BETHLEHEM — Jersey Shore’s Louden Spotts had never advanced out of the regional tournament before. Granted, he’s only wrestled once prior to this season, but as a sophomore, he got back to the Northeast Class AAA Regional tournament with hopes of advancing to his first state tournament.

The Bulldog reached the third-place match at 152 pounds and punched his ticket to the state tournament in Hershey with a hard-fought 3-0 decision win.

The top five finishers at the Northeast Class AAA Regional advance to the state tournament this upcoming week at Hershey.

Spotts defeated Notre Dame-Green Pond’s Jared Gonzalez in the third-place bout. He scored a first-period takedown with 30 seconds left to take a 3-0 lead. The second period saw scoreless competition and Spotts held on to prevent Gonzalez from scoring in the third and taking a lead or winning.

Spotts lost in the championship quarterfinals on the first day to Notre Dame-Green Pond’s Jared Gonzalez, 9-4, but battled through the consolations.

That saw Spotts have a string of three consolation wins to reach the bronze-medal match.

Spotts defeated Hazleton’s Logan Pop in an extremely close matchup by decision, 1-0. Spotts had an escape 15 seconds into the second period and earned a point and from there, held on and prevented Pop from scoring any reversals, takedowns or escapes to go ahead. Spotts then had another close win, this time 2-1 by decision over PIttston’s Ethan Aftewicz. Spotts had a reversal with 1:39 to wrestle in the second period. Aftewicz had an escape with 1:12 left in the second period, but that would be the only point he scored as Spotts wrestled well from there to prevent any momentum shift.

In the consolation semifinals, Spotts had another win against Abington Heights’ Lucas Drake in a 2-0 match. Both wrestlers headed into the third period scoreless, but Spotts secured two points via stalling calls with 45 and 17 seconds left, respectively, to seal the win and advanced to wrestle for third.

Jersey Shore freshman Gabriel Fisher gave it his all at regionals at 121, but his pursuit of a gold medal came a win shy as the Bulldog lost in the championship semifinals and fell in the consolation semifinals to miss the podium.

Fisher came shy of advancing to the state tournament after a 9-0 major decision loss to Emmaus’ Teagan Caciolo in the consolation semifinals. Fisher ended up competing for fifth place later in the evening, but lost in a high-scoring decision matchup, 14-10.

Against Caciolo, the Emmaus junior had a 3-0 lead in the first period before scoring six points in the second period to put Fisher into a hole he couldn’t claw back from.

In the fifth-place bout, Fisher finished with a sixth-place medal after falling to Cooper Helm of La Salle College, 14-10.

Fisher held a 3-0 lead after the first period in the fifth-place final against Helm. The La Salle College junior tied it up early in the second period, 3-3, in the first 15 seconds. Fisher would trail 6-4 in the second period with roughly a minute to go. The Bulldog would make it a 6-5 deficit in the closing seconds of the second period. He tied it up with an escape in the firs three seconds of the third period, 6-6, but Helm countered with a takedown just moments later to take a 9-6 lead before going ahead, 13-6, 20 seconds into the third with a nearfall.

Fisher earned a 15-2 major decision win in Friday’s championship quarterfinals against Archbishop Ryan’s Dillon Carr to get to the semifinals. There, Fisher suffered a tough 20-4, 3:34 tech fall loss against Bethelehm Catholic’s Nico Emili.

The Bulldog trailed 8-1 after the first period and was never able to get momentum on his side as Emili had four takedowns in the second period within just over a minute’s span to secure the tech fall victory.

Spotts and Fisher were the Bulldogs only two wrestlers to advance to the first-, third- or fifth-place finals on Saturday.

Jonathan Dincher lost in the first round of consolations to Stroudsburg’s Leonard DeMaria by fall in 2:18 at 172. Riley Kanski suffered an 8-1 decision lost to Archbishop Ryan’s Max Seitz in the first round of consolations at 189. At 160, Tobias Morgret had a 3:53 fall over Northeast’s James Sanchez in the first round of consolations, but his run ended with a loss to Parkland’s Jorge Moya by fall in 3:46 in the next round.

NORTHEAST CLASS AAA REGIONAL

(TOP 5 ADVANCE TO STATES)

FIRST-PLACE FINALS

107: Luis Moya, Parkland, dec. Maximus Quarry, Notre Dame-Green Pond, 7-3. 114: Braden Wenrich, Northampton, maj. dec. Gabe Benyo, Hazleton, 9-1. 121: Nico Emili, Bethlehem Catholic, dec. Jake Benyo, Hazleton, 3-2 TB2. 127: Emilio Albanese, Emmaus, dec. Nicholas Salamone, Easton, 2-1 UTB. 133: Keanu Dillard, Bethlehem Catholic, dec. Wilmont Kai, Whitehill, 4-2. 139: Trey Wagner, Northampton, dec. Reef Dillard, Bethlehem Catholic, 4-1. 145: Jack Campbell, Nazareth, dec. Gavyn Kelton, Notre Dame-Green Pond, 5-2. 152: Gabriel Ballard, Northampton, maj. dec. Cade Campbell, Nazareth, 13-4. 160: Tommy Schechterly, West Scranton, dec. Dominick Tunison, Nazareth, 5-3. 172: Brock Frable, Southern Lehigh, dec. Xayden Sallit, Emaus, 2-1 TB2. 189: Dominic Sumpolec, Notre Dame-Green Pond, dec. Brayden Zuercher, Nazareth, 4-2. 215: Connor Smalley, Notre Dame-Green Pond, dec. Brody Spindler, Pittston, 4-0. 285: Brody Rebuck, Shikellamy, maj. dec. Daniel Schiffert, Freedom, 10-1.

