BETHLEHEM - As Gabe Erbe stood with the sign signifying his accomplishment, he savored all the work it took to get to this point.

Much of it behind the scenes and out of the spotlight.

But Erbe got his chance to shine Friday night at the District 11 Wrestling Tournament.

The Tamaqua senior punched his ticket to the semifinals in the Class 2A 127-pound bracket, and secured the 100th victory of his career in the process.

“It gets me to semis, which is big. But it’s a big moment in my career,” said Erbe. “Coming in, I knew I only needed two wins to get to 100. It was important to me. I didn’t want to walk away knowing that I missed 100 wins by one match. It makes me really happy.”

Erbe had to work for it.

His quarterfinal match against Wilson’s Santino Micci was scoreless through the first two periods. Micci, seeded fourth, went ahead with an escape in the first 10 seconds of the third period.

Erbe didn’t panic, picking his spots and waiting for his moment to strike.

He did, getting a takedown with 0:57 left to go ahead 2-1. Erbe held on in the closing moments of the bout as Micci tried to score to secure the win.

“He held me down for a whole period,” Erbe said of Micci. “So when he got up from the bottom, I knew I had to get to a shot and get a takedown. I took my time, I didn’t rush it. I was able to trip and take him down.”

Erbe will wrestle No. 1 seed Aiden Grogg of Saucon Valley in the semifinals.

The Tamaqua senior is one of 12 Times News area wrestlers to reach the semifinals.

Lehighton leads the way with four, as Jacob Ferguson (160), Reese Balk (285), Aidan Gruber (114) and Evan Wentz (152) all moved on.

Joining Erbe in the semis will be freshman teammates Brody Schlier (114) and Evan Temarantz (107).

Northwestern’s Luke Fugazzotto (172) and Noah Schlofer (215) advanced to the semis, as did Northern Lehigh’s Grady Newhard (189), Jim Thorpe’s Stephen Korte (121) and Palmerton’s Dillon Lombardi (152),

Raider success

Erbe, who is seeded fifth, started his night in impressive fashion, getting an 18-1 (5:16) tech fall win over North Schuylkill’s Stanley Padakowski. Erbe built a 7-0 lead in the first period with a takedown and five back points.

Erbe’s freshman season was abbreviated due to the coronavirus pandemic. Erbe went 12-8, placed second at districts and advanced to regionals, placing sixth.

Erbe has been fourth and fifth at districts the past two years. He did not qualify for regionals last year.

“My goal is just to make it to regionals, and then keep moving on,” said Erbe. “So I’m a step closer to that.”

Temarantz, the fourth seed, fought back to pin Williams Valley’s Magnus Monger in 5:15 in the 107-pound quarterfinals.

The freshman led 2-0 after the first period, but Monger put Temarantz to his back in the second period. Temarantz fought off the pin as Monger, seeded fifth, collected three back points.

“I just knew I had to keep fighting and couldn’t give up,” said Temarantz. “I thought I was really close (to getting pinned). He brought my arm in, and I thought I was done for. I just had to keep fighting.”

Temarantz got a reversal with 0:47 left in the third period before finishing the match with the pin.

“It feels really good winning in the quarterfinals like that,” said the freshman. “It kind of sets the tone. It feels really good. It’s definitely a confidence booster.”

Temarantz opened the tournament by pinning Northwestern’s Aris Gabri-El in 3:02. He will wrestle top seed Carter Chunko of Saucon Valley in the semis.

Schlier, seeded third, will face Gruber, the No. 2 seed, in the 114 semis.

Tribe pride

Ferguson reached the 160-pound semis with a pair of decision wins. The No. 4 seed posted an 8-3 win over Jim Thorpe’s Cael Heaney in the first round before rallying for a 6-5 win over Blue Mountain’s Sayyidakbar Akbarov, the fifth seed, in the quarters.

It was a familiar foe for Ferguson.

“It feels great because I was going into this match really scared because last time I wrestled him he was beating me the whole match, and the were 13 seconds on the clock and I took him down with like 10 seconds left,” Ferguson said of the 5-4 win Jan. 24. “So I was really nervous going into this match, and that win meant everything to me because I was anticipating this since the seeding came out.”

