Emmaus may only be sending one wrestler to the PIAA tournament in Hershey this week, but that doesn’t mean the Hornets will be lacking quality when Class 3A action kicks off at the Giant Center Thursday afternoon.

Emmaus senior Lucas Schaf will get another crack to add to his state medal collection when he prepares for the 132-pound bracket.

Schaf took third at the Northeast Regional AAA tournament at Liberty last weekend, bouncing back from a disappointing 4-2 loss to Hazleton’s Jimmy Hoffman in the quarterfinal round, only to upend Hoffman 3-1 in the third place consolation bout.

“It feels good to be moving on, especially after losing in the quarters here at regionals,” said Schaf. “To come back and beat him [Hoffman] for third place was big for me. I wish I would have been in the finals, but I’m happy I was able to bounce back through the consolation bracket and get back to Hershey.”

Schaf (40-4) will open the state tournament against Tucker Brough of Big Spring in the preliminary round and is seeded in the same bracket as Bethlehem Catholic’s Joey Gould, who registered an 8-5 decision over Schaf in the district finals two weeks ago.

Having that familiarity with Gould should help Schaf this weekend, but head coach Jeff Arbushitis knows that Schaf has plenty of experience and quality to come out this weekend with another state medal after his eighth place finish at 132 a year ago.

“He had one heck of a day here at regionals and took down each one of his opponents,” Arbushitis said of Schaf’s four bouts in the consolation round Saturday. “The kid is 40-4 and all four of his losses are quality losses, so I think his chances are even money with anyone out there. I really feel good about it. I think if he wrestles his style, he’s as good as anybody in the state.”

Schaf is aware that he’ll need to be even more meticulous with his performances in Hershey if he wants to improve upon his eighth place finish from a year ago.

“The little things out there can mean everything out there,” he said. “Losing my quarters match at regionals happened because of a mistake on my part and that really killed me mentally too.

“I’m going to work on everything this week and my goal is to be in the state finals. I’d like to finish top three, but I really want to be in that last match.”

The Hornets’ Dan Oberle also competed in the Northeast Regional Tournament.

The senior was the fifth-place finisher out of District 11 at 195 pounds. He lost to LaSalle’s Athony Piscopo 5-2 in the first round of regionals.

Oberle won his first consolation match, beating Sam Rice of Tunkhannock by fall in 2:19.

Oberle lost in the second round of consolations, falling to Jody Crouse of Bethlehem Catholic by a 7-5 decision. He ends the season with a record of 31-7.