THIRD-PLACE FINALS

107: Ryan Milheim, CMVT, dec. Jack Jasionowicz, Stroudsburg, 13-6. 114: Cael Muller, Notre Dame-Green Pond, dec. Braden Todora, Parkland, 5-0. 121: Teagan Caciolo, Emmaus, dec. Jack Famularo, Easton, 4-1. 127: Brady Full, Abington Heights, dec. Andre Cerrato, Bethlehem Catholic, 6-2 UTB. 133: Mason Whitney, Abington Heights, dec. Caleb Kosko, Nazareth, 4-2. 139: Noah Fenner, Easton, tech fall Alex Kadryna, Selinsgrove, 15-0, 1:56. 145: Ethan Krazer, Easton, dec. Cole Trzeciak, La Salle College, 7-0. 152: Louden Spotts, Jersey Shore, dec. Jared Gonzalez, Notre Dame-Green Pond, 3-0. 160: Keith Barker, Southern Lehigh, pinned Carter Chlebove, Northampton, 3:00 172: Elijah Simak, Nazareth, pinned Gabriel Caufield, Wallenpaupack, 0:09. 189: Terrell McFarland, Pottsville, pinned Justin Cosover, Easton, 4:19. 215: Christian Boetsch, Shikellamy, maj. dec. Zion Essington, Stroudsburg, 9-0. 285: Jack Peters, Selinsgrove, dec. Josiah Rodriguez, East Stroudsburg, 4-1 SV.

FIFTH-PLACE FINALS

107: Michael Nicosia, Bethlehem Catholic, maj. dec. Chace VanDyke, Athens, 10-0. 114: Elijah Heimbach, Liberty, dec. Dakota Sandy, Abington Heights, 9-5. 121: Cooper Helm, La Salle College, dec. Gabriel Fisher, Jersey Shore, 14-10. 127: Michael Good, Nazareth, dec. Anthony Colantuono, St. Joseph’s Prep, 5-1. 133: Matthew Sommer, Northampton, dec. Carter Smith, Bangor, 4-1. 139: Kiovanny Hamlin, Louis E. Dieruff, dec. Jackson Max, Emmaus, 4-3. 145: Micah Engelman, Crestwood, maj. dec. Chase Grabfelder, Northampton, 13-5. 152: Mason Hopkins, Whitehall, dec. Lucas Drake, Abington Heights, 3-2 TB2. 160: Jorge Moya, Parkland, maj. dec. Xyler Sallit, Emmaus, 18-10. 172: Connor Davidson, Athens, pinned Jaxson Johnson, Hazleton, 2:25. 189: Dominic Sumpolec, Notre Dame-Green Pond, dec. Brayden Zuercher, Nazareth, 4-2. 215: Evan Gillespie, Pleassant Valley, pinned Frank Scialpi, Abington Heights, 1:18. 285: Kurtis Crossman, Easton, dec. Noah Knorp, Notre Dame-Green Pond, 2-1 TB2.

CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS

107: Luis Moya, Parkland, dec. Jack Jasionowicz, Stroudsburg, 10-3; Maximus Quarry, Notre Dame-Green Pond, tech fall Michael Nicosia, Bethlehem Catholic, 17-0, 4:38. … 114: Brayden Wenrich, Northampton, maj. dec. Elijah Heimbach, Liberty, 14-2; Gabe Benyo, Hazleton, dec. Braden Todora, Parkland, 7-1. … 121: Nico Emili, Bethlehem Catholic, tech fall Gabriel Fisher, Jersey Shore, 20-4, 3:34; Jake Benyo, Hazleton, dec. Jack Famularo, Easton Area, 3-0. … 127: Emilio Albanese, Emmaus, tech fall Anthony Colantuono, St. Joseph’s Prep, 21-4, 3:01; Nicholas Salamone, Easton Area, dec. Andre Cerrato, Bethelem Catholic, 2-1 TB2. … 133: Keanu Dillard, Bethelem Catholic, tech fall Carter Smith, Bangor, 22-5, 1:44; Wilmont Kai, Whitehall, dec. Caleb Kosko, Nazareth, 2-1. … 139: Trey Wagner, Northampton, maj. dec. Noah Fenner, Easton Area, 11-0; Reef Dillard, Bethlehem Catholic maj. dec. Kiovanny Hamlin, Louis E. Dieruff, 15-2.

145: Jack Campbell, Nazareth, dec. Ethan Krazer, Easton Area, 11-4; Gavyn Kelton, Notre Dame-Green Pond, maj. dec. Chase Grabfelder, Northampton, 12-3 … 152: Gabriel Ballard, Northampton, pinned Lukcas Drake, Abington Heights, 5:58; Cade Campbell, Nazareth, tech fall Jared Gonzalez, Notre Dame-Green Pond, 21-4, 2:45. … 160: Dominick Tunison, Nazareth, maj. dec. Carter Chlebove, Northampton, 10-2; Tommy Schechterly, West Scranton, dec. Xyler Sallit, Emmaus, 2-1 UTB. … 172: Xayden Sallit, Emmaus, dec. Gabriel Caufield, Wallenpaupack, 7-2; Brock Frable, Southern Lehigh, maj. dec. Connor Davidson, Athens, 17-4. … 189: Dominc Sumpoleec, Notre Dame-Green Pond, maj. dec. Justin Cosover, Easton, 13-0; Brayden Zuercher, Nazareth, dec. Terrell McFarland, Pottsville, 8-6. … 215: Connor Smalley, Notre Dame-Green Pond, dec. Christian Boetsch, Shikellamy, 5-3; Brody Spindler, Pittston, dec. Evan Gillespie, Pleasant Valley, 7-5. … 285: Brody Rebuck, Shikellamy, pinned Kurtis Crossman, Easton, 2:38.