Bower’s third-place finish and Nasdeo’s fourth-place finish guaranteed them spots in next weekend’s state tournament in Hershey.

“It means a lot,” Williamsport coach Brian Nasdeo said in response to the Millionaires ending a more than 25-year streak. “I wish it was four, but we were close. I don’t know if we necessarily look at things in those ways. It’s not about what has happened in the last 30 years, it’s about these kids now. We have things to improve on for sure. Everyone who was at the tournament comes back next year for us. With the pandemic and everything, we have kids who didn’t even get to this point that should’ve been here.”

Outside of Bower and Nasdeo, Braden Bower and Roman Morrone both earned fifth-place finishes.

Nasdeo got the day started for Williamsport as the 106-pounder blanked Andrew Binni of Cannon-McMillan 5-0 in the quarterfinals. The sophomore then fell to Dom Fall of Solanco in the semis (6-1) After the loss, Nasdeo rebounded with a 10-3 major decision victory over Rocco Fratelli of Northern York in the consolation semifinals. Nasdeo’s win over Fratelli locked him into a spot at Hershey.

106 Quarter-final Cael Nasdeo (Williamsport) DEC Andrew Binni (Canon-McMillan), 5-0

In the 145-bracket, Riley Bower began his campaign with a quarterfinal match against Ty Linsenbigler of Hempfield. Bower battled back from an early 1-0 deficit to get the 3-2 decision. After the victory, Bower lost to John Altieri of Norwin 2-1 in the second tiebreaker. Bower then defeated Mike Trainor of Octorara 6-1 in the consolation semifinals. Bower followed up the win with another as he earned the 3-2 decision over Ty Linsenbigler of Hempfield area in the third-place bout.

Bower said he knew Saturday’s matches would pose a challenge for him.

“I knew it was going to be tough right off the bat. I went out there and wrestled to my best ability. I tried getting revenge in semis on Altieri, but I lost. After that I just tried not to lose in blood rounds.” Riley Bower said.

In the 152-bracket, Morrone fell to Cumberland Valley’s Gabriel Belga in the quarterfinals. After the opening round loss, Morrone rebounded with a 4-2 victory in the second tiebreaker for a chance to land in the top four. Unfortunately for Morrone, he was downed 14-6 by Paniro Johnson of Catheldral Prep.

As for Braden Bower, he opened his day up with a narrow 2-0 win over Cumberland Valley’s Kyle Miller. Bower’s first win was his last as the 132 pounders then fell to Dylan Chappell (Seneca Valley) and Jude Swisher (Bellefonte) and was knocked out contention.

Brian Nasdeo said the goal for the two wrestlers moving on is to have fun and compete.

“Just wrestle and have fun, Enjoy the times, you only get to do this so many times” Nasdeo said. “It’s a way crazy year, it’s going to be a different states event. We’re going go down there and it’s going to be eight really good kids and we’re going to have some fun.”