The Northampton wrestling team crowned three champions at this past weekend’s PIAA AAA NE Regional tournament and advanced 5 wrestlers to the state championship in Hershey this week.

Trey Wagner bounced back from a third-place finish at last week’s district tournament and gained a measure of revenge by vanquishing Bethlehem Catholic’s Reef Dillard 4-1 in the final on a takedown halfway through the final period. He gave up only two escapes through the four rounds of the tournament.

The key to the match was Wagner’s ability to put the district loss to Dillard in the rearview mirror and move forward toward winning his second state title. He explained, “Are we going to remember this in 10 years, in 5 years? No. So you’ve just got to let it go. That’s the past. It’s a new week this weekend and it’s going to be a new week next week. We’re starting 0-0 next week and I’m ready to get out there.”

Brayden Wenrich enters the state tournament as the top overall seed at 114 pounds after winning his second regional title in as many years. He won all 4 four of his bouts with bonus points, including a 9-1 major decision in the final over Gabe Benyo of Hazleton, the District 2 champion.

Wenrich spoke about making his second trip to states after finishing as runner-up last year, “I’m more relaxed. Last year going into Hershey, I had a lot closer matches. Obviously, as you get to the end of the season it kind of gets more tensed up and more pressure, but I’m more loose this year. I feel better because I’ve already been there and know what to expect.”

Junior Gabe Ballard also added a second regional title to his impressive resume. He also won all four of his matches with bonus points, including the final against Nazareth’s Cade Campbell 13-4. That was a rematch of the district final which Campbell had held to a 7-3 decision.

The always poised Ballard discussed his approach to trying to win his first state title, “I’m just trying to keep a level head. Just go out there and wrestle every match, take one match at a time, and I feel like I’m doing that pretty well right now.”

Carter Chlebove won a gritty 5-4 decision over 120-match winner Liam Evanko of Wilkes-Barre in the quarterfinals and a tough 6-5 decision over Jorge Moya of Parkland in the consolation semifinals to punch his ticket to Hershey by finishing fourth at 160. He had lost to Moya 9-5 at districts the previous week.

There was no more joyful moment in Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium last Saturday than the one in the Northampton corner after Matt Sommer rallied from a first-round loss to take fifth place and earn a trip to states as a senior.

After the buzzer sounded on his 4-1 win over Carter Smith of Bangor and his hand was raised in victory, he leapt into his father’s (assistant coach Mike) arms in celebration. The feelings were so palpable that the elder Sommer and head coach Joe Provini (and other observers) struggled to keep their emotions in check.

Matt described what the trip to states means to him, “It means a lot, especially since I haven’t had the most success in high school. I’ve put in so much work all year round for 13 years now. Putting in all that work just feels like it was worth it. That it finally paid off. It felt like everything I’ve ever wanted. It was just perfect.”

While Sommer fulfilled a dream, Chase Grabfelder was denied a final run at states as a senior. He made the semifinals in the championship bracket but lost three straight matches to finish in sixth. The biggest blow was a 3-1 loss in the consolation semifinals on a takedown with three seconds left in the bout.

The Kids’ three champions were the most of any school in the tournament and they finished third in the team standings.

(1) Notre Dame-Green Pond 139.5, (2) Nazareth 139.0, (3) Northampton 127.5, (4) Bethlehem Catholic 117.0, (5) Easton 99.0