The Tri-Valley Bulldogs, a season ago, were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the District 11 duals by Saucon Valley 59-18.

One year later, the Bulldogs were once again defeated by the Panthers, but this time, it was in the District 11 finals. It’s the Bulldogs’ best District 11 dual finish since 2015. With the second-place finish, the Bulldogs will also take part in the state tournament at the Class AA level.

“I thought they wrestled well,” Tri-Valley coach David Boltz said about his team’s performance. “Our big thing is that all the kids cheer each other on. We have a nice group of kids, a nice, close group of kids. They’re always rooting each other on, and I think that really helps.”

The Bulldogs opened up their day against a familiar opponent in fellow Schuylkill League foe Mahanoy Area. As they did earlier this season, defeating Mahanoy 49-17, the Bulldogs once again handled the Golden Bears 50-19.

In the quarterfinal win, the Bulldogs picked up three wins via pin, four via forfeit, one via decision, and one by technical fall.

In the semifinals, they took on Northwestern Lehigh of the Colonial League and once again struck quickly using a tech fall from Easton Moore and a pin from Garrett Leitzel to take an 11-0 lead through the first two bouts.

After a Northwestern pin that narrowed the Tri-Valley lead to 11-6, the Bulldogs rattled off four straight wins thanks to three pins from Jaxson Bruso, Landon Horoschak, and Robert Schwartz, as well as a Liam Yourey major decision to extend their lead to 33-6.

Northwestern Lehigh, one of the Colonial League’s elite teams, made things interesting down the stretch with four straight wins of their own, but Tri-Valley heavyweight Donovan Keeth clinched the Bulldogs’ entry into the district finals with a pin over the Tigers’ Ian Zettlemoyer in 1:49.

“That was a nice win for him,” Boltz said about Keeth’s big victory. “Really got the team pumped up. That was fun.”

Owen Wolfgang put an exclamation point on the Bulldogs’ semifinals win with another pin, as Tri-Valley defeated Northwestern Lehigh 45-27.

After starting fast in both the quarterfinals and semifinals, the Bulldogs couldn’t find a similar start against Saucon Valley, the defending Class AA champions.

Saucon Valley would jump out to a quick 18-0 lead thanks to a tech fall win in the opening 121-pound matchup and then back-to-back pins at 127 and 133.

Jaxson Bruso was able to snap the cold streak to begin the finals with a major decision at 139 pounds, but the Panthers answered the Bruso victory with three-straight of their own, all pins to take a 35-4 lead.

Needing to stay perfect the rest of the evening to have an opportunity to win the district title, Tri-Valley saw both Hunter Updegrave and Max Masser pick up wins. Updegrave via decision 7-4 and Masser a 20-5 technical fall, cutting the deficit to 35-15, but the comeback effort would be for naught as Saucon Valley’s 215-pounder Liam Stoneback pinned Kyle Bowman in 48 seconds to win the title for the Panthers.

Saucon Valley’s Ezekiel Deily put an exclamation point on the Panthers’ win with a pin of Donovan Keeth.

In the final pair of bouts, Tri-Valley’s Owen Wolfgang pinned Dominic D’Ambola at 107 pounds before Saucon Valley’s Gavin Chunko pinned Easton Moore in their 114-pound matchup to give Saucon Valley a 52-21 victory.

After a long and tiring Saturday, the Bulldogs will have 24 hours off before beginning to compete in the state tournament that begins on Tuesday.

“We’re gonna give them off tomorrow, obviously. Then, a good workout on Monday, and start preparing for Tuesday.”