Emmaus’ Emilio Albanese and Easton’s Nicholas Salamone are no strangers to one another.

The two have competed a number of times throughout wrestling their careers, with both having the upper hand at times over the past three seasons.

On Saturday, it was Albanese who played all the right cards.

Albanese took down Salamone by way of a 4-2 decision in the championship bout of the 127-pound weight class of this past weekend’s District 11 Class 3A Championships at Liberty High School.

“It was a tough match — he’s the returning state champ,” Albanese said. “He’s a great competitor, but I just had to find a way and I did. [I’ve wrestled him] many times and it goes back and forth, so it was good to win and get my first district title, too.”

The Hornets had five wrestlers advance through districts with Albanese leading the way.

“He’s devoted his youth and high school life to developing himself as a wrestler,” head coach Jim Best said. “To achieve this accomplishment is just another step along the way of him reaching his long-term goal, which is becoming a short-term goal, of becoming a state champion in two weeks.”

Albanese, a junior, finished as a district runner-up in both his freshman and sophomore seasons. During his inaugural high school season, it was Salamone, then a sophomore, who ended Albanese’s chance at a first-place finish.

Two years later, Albanese avenged that loss and won district gold. He did so with two pins in his opening two matches, a convincing 4-1 decision in his semifinal victory, and that tough decision over Salamone for the title.

“I was keeping on my attack and pacing him,” Albanese said. “That’s what I’ve been working on all season. Just to get to my attacks…Keep attacking here, through next week [at regionals], and at states. Hopefully that’ll get the job done.”

Albanese was one of two Hornets who competed in the championship round of their respective weight classes. Teagan Caciolo was the other Emmaus grappler to do so at 121 pounds.

Caciolo, the No. 3 seed in the 121-pound bracket, opened the tournament with a pin in the round of 16, and then followed it up with a major decision win in the quarterfinals to guarantee a spot in regionals.

A 3-2 win for Caciolo over Whitehall’s Kade Pascoe, the No. 2 seed, in the semifinals advanced the Hornet junior into the gold-medal match.

Albanese and Caciolo will lead a group of five Hornets who qualified for next week’s PIAA Northeast Class 3A Regionals back at Liberty High School: Albanese (127 pounds), Caciolo (121), Xyler Sallit (160, third place), Xayden Sallit (172, third place) and Jackson Max (139, fifth place). It’s the same five Hornets that Best took into regionals last winter.

“This matches the five that we had last year,” Best said. “We placed a little bit higher this year than we did last year, so we’re showing that trend upward. We’re feeling good about the five we are taking into the regional tournament, and feeling confident that we can advance all five of those to Hershey to the state tournament.”

Regionals will get underway on Friday evening with the opening-round preliminary matches set for 4 p.m. Saturday’s competition will get started at 9:30 a.m.

Emmaus District 11 Class 3A Boys Wrestling Results

107 - Andrew Gerken

Frank Lucarello (Pleasant Valley) major dec. Gerken, 14-3

114 - Levi Max

Gino Bozzi (Bethlehem Catholic) dec. Max, 11-8 (SV)

Max dec. Jack Scnalan (Freedom), 5-4

Derek Fulmer (Nazareth) dec. Max, 4-1

121 - Teagan Caciolo

Caciolo pinned Tyshawn Stegall (Stroudsburg) in 3:29

Caciolo major dec. Tony Bothwell (Pocono Mountain West), 9-0

Caciolo dec. Kade Pascoe (Whitehall), 3-2

Championship match

Nico Emili (Bethlehem Catholic) dec. Caciolo, 8-1

127 -Emilio Albanese

Albanese pinned Michael Messa (Freedom) in 1:36

Albanese pinned Chase Fetherman (Stroudsburg) in 2:56

Albanese dec. Andre Cerrato, 4-1

Championship match

Albanese dec. Nicholas Salamone (Easton), 4-2

133 - Logan Maher

Maher pinned Brian Brobst (Blue Mountain) in :47

Willmont Kai (Whitehall) pinned Maher in 2:33

Maher dec. Theodore Tice (Dieruff), 9-8

Matthew Sommer (Northampton) major dec. Maher, 12-4

139 - Jackson Max

Max dec. Jeff Cemelli (Notre Dame GP), 7-0

Kiovanny Hamlin (Dieruff) dec. Max, 7-5

Max pinned Jose Rodriguez (Liberty) in 3:18

Trey Wagner (Northampton) tech. fall Max, 15-0

Fifth-place match

Max pinned Jared Santilli (Parkland) in 6:39

145 - Tommy Fallstich

Fallstich dec. Colton Christian (Stroudsburg), 7-0

Jack Campbell tech. fall Fallstich, 21-6

Fallstich major dec. Bryce Bodenberg (Blue Mountain), 8-0

Cole Smith (Bangor) dec. Fallstich, 5-0

152 - Aiden Bayard

Bayard tech. fall Micah Alicea (East Stroudsburg North), 19-3

Cade Campbell (Nazareth) tech. fall Bayard, 21-6

Bayard dec. Eziah Cartegena (Bangor), 4-1

Mason Hopkins (Whitehall) dec. Bayard, 4-1

160 - Xyler Sallit

Sallit dec. Luke Schindler (Bangor), 9-3

Dominick Tunison (Nazareth) dec. Sallit, 4-2

Sallit tech. fall Justin Rose (East Stroudsburg South), 17-0

Sallit dec. Layony Sanchez (Whitehall, 4-1

Sallit dec. Mason Thomas (Bethlehem Catholic), 3-2 (UTB)

Third-place match

Sallit major dec. Carter Chlebove (Northampton), 13-3

172 - Xayden Sallit

Sallit tech. fall Daniel Zheng (Bangor), 21-6

Sallit tech. fall Cole Retos (Notre Dame GP), 17-2

Elijah Simak (Nazareth) major dec. Sallit, 10-1

Sallit tech. fall Leonard DeMaria (Stroudsburg), 17-2

Third-place match

Sallit dec. James Hopkins (Whitehall), 4-2

189 - Logan Armstrong

Armstrong major dec. Benjamin Jebran-Cruz (Liberty)

Brayden Zeurcher (Nazareth) pinned Armstrong in 2:47

Armstrong dec. Yahveh Rosario (Dieruff), 7-0

Curtis Cooper (Allen) pinned Armstrong in 3:11

215 - Chase DeCesare

Kody Ward (Bangor) tech. fall DeCesare, 21-5

DeCesare major dec. Gaetano Sarnelli (Jim Thorpe), 12-3

Jonathan Adjin-Tetty (East Stroudsburg South) tech. fall DeCesare, 19-4

285 - Logan Roth

Roth pinned Yousef Khalfaoui (Whitehall) in 3:22

Brandon McEntire (Northampton) pinned Roth in 3:40

Team Scores (Top 10)

1. Notre Dame (Green Pond) 219.5, 2. Nazareth 208, 3. Northampton 190.5, 4. Easton 165.5, 5. Bethlehem Catholic 162.5, 6. Parkland 142, 7. Emmaus 135.5, 8. Whitehall 101, 9. Stroudsburg 84.5, 10. Liberty 67.