It was a moment of relief for Thomas Alcaro at the Northeast Regional Class AAA championships last weekend. After losing in the semifinals to Delaware Valley's Matt Wagner by an 8-2 decision, Alcaro needed one victory to qualify for the PIAA state tournament.

He got that in his first consolation round, picking up a 3-1 decision over Pleasant Valley's Trent Thomas and coupled it with a bronze medal following a fall over Bethlehem Catholic's Brandon Blobe in 2:41 in the 195-pound consolation final.

Alcaro and teammate Lucas Schaf (132) are the lone Green Hornets to reach this week's PIAA wrestling championships.

Schaf won his way through three consolation round matches to solidify his ticket to Hershey, before losing to Becahi's Joey Gould 3-1 in the third place final.

For Alcaro, however, getting to Hershey for the first time of his career on his final chance was a special moment for the senior.

"I'm really happy to go to Hershey," Alcaro said. "It was a goal of mine since freshman year and I'm really satisfied. After not making it last year, I was really anxious heading into my match against Thomas. I'm just happy it worked out."

For his senior teammate Cole Franklin, things didn't work out how the Hornets would have hoped. Franklin lost in the 160-pound semifinals to Wyoming Valley West's Cody Cordes 14-2 and then was bumped into the consolation round, where he needed one win to advance to Hershey.

That win never came, as Bangor's Dallas LaBar scored a 9-5 upset to end Franklin's hopes of joining Alcaro and Schaf on the state's main stage.

Franklin would come back and win his fifth place match by a 10-3 score over Andrew Burgette of Scranton to end his career with one more win.

"Me and Cole were practice partners this year and it hurts that he didn't make it," Alcaro said. "I'm disappointed for him, but I'm sure he'll come out and still be my partner. I want to come away with a medal and try to finish in the top-six."