Walking off the mat at Hershey without a medal is always a bittersweet moment for any wrestler that makes it to the PIAA championships.

But Liberty head coach Brandon Hall reminded Elijah Heimbach that most competitors leave Hershey with a loss.

Heimbach’s first foray at the Giant Center ended on Friday with a 9-5 loss to Mifflin County’s Andrew Alexander in the second round of consolations.

Despite coming up short, sometimes the success of a season isn’t defined by how a wrestler finishes on the mat, but more from the growth one exhibits.

“We come here for medals,” said Hall, “but I told him that he matured so much this year, as a wrestler and a person and a teammate, and I think he did a great job of that this year.”

Heimbach, a junior 114-pounder, didn’t qualify for regionals a year ago, so being able to take a giant leap forward this year will only help that drive this offseason.

He started the tournament off with an 11-3 major decision over AJ Kane of Council Rock North in the preliminaries, but couldn’t pick up another win, as he lost to Central Dauphin’s Thunder Beard 4-1 in the first round of the tournament before being bounced by Alexander.

“He’s upset right now, but it shows how much he cares and how much he put into it this year,” Hall said. “Somewhere though it makes you smile for how much he cares and I think he’s going to carry that into the offseason, so he can get onto the podium next year and stand up there as high as possible.”