The motivation KJ Fenstermacher needed heading into the Northeast Regional 3A tournament was all in the tape.

After losing to Northampton's Dan Moran 5-3 in the district championship, the Liberty sophomore wasn't going to let it happen again.

Instead, he turned that loss into an impressive 8-5 victory in the 113-pound regional final Saturday on his home floor, as Liberty advanced four wrestlers to this week's PIAA wrestling championships in Hershey.

After failing to reach the state tournament his freshman year, Fenstermacher slayed some demons on Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium.

"I was on the same mat [during the semifinals] that I lost on last year," said Fenstermacher, as he reflected on his disappointing exit from regionals a year ago. "I started to get a little flashback from it, but I used that as motivation and told myself it wasn't going to happen again."

What didn't happen again was a defeat to Moran, as Fenstermacher built a 7-2 lead in the third period off his third takedown of the bout en route to his victory.

"I watched and studied the match on [Flo wrestling] a lot during the week," he said. "We went over it about five times and I knew I had to stay away from the inside ties and took all open shots and it worked."

The Hurricanes had an impressive weekend, as their four state qualifiers tied them for the second-most with Nazareth behind Bethlehem Catholic's walloping 11 wrestlers to advance.

Luke Werner (106) and Andrew Gunning (220) also reached Saturday's finals, but both came away with silver medals.

After pinning his way to the district championship last week, Werner found himself on his back in the finals, getting pinned by Nazareth's Tyson Klump in 3:20 to settle for second.

Gunning couldn't score a takedown on Parkland's Omar Haddad for a second week in a row, as he lost to the Trojan senior 3-2.

Kyle Gildner (HWT) also punched his ticket to Hershey with a fourth-place finish following a 3-2 defeat to Pocono Mountain East's Jeremy Candelario in the consolation finals.

"To send four guys to Hershey is amazing," said Liberty head coach Jody Karam. "For a guy like Kyle, we weren't even sure if he'd have a winning record coming into the season. I couldn't be more proud of the team's effort. They did a great job."

Freedom advanced only two wrestlers to states, as John Callahan (195) and Adam Evans (145) qualified for the Patriots.

Callahan reached the finals for the second week in a row, but didn't have the miraculous win he endured in the district championship, falling to top-seeded Matt Wagner of Delaware Valley 8-4 in the championship.

"I learned that every match is just going to get tougher from here on out," Callahan said. "I'm excited and happy to get to Hershey because it's the last time I'll be wrestling in my life. I want to have fun out there, but my goal is to leave Hershey with a medal."

Evans advanced to Hershey with a fourth place finish, after forfeiting his consolation finals bout with Becahi's Cole Karam due to medical forfeit. Evans is expected to compete this week.