Next stop: Wilson High School

For 12 area wrestlers, the journey to the PIAA tournament now runs through West Lawn, a suburb of Reading, next Friday and Saturday in the Southeast Regional hosted by Wilson High School.

Five wrestlers in each weight class will advance out of the regional and into the state tournament at Hershey's Giant Center on March 6-8.

Wrestling begins at 5 p.m. Friday with the preliminary round bouts followed by the quarterfinals and the preliminary round consolations. According to the schedule, wrestling resumes at 9:30 a.m. Saturday with the semifinals and first round of consolations.

Now for the area qualifiers making the trek to Berks County:

103: Charlie Bise of East Pennsboro and Boiling Springs' Ean Starner could meet for a fourth time this year and third in as many weeks as they'll begin on opposite sides of the bracket. In the most recent encounter, Bise beat Starner, 7-4, for the district title Saturday.

112: Boiling Springs sophomore Joe Spisak will look to build on the momentum that helped him win his second district title rather easily this weekend with a fall, decision and two majors, including one in the district final.

119: East Penn's Garrett Conrad won three straight consolation matches before falling in the third-place bout Saturday.

125: Boiling Springs has another participant here as Tyler Thumma enters as a fifth seed after beating ELCO's Jason Weaver, 6-2, for fifth to snap a two-match losing streak.

140: Dakota Kuhn is simply rolling. The Boiling Springs junior collected the district title with a 15-6 rout of Biglerville senior Shay Shive.

145: Back-to-back district titles have Susquenita junior Joe Harper anxious for the state tournament. Just don't look past this weekend.

152: Maybe the biggest surprise at AA was Derec Sauve's run to the district final. The Susquenita sophomore rolled into the final with a fall, major and 10-5 decision in the semifinal.

160: Another Blackhawk, Kyle Gilbert, had an up-and-down district tournament that was highlighted by an 11-2 major over Jorge Castro of Milton Hershey in the fifth-place bout.

171: East Penn's third regional qualifier is Zack Nye, a freshman who battled through the consolation bracket to claim fifth.

189: Boiling Springs' Travis Empson needs to forget Saturday and focus on the future. Empson came into districts 21-14 but landed in the semifinals before losing 11-3 and 16-0. Empson did squeeze in a 10-3 win during the consolation semifinals to grab back some confidence. East Penn's Max Miller also makes an appearance here but it was he who suffered the loss to Empson on Saturday. Miller is the district's sixth-place finisher.

Regional qualifiers by team:

Boiling Springs 5

East Pennsboro 4
Susquenita 3

Locals bring home eight golds

Wrestling has concluded at the Hersheypark Arena and eight local wrestlers can call themselves District champions:

Class AAA
135 -- Tom Wiechelt (CV)
140 -- Bryce Busler (CV)
152 -- Mallie Shuster (BiS)
160 -- Mike Evans (CV)

Class AA
103 -- Charlie Bise (EP)
112 -- Joe Spisak (BoS)
140 -- Dakota Kuhn (BoS)
145 -- Joe Harper (Sus)

Wiechelt slips by Wilson

Cumberland Valley senior Tom Wiechelt used an escape point and a takdown to beat Carlisle freshman Jayson Wilson, 6-3, in the second overtime to secure the district 135-pound title.

Wilson led, 3-2, late in the bout when the referee hit Wilson with a stalling violation, giving Wiechelt the equalizing point he used to take first place.

Spisak repeats

One year after winning gold as a 103-pound freshman, Boiling Springs sophomore Joe Spisak grabbed the 112-pound version of the medal Saturday night at the Hersheypark Arena.

Spisak spent the majority of his sophomore season at 119, which helped prepare him to come out on top of a loaded bracket.

In the final, Spisak controlled Brandywine Hights sophomore Zane Yocco (41-7) for a 12-3 major decsion.

Bise beats Starner

East Pennsboro freshman Charlie Bise won the Class AA 103-pound title with a 7-4 win over Boiling Springs freshman Ean Starner on Saturday night at the Hersheypark Arena.

Starner had beaten Bise in the wrestlers' previous two encounters this year.

The gold is East Penn's first since 1997.

Estricher finds bronze in OT

Mechanicsburg senior heavyweight Danny Estricher scored a takedown in overtime to beat Chris Butterworth, 3-1, for third place in Class AAA on Saturday evening.

Estricher lost in the semifinals earlier this afternoon before rallying in the consolation semifinals for a 3:46 pin of Brandon Kline to keep his PIAA tournament hopes alive.

Stephenson takes bronze

Northern 140-pounder Eddie Stephenson used a late rally to beat Muhlenberg's Bo Cadelaria, 4-3, and stake his claim to a bronze medal in Class AAA Saturday evening at the Hersheypark Arena .

Stephenson won three matches in a row in the consolation bracket after losing to top-seeded Central Dauphin sophomore Marshall Peppelman, 5-0, Friday evening in the quarterfinals.