Bethlehem Catholic junior Connor Gillahan had to tread a fine line when he stepped on the mat for the final bout of the Golden Hawks PIAA Class 3A quarterfinal with Boyertown.

“Wrestling with those big guys, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Gillahan said.

The Bears won five bouts in a row to cut Bethlehem Catholic’s lead to 29-28 heading to the final bout at heavyweight.

Gillahan, giving up more than 34 pounds to Boyertown senior Brody Ayres, scored a takedown about 10 seconds in, maintained top position for the rest of the first and second period and stayed out of danger on bottom in the third.

Gillahan’s 3-1 win clinched the District 11 champion Golden Hawks’ 32-28 win at 1st Summit Arena in Johnstown Friday night.

“It’s a little scary for sure. Especially, there’s a lot of noise with all of the other big upsets going on,” Gillahan said. “I just stayed focused. Coach told me, ‘Go out there, wrestle smart.’ That’s what I did.”

“Do nothing risky. He (Gillahan) can probably pin that kid (Ayres), but we didn’t need a pin. We needed him to not make a silly mistake,” Bethlehem Catholic coach Mike Cole said. “He’s a great kid. I’ve put him there before and he knows what to do. Smart kid.”

Bethlehem Catholic (14-2) will face District 7 champ Franklin Regional (20-0) in the PIAA 3A semifinals 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

The District 1 champion Bears will drop to the consolation bracket and face District 6 champion State College 9 a.m. Saturday.

The Golden Hawks led 29-4 through seven bouts before Boyertown stormed back, starting with senior Logan Oakes pin in 20 seconds at 152 pounds. Senior Carter Stouch then gave the Bears a tossup win at 160 when he defeated junior Mason Thomas 5-3.

Senior J.D. Heiser earned another first-period fall for Boyertown at 172. At 189, Bethlehem Catholic junior Zach Papcsy led senior Josh Larrimore 7-2 after the first period, but Larrimore scored a takedown about 30 seconds into the second and locked up the fall in 2:56.

“It gave them some momentum,” Cole said of the pin at 189. “That kid was a pretty good wrestler too and we were performing really well.”

Junior Kaleb Dumin’s 8-2 decision at 215 set the stage for the winner-take-all finale at heavyweight.

The early takedown gave Gillahan the ability to focus almost entirely on staying out of dangerous situations against a bigger opponent.

“That was definitely part of my game plan for sure,” Gillahan said of scoring first. “I know my neutral is pretty good, especially against these bigger guys. The reason I didn’t get back to my offense, though, is I just didn’t want to risk it. I knew I could ride out the guy on top.”

After staying in top position for close to four minutes straight, Gillahan took a couple of stall calls on bottom in the third to avoid a potentially match-changing turn.

“The third period, it was scary. I knew I probably could’ve got out on bottom on that kid,” Gillahan said. “I’m used to wrestling bigger kids, coach has bumped me up plenty of times before. I just figured, if I could just get through that period then the match is done. I was confident I wasn’t going to get turned. I got hit with the stalling a little bit there, but still did my job.”

Bethlehem Catholic won six of the first seven bouts, earning bonus points in each of those wins.

Freshman Michael Nicosia started things off for the Golden Hawks with a 15-2 major at 107. Sophomore Nico Emili secured Becahi’s lone pin of the match at 121 before fellow sophomore AJ Gomez mounted a furious comeback at 127.

Gomez trailed junior Boden Waite 8-1 about a minute into the bout before he scored a takedown each in the first, second and third period and a trio of four-point turns to earn a 24-9 technical fall in 5:52.

“AJ, what a fabulous mindset, right?,” Cole said. “He’s down by seven or five, I think it was five, and he just chips away at it and then just dominates. It was awesome, great mindset by him.”

Sophomore Andre Cerrato won a 17-3 major decision at 133 before junior Reef Dillard and senior Keanu Dillard earned back-to-back tech falls at 139 and 145, respectively.

The Golden Hawks are looking for their fifth straight PIAA 3A team tournament title.

“A lot of things,” Cole said of where Becahi needs to improve ahead of Saturday. “We can win. We just gotta compete at all the right weights.”