Even though Quentin Bernhard isn't advancing to this week's PIAA Wrestling Championships, the Northwestern sophomore can still consider this season a success.

Bernhard wrestled valiantly at the Class AA Southeast Regional tournament this past weekend, finishing in sixth place at 113 pounds, one spot away from advancing to Hershey.

That performance comes on the heels of a fourth-place finish in the District 11 tournament, not bad for a wrestler that is only in his second year at the high school level.

"He wrestled better this weekend than he did last weekend, and that's a positive thing," Northwestern coach Jim Moll said of Bernhard's performance at the regional tournament. "That's all we try to get him to do, is to just wrestle a good match. The wins will take care of themselves if you're giving the effort."

Bernhard started strong, claiming a first-period pin over Bishop McDevitt's Artemio Rodriguez in his preliminary match.

But the sophomore suffered a setback in his quarterfinal bout, dropping a 4-3 decision to Trinity's Chase Drawbaugh, a difficult match that gave Bernhard confidence going into the consolation bracket.

"I knew I wrestled tough. He's a good kid that was second in District 3," Bernhard said of Drawbaugh. "I was only in the consis at the District 11 tournament.

"But I was hanging right with him until the end and I only lost by one point."

Bernhard certainly wasted little time in the consolation round, picking up two wins by decision with a chance to advance to the third-place match, where he met Upper Dauphin's Coy Campbell.

Bernhard struggled to get to his offense against the District 3 champion, dropping a 7-0 decision that sent him to the fifth-place match, where he once again met Drawbaugh.

Another back-and-forth battle ensued, but Bernhard came up short again, this time dropping a 4-2 decision.

Despite the loss, the progress Bernhard has made this season is undeniable.

"I always refer back to his match with (Jacob) Wasser," Moll said of the 1-0 loss to the Palisades senior in January, who was a district and regional runner-up this season. "That was a really close match with one of the best kids in the district.

"He was right in the match with him, and I think that should give him a lot of confidence. Couple that with the way he's wrestled this weekend, and I think his confidence should be pretty high heading into next season."

While the Tigers won't have any qualifiers for the state tournament this year after sending Michael Ortiz a season ago, the future looks bright for a squad that features several talented underclassmen that should only improve as they get more experience.