BETHLEHEM - The District 11 individual wrestling tournament is often billed as the first stop on the road to Hershey.

If that's the case, Jim Thorpe's Kevan Gentile, Lehighton's Connor Frey, Northern Lehigh's Ryan Farber and Palmerton's Jared Mooney certainly got their postseasons started on the right foot, capturing Class AA gold Saturday night at Liberty High School's Memorial Gymnasium.The titles capped what was a stellar tournament for Times News wrestlers that saw a total of 23 area grapplers - at least one from all seven area schools - advance to this weekend's Southeast Regional tournament at Wilson West Lawn High School.Northern Lehigh's Colton Rex (120), Matt Schmall (138), CJ Young (170) and Cameron Kates (285); Northwestern's Quentin Bernhard (126) and Caleb Clymer (145); and Panther Valley's Dylan Moyer (182) all moved on to the SE Regional with second place finishes.BACK-TO-BACKIt was a familiar feeling for Gentile, Frey and Farber, who all repeated as District 11 champions.Gentile (106) was the only one of the trio to do so in the same weight class, as Frey (195) moved up from 182 pounds and Farber bumped up from 145.As he has been throughout much of the season, Gentile, the top seed at 106 pounds, was dominant in his match against No. 2 seed Jon Consorti of Wilson, pinning his counterpart in 3:51 to capture gold."It was an amazing feeling for me," Gentile said. "Coming back. … It was perfect I would say."I wanted to strive and push so I could it end that way (with a pin). That's the way I wanted to get it."And the way he got that pin is what impressed Jim Thorpe head coach Shawn Albert the most."He was focused on getting that pin and I'm glad he did it," said Albert. "But even better was that he did it running a bar, and that's not something he usually does on top, but he's going to need to do that against some of these more accomplished wrestlers that he's going to face at regionals, and hopefully states."The win was also a special one for Jim Thorpe assistant coach Terry Levan, who is Gentile's stepfather."Words can't express how proud I am of Kevan," Levan said. "It means so much to see his hard work, and all the time he puts in during the offseason and over the summer pay off and to see him be this successful."While Frey and Farber didn't post falls to win gold, both were in control during their respective matches.Frey, the No. 1 seed at 195 pounds, earned his fourth win of the season over Pen Argyl's Nathan Black, who was seeded third.After being pinned by Frey on multiple occasions already, it was clear Black wasn't going to give the Lehighton senior another chance to do so Saturday night."He just decided not to wrestle me," Frey said. "That's not what wrestling is about; it's about opening up and actually trying to compete. He was happy with only getting a decision against me, which I don't think is right because he didn't wrestle."But I was still able to get a couple of takedowns on him."Though Frey was a bit disappointed with how his match against Black played out, he was still proud of what he accomplished en route to his second district title."To be a two-time district champ is a great feeling," Frey said. "It's great to be able to represent my town and get us out there. Eddie Parliman (a 2008 District 11 Class AA 160-pound champion) was here cheering me on, and that meant a lot. He was a district and regional champion."It feels good to get us back on the map and to do it in dominating fashion. The score may have only been 6-0, but he wasn't close to scoring at all during that whole match."Points were hard to come by in Farber's match against Saucon Valley's Dylan Yonney, a bout featuring the top two seeds at 160 pounds.After posting a 14-1 major decision over North Schuylkill's Joe Alexander in the semifinals, Farber, the top seed at 160 pounds, proved he could win close ones, too, posting a 1-0 decision over Yonney in the finals."It's big. … It wasn't the way I imagined it to happen, I wanted to score a few more points," Farber explained. "But I'll take the win. All the hard work this year has culminated in winning a district title."But now I have to refocus and get ready for regionals."Close matches, and big matches, are nothing new to Farber, who won district gold last year with a 3-1 decision over Tri Valley's Chase Schaeffer."It helps with the mental aspect of the match, just knowing that you've been there before and you can do it again," said Farber. "It's not that big of a deal and nothing new."FOCUSED AND READYAfter taking fifth at last year's district tournament, Mooney, posted an impressive 8-3 decision over Panther Valley's Moyer in the finals.The victory also gave Mooney a measure of revenge against Moyer, who pinned him Jan. 2 at Panther Valley's Anthracite Duals."I just came out ready to wrestle this time," Mooney said afterward. "Last time I wasn't really ready; I wasn't totally focused. But I was focused tonight and ready to go."I didn't finish my shots last time, but I did this time and that's what made the difference."The win was one Palmerton head coach Justin Petersen always knew Mooney, the top seed at 182 pounds, was capable of."It's pretty awesome," said Petersen. "Coming into the tournament, that was the goal. All year long we were thinking it was possible. I didn't want to get too far ahead and we just tried to take it one match at a time."His potential is unlimited. He's one of the hardest workers you're going to find. He's never content with what he's got and he's always working to get better."At the end of the day, I wouldn't be surprised to see him take any place at states. But right now we have to take it one match at a time and we're just focused on that first round matchup at regionals."MOVING ONIn addition to those that were in the finals, the following Times News wrestlers advanced to the SE Regional with top-5 finishes Saturday. Third-place finishers were: Lehighton's Zach Kemmerer (120) and Tegan Durishin (145); Northwestern's Jarett White (132); and Panther Valley's Ali Capobianco (152). Fourth-place finishers: Lehighton's Wyatt Clements (220); Northern Lehigh's Seth Fronheiser (113); Northwestern's Baily Wehr (120), David VanBlargan (152) and Andrew Sorensen (170); Panther Valley's Hunter Kennedy (138); and Tamaqua's Tanner McHugh (126). Ty Hinkle (145) was the only area wrestler to take fifth. Several area wrestlers placed sixth and just missed qualifying for the SE Regional: Northern Lehigh's Ezra Neff (126), Northwestern's Jackson Bernhard (138) and Jason Hottinger (160) and Palmerton's Lucas Christman (132).