Gage Wentzel of Montoursville flips over and scores points on Max Wirnsberger during their match at 172 pounds during the PIAA Northeast Region AA championships at Williamsport High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Everything has essentially led to this for Montoursville senior Gage Wentzel. Last year, he found himself suffering a tough 12-3 major decision loss against Faith Christian Academy’s Nick Singer in the state final.

It wasn’t the ending to his junior year that he wanted. Now he’s back at the state tournament and plain and simple, a gold medal is what Wentzel wants.

It’s eluded him for the past three years, and Wentzel feels he’s on a mission for it.

“God gave me a vision for a reason. I just wanna go out there and capitalize on it. What I can do is go out there and pray for God to give me the abilities and he’s given me a lot of abilities,” Wentzel said. “I’m very blessed to have the abilities that I have. He gave me a lot of things and it’s my job to go out there and have faith in him that he put before me in everything I do. Just go out there and wrestle and be free and calm doing it. Just have fun.”

That type of mindset is why Wentzel is 45-2 this year and has claimed gold medals at the Central Sectional, District 4 and Northeast Class AA Regional tournaments in three consecutive weekends. Making it a 4 for 4 sweep would be perfect.

Wentzel’s lone losses this year came to Warrior Run’s Max Wirnsberger on Dec. 20 by decision, 2-1 TB1, and to University, West Virginia’s Maximus Fortier on Dec. 30.

Wentzel avenged that loss to Wirnsberger twice, once in the District 4 Class AA 172-pound final and then again this past weekend at the Northeast Class AA Regional. At regionals, he earned a 6-3 win to knock off Wirnsberger, securing it with a late third-period takedown.

“I was getting his head down, getting his feet moving, I was touching his legs a lot. I was creating flurries and that’s what I needed to do,” Wentzel said about wrestling Wirnsberger in the final. “To get that takedown was big and I knew I was going to get it and I knew I just had faith and get it. God gave me the conditioning, endurance, the will and I got it.”

Now it’s the biggest tournament of them all as Wentzel heads back to the Giant Center for the PIAA Class AA championships. Wentzel is a three-time state medalist having taken fifth as a freshman, fourth as a sophomore and silver as a junior.

“Mindset. Mindset is a big thing. Everybody is the same out there and seeding doesn’t mean anything. Numbers don’t mean anything,” Wentzel said of what he knows going into states. “What matters is just putting your faith in God and being prepared for whatever.”

Faith is a big thing for Wentzel. He mentions it in each interview with media, and that’s something he considers a strength and why he’s been so successful.

“When you wrestle with God, you’re prepared for whatever,” Wentzel said. “Whether it’s a 1-0 match or a tech fall, a pin in 10 seconds, you’re ready.”

And needless to say, Wentzel is ready for his final state tournament and, if Wentzel wrestles as he has been all year and the postseason so far, a gold medal is more than obtainable for him for the first time.

Wentzel is the top seed in the 172 bracket and will face either Tri Valley junior Hunter Updegrave (34-16) or Penns Valley senior Brayden Lisowski (29-10) on Thursday. The bottom hal of the bracket sees Faith Christian junior Nick Singer (29-4), the Southeast Class AA Regional champion, as the top seed.