Just about everything was on Reed Custer’s side a couple of months ago. The Emmaus senior was 15-2 on the mat and was arguably wrestling the best of his career as the New Year hit.

But then a meniscus injury in mid-January, the same injury that forced him to miss districts last year, cost him the rest of the regular season. Custer, however, made his return to the mat for this weekend’s District 11 Class 3A Wrestling Championships and made it a memorable one.

Custer went 3-2 over the course of the two-day event at Liberty High School’s Memorial Gymnasium. His 10-5 decision over Bethlehem Catholic’s Tavion Banks in the fifth-place match on Saturday advanced Custer to regionals in his first district tournament appearance.

“I tore my meniscus last year, and I tore it again this year,” said Custer, who injured himself in a dual meet against Freedom back on January 18. “This is my first time back in like a month and a half … It’s a good feeling. It makes it even better now that next weekend is a new weekend.

“I kind of just went out there and wanted to get the win because it was either that or my season and high school career is over. That mentality there was just to go out and give it all I had.”

In his first trip to districts and the No. 2 seed at 160 pounds, Custer certainly had high hopes. He had only lost twice this season before districts, but there was a sense of uncertainly about how he would return from that injury.

He knocked down that roadblock and left little doubt early on that he was back at 100 percent. Custer opened the tournament on Friday with a quick 49-second pin over Pocono Mountain East’s Juan Medina in the first round. Shortly later Custer earned another fall, this one in just 35 seconds, over Freedom’s Jared Jenkins to advance to the quarterfinal round.

“I didn’t expect to be back, not as quick,” said Custer. “I was wrestling within eight days of the surgery, which is very quick. I just knew I had to get back as soon as possible, work as hard as I could, and get after it so I could accomplish this.”

Custer, however, then experienced a few setbacks once the quarterfinals began. He dropped his next match to Liberty’s Anthony Emig via fall, then came up short in a 10-3 decision against East Stroudsburg South’s Tyler Delorenzo.

But with a spot at regionals on the line and a win-or-go-home situation in front of him, Custer thrived with his back against the wall. His victory over Banks kept his season and career alive for at least another week.

“I was a little disappointed in myself this morning,” Custer said. “I wasn’t really in the match like I should have been. I got caught, turned over and really got in my head. I slid down into the consolation semifinals. I had to go into this fifth-place match just really with a new mindset, knowing it is do-or-die. Now I can restart next week and it’s all fresh.”

Custer won’t be the only Hornet advancing to the Northeast Class 3A Wrestling Championships, which begin on Friday back at Liberty High School. Peyton Brown, who entered as the No. 7 seed at 106 pounds, went 4-2 at districts.

After Brown lost his opening round match to Bethlehem Catholic’s Dillon Murphy by a close 1-0 decision, he won his next three matches in the consolation bracket. After a 13-8 setback to Liberty’s Matt Maloney, he capped off Saturday with a 2-0 decision over Freedom’s Connor Huber to earn fifth place and a spot in regionals.

Emmaus entered Saturday with seven wrestlers still alive for a spot in regionals. By the time the fifth-place matches rolled around on Saturday evening, four Hornets were wrestling for that berth. Unfortunately, both Tyler Corpora (138 pounds) and Caden Wright (152) came up short in their fifth-place matches.

Regionals will begin at 4:30 p.m. on Friday with the first round. Wrestling will pick back up at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday with the second round consolation matchups.