BETHLEHEM - Pleasant Valley didn’t push any wrestlers to the semifinals of the District 11 3A tournament Friday night at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium, but they competed and that’s the most important aspect for first-year head coach James Weiss.

The Bears had two wrestlers in the quarterfinals, but both Evan Gillespie (189) and Andrew Mihalichko (HWT) fell in their matches to drop into the consolation rounds.

Gillespie was tech falled by Freedom’s top-seed Jared Karabinus 18-3 in 3:06 and Mihalichko dropped a 6-0 decision to Northampton’s Gavin Grell.

It was a pair of defeats, but not all was lost

“Our kids wrestled really tough and what I ask of them is to be wrestlers,” said Weiss. “It’s not really about winning or losing to me, it’s more about them becoming wrestlers and it’s my job to teach them that.

“We’re in the real side of the bracket now, the tough one, where you have to battle through and I’m just looking forward to seeing them get out there.”

Gillespie (11-12), a sophomore, pinned Julius Reyes of Parkland in 1:33 in the round of 16 to kickstart his tournament before facing Karabinus, but the two-time district medalist from Freedom was too much for Gillespie in the quarters.

Mihalichko (12-6) pinned Pottsville’s Lukas McNamara in 4:35 in his opening bout, before running into a much bigger opponent in Grell.

Mihalichko isn’t your typical size for a heavyweight, weighing in at 214-pounds as a junior, while Grell came in at 260-pounds.

The weight difference made Mihalichko cautious in his approach against the K-Kid third-seed, which is something he hopes to improve upon on day two of the tournament.

“I thought I could have taken more shots, but I also didn’t want to get underneath him,” Mihalichko said of the match with Grell. “I have to work more angles on guys now, because I can’t let bigger guys get under me because they can sprawl. When I look back [against Grell], if I had more drive, I could have scored. I need to be more aggressive, because I was too passive in my last match.”

Both wrestlers will be looking to advance to next week’s Northeast Regional tournament for the first time in their careers and it’s all part of the journey in the wrestling postseason.

“I want our guys going out there on Saturday and be tough,” said Weiss. “If they want to be a part of this program, that’s one of the biggest things we want to see from them when they’re wrestling, being tough. I think we have a couple guys that can still medal, but I’m excited to see how we bounce back.”

MORE BEARS ... Other Pleasant Valley wrestlers that are still alive in Saturday’s consolation round include Isaac Klein (107); John Hargrave (114); Aldin Vukal (160); Blake Walters (172) and Jason Schubert (215).

SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE ... Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. Saturday with semifinals slated no later than 10:15 a.m. Consolation finals begin at 3 p.m. Finals are set to begin at 4:45pm with 3A and 2A finals taking place simultaneously at Memorial Gymnasium.

MOVING ON ... with the top five wrestlers from each class moving to regionals.