BETHLEHEM - Luke Fugazzotto had business to tend to Friday night.

The first night of the Southeast Regional wrestling tournament is part of a long process for the Northwestern sophomore, one he hopes will end with hardware in Hershey.

Fugazzotto took a big step closer to his goal, punching his ticket to the semifinals and securing his spot at next week’s PIAA Championships.

“It feels like the pressure’s off at this point, because once you get to states it’s just more matches. But you’ve got to win them,” said Fugazzotto, who also qualified for states last season. “It just feels good. It’s just another steppingstone in the process to achieve my goals.”

Fugazzotto was the only Times News area wrestler to reach the semifinals. But all 11 regional qualifiers from the area are still alive in the consolation bracket.

Trust the process

Fugazzotto wasted no time in his 172-pound quarterfinal match, securing a takedown against Trinity’s Anthony DeAngelo in the first 10 seconds and quickly adding three back points to make it 5-0.

“Not saying that you don’t have to work harder throughout the match, or that you can stop working hard, but once you get an early lead it just feels good,” said Fugazzotto. “If you want to lay off a little but still be active you’re able to do that.”

The pair wrestled a scoreless second period. Fugazzotto got a reversal within the first 20 seconds of the third period to make it 7-0, and added three back points with 0:08 remaining to seal the major decision, 10-0.

“Even though I was up, on my defense I just tried to stay offensive,” said Fugazzotto. “It might have seemed defensive, but I was just waiting for openings.”

DeAngelo was fourth at regionals and advanced to states wrestling for Carlisle last season, and is a 100-match winner in his career.

Fugazzotto was a district runner-up last week as the top seed, falling to Notre Dame Green Pond’s Keegan Ramsay 8-2.

“I feel like I’m at a perfect place,” said Fugazzotto. “I might not be able to avenge my match that I lost at districts, but that’s one of my new goals. If I keep wrestling like this, I think that I’ll be able to do good things at this tournament.”

The sophomore was all business in the prelims. Fugazzotto got a quick takedown against Camp Hill’s Austin Shore before turning it into back points, and eventually a pin in 1:33 to reach the quarterfinals.

“It felt good,” said Fugazzotto. “It just helps you get ready for the rest of the tournament. There are always tough guys to wrestle. And once you get there, you made it there with the matches you won, and you just have to wrestle your hardest.”

Fugazzotto is far from finished. But he handled his business in impressive fashion Friday night.

“It took a couple days,” Fugazzotto said of getting over his loss in the district finals. “But it just hit me, like, ‘I have to keep wrestling.’ And if I do keep wrestling I’ll see him again.”

Fugazzotto will face defending state champion Adam Waters of Faith Christian Academy in the semifinals.

In the quarters

Lehighton’s Aidan Gruber and Jacob Ferguson also advanced to the quarterfinals Friday.

Conwell-Egan’s Kevin Bagnell posted a 9-6 decision over Gruber in the 114 quarterfinals, while Faith Christian Academy’s Cael Weidemoyer topped Ferguson with a 15-1 major decision at 160 pounds.

Bagnell, a state qualifier last season, started fast, getting a takedown and two back points before Gruber got an escape with 0:51 left to make it 4-1.

Bagnell got out to start the second period but Gruber got a takedown with 1:29 left to make it 5-3. Bagnell escaped with 1:20 left, and Gruber scored a takedown with 1:08 remaining in the period to make it 6-5. An escape with 0:55 left and a takedown with 0:24 remaining helped Bagnell push the lead to 9-5. Gruber got an escape with 0:35 left in the third but wasn’t enough to complete the comeback.

“It’s definitely easy (to get down). That got in my head a little bit that I was down and had to work my way back,” said Gruber. “It’s definitely a mental game. But as long as you stay in the match and stay cool then you just start scoring points and you might be able to come back. I was just focusing on getting some points back and making the match my match because he got that move in the beginning. But it’s just a good experience.”

Gruber took control early in his 114-pound preliminaries bout with Newport’s Roman Polcha. The senior got a takedown in the first 20 seconds, and added another in the final 30 to build a 4-2 after the first period.

