Derek King (141), Jameson Trainer (154); Tamaqua: Aiden Schlier (109), Levi Kunkel (116), Gabe Erbe (123), Jacob Schlier (154), Bradley Whalen (162), Jacob Hehn (174) and Anthony DeBellis (287); Northern Lehigh: Cody Mazzocca (123), Chase Moffit (174), Jack Tosh (191) and Sam Frame (287); Northwestern: Jackson Bailey (191), Noah Schlofer (217) and Dartanyon DeLillo (217); Panther Valley: Tevin Walsh (116); Jim Thorpe: Ridge Snyder (135); and Pleasant Valley: Aldin Vukal (154) and Andrew Mihalichko (287).

UP NEXT

... The tournament resumes today at the Lehighton Elementary Center with fourth round consolations at 9 a.m. followed by the quarterfinals at 10:30. The third, fifth and seventh place matches will take place at 3 p.m., followed by the finals at 4. The JV tournament will be held at Lehighton High School and begin at 9 a.m. The girls tournament will take place at Jim Thorpe High School and start at 9 a.m.