BETHLEHEM - Pleasant Valley enjoyed one of its best District 11 tournaments in recent memory, as the Bears placed three wrestlers Saturday night at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium in the Class 3A event.

Jason Schubert (215), Evan Gillespie (189) and Andrew Mihalichko (285) each finished in the top six, but Schubert will be the only one advancing to this weekend’s Northeast Regional 3A tournament back at Liberty with his fourth-place finish at 215.

Schubert’s journey to the podium was the long road, as he lost his opening bout of the tournament 3-0 to Jacob Lance of Bethlehem Catholic, and then won four straight matches in the consolation round to lock up a regional berth before losing his third-place match to Southern Lehigh’s Ryan King 2-0.

“We told him to put everything behind him, and he just started wrestling,” said Bears’ head coach James Weiss on Schubert’s run after losing the opener. “He’s one of our captains, and a leader and up there with the talent. He has the tools to get the job done. I think Friday he was nervous, but once he opened up it was his tournament.”

One of the biggest wins for Schubert came in the consolation semis when he took down Liberty’s Dante Morrison 5-2. Knocking off the second-seed was a feather in his cap, and the bout that clinched a trip to regionals.

“He was absolutely ecstatic with that win over Morrison,” said Weiss. “We tell him it’s OK to smile at times, and he was definitely smiling after that.”

Gillespie and Mihalichko both lost in the consolation semis to push them into the fifth-place consolation match. Only the top five wrestlers in each class advance, and both underclassmen lost their decisive bouts.

Gillespie lost to Parkland’s Julius Reyes 9-3 in his medal round match, and Mihalichko dropped a 1-0 decision to Freedom’s Dan Schiffert in the same round.

Despite not having those two advance, Weiss was more than happy with how they competed.

“It’s tough to see those guys not advance, but Evan was out almost a year with knee injuries, and I think he’s found his confidence in his knees,” said Weiss. “Andrew is literally a sponge of information. He’s constantly improving, and he just needs to put on more size at heavyweight. The boys just on their own I’m very happy with them. Even the kids that didn’t place performed well, and it was a good experience for them. This was an awesome weekend of wrestling for us.”

District 11 Class 3A Wrestling

Team standings

1. Bethlehem Catholic (BC) 241.5, 2. Easton (Ea) 224.5, 3. Nazareth (Naz) 222.5, 4. Northampton (Nor) 159.5, 5. Parkland 119.5 (Park), 6. Freedom (Fr) 107, 7. Liberty (L) 102.5, 8. Emmaus (Em) 92, 9. Pottsville (Pot) 87, 10. Whitehall (Wh) 85.5, 11. Southern Lehigh (SL) 77, 12. Pocono Mountain East (PME) 64, 13. Pleasant Valley (PV) 55.5, 14. Bangor (B) 54.5, 15. Stroudsburg (Str) 47.5, 15. Pocono Mountain West (PMW) 47.5, 17. East Stroudsburg North (ESN) 30, 18. East Stroudsburg South (ESS) 21, 19. Dieruff (D) 13, 20. Allen (A) 8.

Finals

107

- Salamone (Ea) dec. Albanese (Em), 4-3.

114

- Ballard (Nor) dec. Dillard (BC), 5-3 TB-2.

121

- Dillard (BC) tech. fall Dergham (Park), 21-6 (5:24).

127

- Wagner (Nor) dec. Kelly (Ea), 2-0 SV.

133

- Parkins (Naz) dec. Fanelli (Ea), 4-2.

139

- Campbell (Naz) dec. Abboud (L), 2-1.

145

- McFillin (Naz) dec. Campbell (Naz), 5-2.

152

- Rath (BC) dec. Demarest (PME), 5-1.

160

- Kunstek (Pot) dec. Scanlan (BC), 6-0.

172

- Zuercher (Naz) dec. Cosover (Ea), 5-4.

189

- Karabinus (Fr) pinned Linegar (Ea) in 2:35.

215

- Stiehler (PMW) dec. Crossman (Ea), 3-1.

285

- Kinney (Naz) dec. Grell (Nor), 5-0.

Third-place matches

107

- Kai (Wh) pinned Velez (Park) in 2:04.

114

- Fenner (Ea) dec. Trach (Naz), 6-3.

121

- Caciolo (Em) dec. Marano (Nor), 3-1.

127

- Campbell (BC) pinned Rizzotto (Naz) in 0:59.

133

- Kern (Park) pinned Grabfelder (Nor) in 0:27.

139

- Frinzi (BC) tech. fall McNulty (B), 15-0 (3:43).

145

- Noe (Nor) pinned Frable (SL) in 4:40.

152

- McFarland (Pott) pinned Hammerstone (Ea) in 1:15.

160

- Geiger (Ea) pinned Simak (Naz) in 4:02.

172

- McFarland (Pot) dec. MacIlroy (Fr), 9-3.

189

- DeLuise (BC) pinned Hopkins (Wh) in 0:23.

215

- King (SL) dec. Schubert (PV), 2-0.

285

- Gavrilesku (Park) dec. Kolb (L), 3-2.

Fifth-place matches

107

- Fulmer (Naz) dec. Hower (BC), 8-6.

114

- Pascoe (Wh) dec. Pagan (L), 7-5 SV.

121

- Wenrich (Naz) dec. Carasquillo (L), 11-7.

127

- Smith (B) dec. Berwick (Str), 6-1.

133

- Kai (Wh) pinned Thomas (BC) in 4:02.

139

- Bodnar (Fr) dec. Trimmer (Ea), 6-4.

145

- Ray (Fr) by injury def. over Harmon (PME), 0:32.

152

- Sallit (Em) dec. Steckert (SL), 5-3 SV.

160

- Scott (Em) dec. Gonzalez (PME), 5-1.

172

- Cruz (BC) dec. Bibeau (ESN), 6-2.

189

- Reyes (Park) dec. Gillespie (PV), 9-3.

215

- Morrison (L) pinned Roland (Nor) in 2:22.

285

- Schiffert (Fr) dec. Mihalichko (PV), 1-0.