John Ritter may feel like he has nine lives these days, but the Liberty junior isn't complaining. Ritter was one of four Liberty wrestlers to advance to this week's PIAA wrestling championships in Hershey and he's the luckiest of them all.

After taking sixth at districts at 126-pounds, Ritter fell short of the top-five qualification for regionals. His luck changed early last week when he took over for Parkland's Lee Todora, who was scratched from the tournament, giving Ritter a spot at regionals.

Ritter took advantage of that opportunity, as he defeated Bob Hawkins of James Coughlin by a 12-10 score in overtime to take third-place at regionals and give him a ticket to the PIAA wrestling championships.

Liberty's Jake Gunning (220) took home his first regional gold medal, while Orlando Miller (195, second) and Luke Werner (106, third) also punched tickets to Hershey, as Liberty finished fourth overall in the team standings with 90 points.

"It just feels great to be here," said Ritter. "I was a little upset that I took sixth at districts, so when I was told that I was going to wrestle at regionals, I really wanted to prove that I belonged here."

Ritter's reality of getting to Hershey appeared cloudy after falling behind 10-4 in the third period to Hawkins. That's when he scored a reversal and two back points to crawl within 10-8. Then he used a cradle again to even the score at 10 apiece to end the third period.

With the momentum on his side, Ritter parlayed that into a takedown for a victory in the extra frame to come away with a win that he'll never forget.

"I knew I could take him [Hawkins] and win," said Ritter. "I hit him with the cradle a couple times and that really got me going."

Luke Werner got Liberty going in the 106-pound third-place consolation bout, when he hit Freedom's Dylan Brown with a reversal, coupled with back points to hold on to a 7-3 decision. The victory for Werner avenged a regular season overtime loss he was dealt by his city rival.

"After taking fourth at districts, I was always wishing I could make states," Werner said. "I was beating him [Brown] in our first match this season and I felt like I could beat him. It's just a great feeling to move on."

Gunning put together a 6-2 decision over LaSalle's Antonio Pelusi to bring home his second gold medal in as many weeks. Teammate Orlando Miller (195) made his first regional finals appearance, but couldn't keep Parkland's Nezar Haddad's offense off track, as he lost by a 6-2 decision as well.

Noah Klingborg (170) almost made it a perfect Saturday for Liberty if he could have pulled out his third-place match against Connor Martinez of Dallas, but he fell victim to elimination from state qualifying following a 3-1 defeat, where Martinez was given a takedown at the buzzer for the miraculous win.