BETHLEHEM — The crowd at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium didn’t expect to see what was going to happen in the 215-pound District 11 3A final Saturday evening.

On paper, top-seeded Connor Smalley of Notre Dame was the favorite over Pleasant Valley’s Evan Gillespie — but that was all ranking semantics.

The PV senior, who stormed through the tournament, came out with the biggest upset of the weekend, pinning Smalley in 1:12 to win the Bears first district championship since 2012.

The roar of the capacity crowd following the slap of the mat showed their appreciation for Gillespie’s brute and ruthless approach in taking on Smalley.

Gillespie (32-2) smothered Smalley from the opening whistle with a quick takedown and turning him twice before giving him the fatal shot.

It was the perfect conclusion to the best tournament Gillespie has ever wrestled, pinning all four of his opponents in 3:32.

“This feels great,” said Gillespie. “I think I definitely surprised him being that aggressive from the start, and I think he didn’t put much effort when researching me.

“I’m a different wrestler than when he saw me last time.”

That last time was a year ago at districts when Smalley waxed the mat with Gillespie to the tune of a 17-5 major decision in the semifinals.

Fast forward a year and Smalley looked like he didn’t even belong on the same mat.

Head coach James Weiss knew this potential was in Gillespie’s realm of outcomes and was more than thrilled to see his hard work come to fruition.

“Evan lives 10 houses from me and I’ve been watching him wrestle since the second grade, and this has been a long time coming,” said Weiss. “He works every single day. He looks for jobs where he can get a workout for wrestling, but the biggest thing is that he’s learned to be as violent as he can on the mat.

“He used to go 80 percent, but now he’s going 100 percent. He got bigger, and now he’s determined. Nothing is going to get in his way.”

One could argue that Gillespie’s rise at the district tournament has made him the most improved wrestler in the district — and one that has surprised outsiders.

“I knew my team thought I had a chance to win,” said Gillespie with a smile. “I think people see you as the second seed and just assume you’re going to lose.

“This boosts my confidence a lot, because I had this thought if I could beat him. Can I really beat him? I’ve overcome that.”

Gillespie will be the lone Times News area wrestler to move onto next week’s Northeast Regional 3A tournament at Liberty. The hopes to advance for Jim Thorpe’s Stephen Korte were wiped out after an 8-6 second-round consolation loss to Easton’s Tanner Milburn Saturday morning.

Korte finished his career with a 115-42 mark.