Akbarov took a 4-0 lead in the second period. But Ferguson got a reversal with 0:28 left in the second to make it 4-2. Another reversal early in the third period tied the match at 4-4 before Akbarov got an escape to take a 5-4 lead with 1:14 remaining.

But a takedown with 0:58 gave Ferguson a 6-5 lead, one he was able to maintain for the win.

“It feels great, because I feel really good on my feet, I feel solid in neutral,” said Ferguson. “I’ve been struggling on top a lot lately but I rode him out for a solid two and a half minutes in that match, so it made me really happy.”

Ferguson will wrestle top seed Dominic Sumpolec of Notre Dame GP in the semis.

Earning his stripes

Schlofer moved into the 215-pound semis with a 3-2 win over Silas Day of Palisades.

The No. 3 seed, Schlofer got the first takedown late in the first period before Day managed an escape. Day tied it at 2-2 with another escape in the second period.

An escape early in the third was the difference for Schlofer to secure the win.

“A lot of my matches kind of go that way,” Schlofer said with a laugh. “It’s just somewhat my style of wrestling. But I’ve been working on trying to improve my offense and stuff. But what works, works and I’ve gotten a lot of close match wins.

“I’ve been starting for three years now, so I have a lot of match experience and I wrestle all year-round. So it’s kind of just like second nature for me. I’m somewhat comfortable, but at the same time it’s still super nerve-racking. One thing goes wrong, and the match is over, and I’ve certainly lost matches like that. It’s something I’ve tried to work on, but at the same time, I’m comfortable there.”

Schlofer started the day by pinning Saucon Valley’s Nicholas Sheasley in 0:58.

The senior will wrestle Catty’s Chad Beller, the No. 2 seed, in semis. Beller had wild 20-15 win over Lehighton’s Wyatt Sherer in sudden victory overtime.

This Dawg has bite

Newhard powered into the 189-pound semis with two pins, the last a fall over Lehighton’s Asher Traylor in 4:56.

“The start of the match was a little not like me,” said Newhard, who is seeded third. “I usually try to go out there and work some offense, but I don’t know what I was doing out there. I feel real good having my parents behind me, my teammates behind me, my coaches. He’s (Traylor) really good at hand-fighting ... he tried to throw me a few times.”

Newhard led 1-0 after the second period, but Traylor tied it with an escape early in the third. Newhard got a takedown with 1:07 left before getting the pin.

“I was really trying to clear the hands, grab the wrist, sweep, just really anything,” Newhard said. “Tough match, but I’ll come back tomorrow morning ready for the semifinals.”

Newhard, who pinned Pen Argyl’s Rocco Decesare in 3:30 in the first round, will wrestle No. 2 seed Kyler Quick of Mahanoy in the semis.

OLYMPIAN EFFORT

... Jim Thorpe’s Richard Kenna had a nice win to reach the quarterfinals. Kenna, the 12th seed, pinned No. 5 seed Austin Martin of Pine Grove in 5:08 at 152 pounds. Martin built a 6-0 lead into the second period before Kenna got an escape and a takedown to make it 6-3. Martin got an escape at the start of the third period to make it 7-3 before Kenna secured a takedown with 1:22 left and went on to get the pin.

TOUGH INJURY

... Panther Valley’s Rory Dixon, the third seed, battled through his first match, putting together a 17-1 (4:12) tech fall win over Tamaqua’s Stephen Kieffer. The freshman led 12-1 after the first period, with two takedowns and a total of eight back points in the period. But a knee injury suffered earlier this season was problematic for Dixon Friday, as he forfeited his 152-pound quarterfinal match with Palmerton’s Dillon Lombardi. Dixon is still alive in the consolation bracket, though his status for the rest of the tournament is uncertain.

ROLLING ALONG

... The two top-seeded wrestlers from the area were as advertised Friday. Fugazzotto had two pins in under a minute at 172 pounds, while Balk had a pair of pins in the first period at 285.

UP NEXT

... Action resumes today with second round consolations at 9 a.m., followed by semis and third round consis no earlier than 10:15, which will all take place at Freedom High School. The third- and fifth-place matches will be held at 3 p.m. at Liberty, followed by the Parade of Champions at 4:30 and the championship finals at 4:45.