JOHNSTOWN — Mike Cole walked away shaking his head after Bethlehem Catholic’s PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal on Friday night.

Dave Crowell had a similar look after Nazareth’s quarterfinal a few minutes earlier.

Both coaches knew their teams’ performances had to improve.

Cole will be looking to get better execution in the state semifinals after Bethlehem Catholic held off District 1 champion Boyertown 32-28.

Crowell will be doing it after Nazareth’s 33-32 criteria loss to District 1 runner-up Council Rock South.

It is the first time in five years that it will not be an all-District 11 3A final. It also is the first time since 2015 that the District 11 champion is not in the 3A final.

“My gosh, a lot of things,” Cole said when asked what has to get better for the Golden Hawks to stay alive for a fifth consecutive state title. “We can win. We just have to compete at all the right weights. We could be all right.”

Bethlehem Catholic is OK because Connor Gillahan bumped up from 189 to 285 again and won 3-1 in the final bout. He picked up a first-period takedown, then stayed out of trouble on bottom in the third period to clinch the victory.

It was a situation Gillahan has been in before, including reversing a deficit in last year’s state final against Nazareth and getting a clinching pin.

“It’s a little scary, for sure,” Gillahan said of having to stay out of trouble against a much bigger opponent, “especially with all the noise from all the other upsets. Coach [Cole] just told me to go out there, wrestle smart and win.

“I knew I probably could have gotten out. I’m used to wrestling bigger kids. Coach has bumped me up plenty of times before. I have pretty good bottom defense, so if I could just get through that period the match was done. I confident I wasn’t going to get turned.”

A.J. Gomez also had a big win an hour earlier when he overcame an 8-1 deficit to get a technical fall over Boyertown’s Boden Waite at 127. His 12-point third period finished off a 24-9 victory.

“What a fabulous mindset,” Cole said. “He’s down by seven. He just chips away at it and then just dominates. That’s great mindset by him.”

Bethlehem Catholic led 29-4 after winning six of the first seven bouts before Boyertown chipped away at the deficit.

Three pins and a Carter Stouch 5-3 win over Mason Thomas at 160 pulled the Bears within 29-25.

Kaleb Dumin then could only produce an 8-2 decision at 215 over James Bozzi to get Boyertown within a point entering the final bout.

Nazareth fell in holes of 16-0 after four and 27-11 with five left before winning the next four in a row to take a 32-27 lead, but Council Rock South’s Matt Scott registered a technical fall in at 285 in the final bout to tie the score.

The Hawks won on criteria (most matches won).

“They wrestled a whole lot better than we did,” Crowell said. “I think they outwrestled us just about every match. For the most part, they wrestled harder than we did. They wanted it better than we did. Why? I don’t know.

“I take the blame for that. It’s my job to make sure these guys are ready to go out there and wrestle really well. … They outwrestled us.”

Nazareth lost the first four bouts, the first two by technical fall. Max Ortman and John Segata then won close decisions to give Council Rock South a 16-0 lead. It was Ortman’s first varsity win. John Segata then rode out Michael Good in the third period to win 1-0 at 127.

Freshman Caleb Kosko got a fall at 133 to get the Blue Eagles on the board. But Patrick Woloshyn pinned Cooper Wenrich at 139 to restore Council Rock South’s 16-point lead.

Jack Campbell got a technical fall for Nazareth at 145, but Daniel Kornev then got a technical fall over Chase Brown at 152. Brown pinned Kornev in the first period at the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic.

Nazareth won the next four, including pins by Dominick Tunison, Cade Campbell and Brayden Zuercher, to take its only lead.

“If you have 13 guys who wrestle really well,” Crowell said, “you can beat pretty much everybody. They wrestled really well.

“There were matches I thought were winnable that we didn’t. There were matches where we weren’t favored, but didn’t do well at all. And, there was one where we thought we were going to win, but it was disaster.”

PIAA Team Wrestling Championships

Friday at 1st Summit Arena, Johnstown

CLASS 3A QUARTERFINALS

Franklin Regional 38, State College 23

Bethlehem Catholic 32, Boyertown 28

107: Mike Nicosia (BC) maj. dec. Jacob Stanchak, 15-2

114: Liam Vance (Boy) maj. dec. Gino Bozzi, 10-0

121: Nico Emili (BC) pinned Carter Fogle, 3:13

127: A.J. Gomez (BC) tech. fall Boden Waite, 24-9, 5:52

133: Andre Cerrato (BC) maj. dec. Brody Tobias 17-3

139: Reef Dillard (BC) tech. fall Liam Diamond, 20-1, 5:21

145: Keanu Dillard (BC) tech. fall Parker Ferri, 20-4, 5:09

152: Logan Oakes (Boy) pinned Julian Augello, 0:20

160: Carter Stouch (Boy) dec. Mason Thomas, 5-3

172: J.D. Heiser (Boy) pinned Nicholas Reyes, 1:21

189: Josh Larrimore (Boy) pinned Zach Papcsy, 2:56

215: Kaleb Dumin (Boy) dec. James Bozzi, 8-2

285: Connor Gillahan (BC) dec. Brody Ayres, 3-1

Norwin 29, Connellsville 26

Council Rock South 33, Nazareth 32 (criteria) 

107: Quinn Bagnell (CRS) tech. fall Jack Dressler, 21-5, 4:54

114: Logan Worth (CRS) tech. fall Derek Fulmer, 17-2, 2:57

121: Max Ortman (CRS) dec. Matt Nigro, 8-4

127: John Segata (CRS) dec. Michael Good, 1-0

133: Caleb Kosko (Naz) pinned Cody Riccardi, 1:15

139: Patrick Woloshyn (CRS) pinned Cooper Wenrich, 1:58

145: Jack Campbell (Naz) tech. fall Michael Rodriguez, 19-4, 3:23

152: Daniel Kornev (CRS) tech. fall Chase Brown, 16-1, 2:49

160: Cade Campbell (Naz) pinned Kris Ortman, 3:08

172: Dominick Tunison (Naz) pinned Zach Andrews, 1:56

189: Elijah Simak (Naz) dec. Adam Pitula, 7-1

215: Brayden Zuercher (Naz) pinned Sam Persofsky, 1:42

285: Matt Scott (CRS) tech. fall Austin Christine, 22-6, 4:36

Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reach at thousenick@mcall.com