It wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone that Emilio Albanese and Easton’s Nicholas Salamone met in the championship match of this past weekend’s PIAA Northeast Class 3A Regional Tournament.

And it went as most expected — down to the wire.

A week after Albanese out-dueled Salamone with a close decision win to secure district gold, Albanese did the same at regionals back at Liberty High School. The Hornet junior held on for a 2-1 ultimate tiebreaker victory to secure the 127-pound title for his second gold medal in as many weeks, and earning a trip back to the state tournament next week in Hershey.

“Going into overtime, it’s do-or-die there,” Albanese said. “It’s all of your heart into it to win the match. That’s what you got to do.

“I’ve always known I could be at this top level. I’m starting to get there, but there’s always room for improvement.”

Albanese’s win over Salamone at districts was his first in-season victory over the Red Rover at the high school level. His second, at regionals, has given Albanese the upper hand as of late.

But it wasn’t an easy task. Albanese had to ride out Salamone for over a minute straight in the ultimate tiebreaker to secure regional gold. It’s something he’s focused his preparation on over the past few weeks.

“I’ve been working a lot on my claws to keep tight,” Albanese said. “I’ve been working on that at practice. Like a lot of matches, I don’t ride. But I proved to myself that I could ride. That was huge.

“It was do whatever it takes to win. No matter who the wrestler is, I know I can ride anyone out. I proved it there. It’s just determination, and keeping him down was big.”

While it won’t be Albanese’s first trip to Hershey, it will have a different feel this time around with some gold hardware to his name.

“I never won districts or regionals leading into states,” said Albanese, who finished in the top four at states each of the past two seasons. “So, winning districts and regionals against tough opponents is huge going into the state tournament. It’s big momentum.”

Albanese pinned Archbishop Ryan’s Neil Carr in the opening round. He then defeated both Carlo Salinas of Wilkes Barre (20-3) and Anthony Colantuono of St. Joseph’s Prep (21-4) via technical fall in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, respectively.

Emmaus will have two other wrestlers competing in states after Xayden Sallit (172 pounds) and Teagan Caciolo (121 pounds) placed second and third, respectively, in their weight classes.

Sallit nearly captured regional gold as well. After coasting through his first three matches, the Trojan senior came up short in a 2-1 decision against Southern Lehigh’s Brock Frable in the championship match.

“Overall I felt good,” Sallit said. “It’s not the end goal, but I don’t control outcomes. I just control how I wrestle and the outcomes take care of themselves.”

Sallit — who improved from a fifth-place finished at regionals a year ago to a runner-up finish this season — picked up a 20-5 technical fall win over Jersey Shore’s Jonathan Dincher in the opening round. He then secured a 16-4 major decision over Ilyas Benamara of Academy at Palumbo in the quarterfinals, and then followed that up with a 7-2 decision over Wallenpaupack’s Gabriel Caulfield in the semifinals.

With this being his second trip to states, Sallit believes the past experience at Hershey will only bode well for his goals of placing at the state’s high level.

“I think for sure it helps because when you get to Hershey for the first time you have those nerves,” Sallit said. “You have butterflies in your stomach and it’s tough when you get in the arena … I feel like this time around there will be no nerves.”

Caciolo, after losing his second-round match to Hazelton’s Jake Benyon via a 4-1 decision that sent him to the consolation bracket, responded impressively. He won his final four matches, including a 4-1 decision over Easton’s Jack Famularo, that earned him a third-place finish.

The PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships will be held at the Giant Center in Hershey on March 4 – 6. The preliminary and first round matches begin on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.