After Polcha got out from bottom to start the second period, Gruber tacked on another escape in the first 20 seconds of the period to make it 6-3. Polcha would get another escape in the period to make it 6-4 heading to the third period.

Gruber registered a reversal in the first 15 seconds of the third period, and after Polcha got an escape, Gruber added a takedown to push his lead to 10-5.

Polcha got an escape with 0:30 left, but Gruber added another takedown in the final seconds to set the final score.

“I’m happy to be here,” said Gruber. “Not everybody gets a chance to wrestle at regionals. It’s my last year so I want to leave it all out there. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I still have another chance. But I’m happy with today.”

The senior will wrestle Tamaqua’s Brody Schlier in the second round of consolations.

In Weidemoyer, Ferguson faced a wrestler who was a district and regional champ last season and placed third at states as a freshman.

Weidemoyer got two takedowns in the first period and built a 4-1 advantage.

A takedown five seconds into the second period and three back points in the final minute made it 9-1.

Weidemoyer added an escape, takedown and three late back points in the third period to secure the 15-1 win.

“I was happy to get three periods with him,” said Ferguson. “He was a really tough kid.”

in the prelims, Ferguson led Columbia’s Owen Brady 2-1 after the first period, and 4-3 after the second, getting a takedown in each period as Brady managed three escapes.

Ferguson got out from bottom to start the third period to make 5-3. But Brady got a takedown with 0:44 left to tie it at 5-5.

But an escape by Ferguson with 0:04 sealed the 6-5 win and a spot in the quarters.

“I was really nervous coming into the match,” said Ferguson. “He has a really good record, he’s like 34-6. It was a little scary looking at it. And he’s beaten some solid kids this year. But I felt really good on my feet the whole time, and felt really good in neutral. I felt really good in that match.”

Ferguson will face Cardinal O’Hara’s Israel Smith in a second round consolation match.

Still alive

Jim Thorpe’s Stephen Korte bounced back from a loss in the prelims with a 9-3 decision over North Schuylkill’s Kaden Casey in his 121-pound first round consolation match.

Korte, who was pinned by Columbia’s Loudon Rupp in 2:36 in the prelims, will face Notre Dame Green Pond’s Cooper Feltman in the next round of consolations. Feltman topped Korte 7-6 in last week’s district final.

Schlier pinned Bristol’s Evan Blackman in 2:17 in his first round consolation match.

“I was very happy,” said Schlier. “You should always keep your head up. That’s a big thing. Never give up on yourself.”

Schlier bounced back from a 17-1 (2:34) technical fall loss to Bishop McDevitt’s Zane Crouse in the prelims.

Schlier’s teammate, Gabe Erbe, also won his first round consolation match Friday.

Erbe pinned Faith Christian Academy’s Dominic Reynolds in 3:52 in his 127-pound first round consolation match.

The senior rebounded after being pinned by Berks Catholic’s Gunnar Maciejewski in 0:40 in the prelims. Erbe will wrestle Notre Dame Green Pond’s Tanner Berkenstock in the next consolation round.

Palmerton’s Dillon Lombardi stayed alive in the tournament with a 6-5 decision over Newport’s Mason Messick. Lombardi was pinned by Stoudamire Campbell of Columbia in 4:21 in his preliminary match.

Lombardi’s match with Messick was 3-3 heading to the third period before he got an escape and a takedown to make it 6-3, and held on when Messick got a penalty point and an escape near the final 30 seconds.

“It does feel really good,” said Lombardi. “I’ve never been to regionals before. My goal was to get to the second day of regionals, now I have to get to sates. It’s a new goal, I just have to get there.”

Northwestern’s Noah Schlofer and Lehighton’s Reese Balk also picked up wins in their first round consolation matches.

Schlofer prevailed with a 5-4 decision over Landon Klinger of Halifax at 215 pounds, while Balk pinned Aiden Habas of Conwell-Egan in 2:01 at 285.

