On Saturday, it was proven on a big stage.

Williamsport had an impressive eight wrestlers make it out of the District 4 Class AAA championships and qualify for the Northeast Class AAA Regional tournament next week at Bethlehem Liberty.

“It’s awesome to see because at the beginning of the year, I believe we’re still a competitive team, but we really started to build up throughout the year,” Williamsport’s Jordan Piselli said. “We don’t do so great in a lot of duals because we’re missing so many weights, so it’s hard to combat those points we’re giving up off the bat. Once again I think we’re really showing that we do belong even though we’re missing part of our team.”

That was evident on Saturday.

The District IV AAA Champions pose for a photo at Williamsport High School during the Championships Finals. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Piselli was Williamsport’s lone gold medalist on Saturday as he won at 114 pounds. Joining him though heading to regionals included a pair of silver medalists in Colin Nasdeo (127) and Jackson Raker (215). The Millionaires saw Gabe Spagnuolo (107), Lauger Waldman (139), Alex Wright (145), Jahki Burget (152) and Austin Dunlap (160) all claim bronze medals as well and advance.

The top three finishers at each weight at the District 4 tournament advanced to the regional tournament.

“That’s great. We start off the season slow, but the past couple of years we noticed we hit districts and everyone’s a new man,” Nasdeo said. “Having eight of our guys move on, it’s fantastic. We were going for 10, but it’s the next best thing and we got eight going and those two who didn’t make it will still be practicing with us and still being around the team. It’s like everybody’s going, everyone’s still here.”

Piselli dominated his match at 114 pounds against Shikellamy’s Max Hallman. After a scoreless first period, Piselli got control midway through and went ahead, 4-0, going into the third period.

And there, Piselli kept working and gaining an advantage.

Christian Boetsch of Shikellamy taked down Jackson Raker of Williamsport during their match at 215 pounds at the District IV Championship wrestling at Williamsport High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

“I think just relentless pressure (was key). You can avoid points or stay defensive for only so long and once you get past that breaking point, the points start to rattle up,” Piselli said. “Looking to score is what really pulled the match out for me.”

In that third period, Piselli scored 12 points to secure a 16-0, 5:49 tech fall late in the third period.

“It means a lot (to win gold) because we travel a lot for our dual tournaments. Of course a lot of people I’ll see out at regionals and I’ll take a couple losses on my record, some I don’t even believe I deserve, but when I’m here it shows how I can stack up against local competition,” PIselli said.

Piselli, ranked No. 18 in the state at 114, went 2-0 on Saturday and both wins were tech fall victories. The Millionaire cruised against CMVT senior Lande Hess in the semifinals with a 17-1, 1:55 tech.

“It’s also familiar opponents and it was good to show that I haven’t given up any ground and my hard work is still continuing to pay off,” Piselli said.

Collin Nasdeo of Williamsport tries to escape the grasp of Zaine Campbell of Athens during their match at 127 pounds at the District IV Championship wrestling at Williamsport High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

At 127, Nasdeo had a tough final matchup with Zaine Campbell of Athens. Nasdeo, ranked No. 30 in the state, got to the final after a dominating 16-1, 2:56 tech win against Gavin Rebuck of Selinsgrove in the semifinals.

In the final, Nasdeo went ahead 6-5 with 45 seconds left thanks to an escape. But the Millionaire was caught off guard and taken down by Campbell with roughly 30 seconds left in the third and trailed, 8-6.

“I don’t know, I kind of lost focused of what the goal was and gave up that takedown and just couldn’t recover,” Nasdeo said. “Time was going low and I didn’t know what else to do. Almost in shock a little bit that I gave it up.”

Nasdeo kept trying to battle those final dozen seconds but wasn’t able to score and force overtime or win. But, regardless, Nasdeo is still glad his senior year continues with another trip to the Northeast Class AAA Regional tournament.

“That’s the first thing coach always says: worry about moving on,” Nasdeo said. “If it’s third or first, get to the next place and I guess I’m happy doing that.”

At 215, Raker reached the final after a fall in 5:14 in the championship semifinals over Selinsgrove’s Owen Hoffman. In the final, Raker ran into Shikellamy’s Christian Boetsch, ranked No. 29 in Pennsylvania. Boetsch wrestled well and prevented Raker from scoring points in a 4-1 SV victory.

Spagnuolo won at 107 to take bronze by picking up a 10-0 major decision over Shikellamy’s Austin Wolfe. At Waldman took bronze at 139 with an 8-1 decision victory against Athens’ David Janiszeski. Burget won at 152 by earning a 12-4 major win vs. Shikellamy’s Aydin Cox and at 160, Dunlap pinned Athens’ Ryan Howard in 4:27.

Wright earned a fall in 4:20 against Benjamin Lovell of Jersey Shore to take third at 145.

Williams was pinned at 189 by Alex Modawar of Selinsgrove in the third-place finals.

The Millionaires’ Steven Bott came a win shy of advancing to regionals. After losing to Shikellamy’s Keatin Lattimore in the championship semifinals by major decision, 10-1, Bott earned a 1:25 fall against Keegan Moyer of CMVT to reach the consolation semifinals. However his run ended there as Selinsgrove’s Dagen Piermattei won with a 16-0, 3:06 tech fall win.