West Perry’s Quade Boden beat Schlofer 2-1 (TB2) in the prelims, and Northern Lebanon’s Hayden Adams topped Balk 5-2 in the opening round.

Schlofer will wrestle Delone Catholic’s Caleb Tyler in his next consolation match, while Balk, who won a District 11 title last week, will face Conrad Weiser’s Kaleb Britting.

Tamaqua’s Evan Temarantz and Northern Lehigh’s Sam Frame moved directly into the second round of consolations as neither had first round consi bouts Friday night after both lost their preliminary matches.

Temarantz will face Trinity’s Jordan Manyette at 107 pounds, while Frame will wrestle East Pennsboro’s Ryshaun Johnson at 285-pounds.

Action resumes with the second round of consolations today at 9:30 a.m. followed by semifinals at 11. The fourth round of consis, including the seventh-place matches, will take place at 12:30 p.m. The Parade of Champions is set for 3:50 p.m., with the first-, third- and fifth-place matches to take place at 4 p.m. The top six in each weight qualify for states.

Class 3A Regional

Jason Schubert’s run in the Northeast Regional 3A wrestling tournament came to an end on the first night of action at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium. The Pleasant Valley senior fell to John Boggs of St. Joe’s Prep 5-2 during the first round of the 215-pound consolations to end his career with the Bears.

Schubert (17-8) lost his opener to Brody Spinder of Pittston 2-0 in the round of 16 to dump him directly into the consolation bracket where he lost to Boggs..

Wrestling continues Saturday morning at 9:30am with the second round of consolations. Semifinals are slated for 11am and the consolation/championship finals kickoff at 4pm on three mats. The top four wrestlers from each weight class advance to next week’s PIAA tournament in Hershey.

Southeast Regional Wrestling

Results of Times News Area Wrestlers

Preliminaries

107

- Braiden Lotier (Bishop McDevitt) pinned Evan Temarantz (Tamaqua) in 3:29

114

- Zane Crouse (Bishop McDevitt) tech. fall Brody Schlier (Tamaqua), 17-1 (2:34); Aidan Gruber (Lehighton) dec. Roman Polcha (Newport), 12-6

121

- Loudon Rupp (Columbia) pinned Stephen Korte (Jim Thorpe) in 2:36

127

- Gunnar Maciejewski (Berks Catholic) pinned Gabe Erbe (Tamaqua) in 0:40

152

- Stoudamire Campbell (Columbia) pinned Dillon Lombardi (Palmerton) in 4:21

160

- Jacob Ferguson (Lehighton) dec. Owen Brady (Columbia), 6-5

172

- Luke Fugazzotto (Northwestern) pinned Austin Shore (Camp Hill) in 1:33

215

- Quade Boden (West Perry) dec. Noah Schlofer (Northwestern), 2-1 (TB2)

285

- Hayden Adams (Northern Lebanon) dec. Reese Balk (Lehighton), 5-2; Caleb Brewer (Wyomissing) pinned Sam Frame (No. Lehigh) in 0:57

Quarterfinals

114

- Kevin Bagnell (Conwell-Egan) dec. Aidan Gruber (Lehighton), 9-6

160

- Cael Weidemoyer (Faith Christian Academy) maj. dec. Jacob Ferguson (Lehighton), 15-1

172

- Luke Fugazzotto (Northwestern) maj. dec. Anthony Deangelo (Trinity), 10-0

First Round Consolations

114

- Brody Schlier (Tamaqua) pinned Evan Blackman (Bristol) in 2:17

121

- Stephen Korte (Jim Thorpe) dec. Kaden Casey (No Schuylkill), 9-3

127

- Gabe Erbe (Tamaqua) pinned Dominic Reynolds (Faith Christian Academy) in 3:52

152

- Dillon Lombardi (Palmerton) dec. Mason Messick (Newport), 6-5

215

- Noah Schlofer (Northwestern) dec. Landon Klinger (Halifax), 5-4

285

- Reese Balk (Lehighton) pinned Aiden Habas (Conwell-Egan) in 2:01