Disappointment couldn’t begin to describe the feeling.

It was a difficult moment for both Luke Fugazzotto and Buck Miller on Friday.

On the doorstep of securing a spot in the top eight at the PIAA Wrestling Championships, both Fugazzotto and Miller were dealt devastating defeats in the blood round.

But it didn’t diminish what the Northwestern duo had already done, or what they are still capable of.

Both left Hershey registering wins competing over two days at the state tournament.

For Fugazzotto, the trip to Hershey is one to build on and a visit he hopes to repeat in the future with a longer stay, while Miller closed out his high school career with his second straight appearance at the state tournament and a berth in the quarterfinals.

“They were competing,” said Tigers head coach Joe Killar. “They had a chance to make it happen, it just didn’t work out. They were close, they put the effort in, just sometimes things don’t work out.”

Fugazzotto fell 7-6 to Glendale’s Zeke Dubler at 160 pounds in the third round of consolations, while Miller lost a 4-1 decision to Faith Christian’s Jason Singer at 189 pounds in the Class 2A tournament.

Dubler is a Lehigh commit, who was a district champ and regional runner-up each of the last two seasons. He placed fourth at states a year ago.

The senior got a takedown in the first 10 seconds before an escape by Fugazzotto toward the end of the first period made it 2-1.

Dubler scored three back points near the midway point of the second period before another escape from Fugazzotto brought the score to 5-2.

The third period saw Dubler push his lead to five points with a reversal before Fugazzotto’s escape.

Dubler got a stall warning with 0:26, and Fugazzotto scored a takedown two seconds later to make it 7-5. Fugazzotto got a point when Dubler was hit for stalling with 0:09 left to make it a one-point match, which is how it would finish.

“Mentally, he wrestled tough and didn’t give up in that last match,” Killar said of Fugazzotto. “He was down by five and came back. Mentally, he’s a tough kid. It just didn’t happen today, and that’s how it goes. But I was proud of him. He wrestled really hard and didn’t give up. I can’t ask for much more.”

Fugazzotto, a league and district champion this season, has wrestled some of the best in his first trip to Hershey, facing Laurel’s Grant MacKay - a former state champion and runner-up who is committed to the University of Pittsburgh in the first round.

Singer, a freshman, was fourth at regionals last week, where he pinned Miller in 4:54. Miller had posted a 3-2 win over Singer in their match at the Coal Cracker Tournament in January.

After a scoreless first period, Singer went ahead 2-0 with a reversal with 1:34 left in the second. Miller got an escape with 0:48 remaining in the period, but Singer pushed his lead to 4-1 with a takedown with 0:36 to go in the second, a move that also provided the final margin after a scoreless third period.

“His goal was to place at states and he came up a couple points short of meeting his goal, but I’m really proud of him,” Killar said of Miller, who registered a pair of wins at states this year after going winless in two matches last season.

“They both tried, put the effort in, but sometimes stuff doesn’t work out.”

Fugazzotto stayed alive with a 4-3 decision over Milton’s Alex Hoffman (33-10), the Northeast Regional runner-up who won both his district and sectional tournaments, in the second round of consolations.

The freshman broke the seal with a takedown in the waning moments of the first period to take a 2-0 lead.

Hoffman got an escape in the second period to make it 2-1.

Fugazzotto got out from bottom and nearly had a takedown near the edge of the mat early in the third period. But the takedown was waved off and Fugazzotto was given an escape to make it 3-1.

Hoffman countered with a takedown to tie it at 3-3 with 1:29 remaining near the edge of the mat.

The pair restarted on their feet, with Fugazzotto getting a point for an escape to go ahead 4-3. He would hold that advantage for the remainder of the period to secure the win.

Miller fell 7-0 to General McLane’s Magnus Lloyd (31-8), the Northwest Regional runner-up, in the quarterfinals.

Lloyd scored first with a takedown after a reset with 0:31 left in the first period to take a 2-0 lead.

Lloyd got out from bottom off the whistle with 1:05 left in the third period and added a takedown to make it 5-0.

Miller wasn’t able to generate any offense, and another takedown by Lloyd with 0:35 left in the third period set the final score.

Win or lose, Fugazzotto and Miller - who will likely wrestle at Wilkes University - have been leaders for the Tigers both on and off the mat, setting an example that will extend well beyond their stay in Hershey.

“They were close to meeting their goals, just a little short of them,” said Killar. “But they’ll move on, the sun will rise.”

Miller couldn’t have asked for a better start on Thursday.

The Northwestern senior punched his ticket to the quarterfinals with a pair of victories.

After a pin in his first match, Miller rode that momentum into a 7-6 win over Honesdale’s Paul Renner in his 189-pound Class 2A first round bout.

Miller was 0-2 at last year’s state tournament. He lost two close bouts, falling to Bald Eagle Area’s Caleb Close 1-0, and Jalen Wagner of Reynolds 5-2.

He made sure those outcomes wouldn’t happen again.

“Definitely a lot more confident,” Miller said of his match with Renner. “I knew I was in a good position, just from the start of the tournament. I started off strong because I had all the confidence in the world from my first match.”

It showed early, as Miller (33-9) secured a takedown in the first 20 seconds to build a 2-0 lead.

The advantage increased to 6-2 in the second period as Miller added two more takedowns.

“It was very important,” said Miller. “I knew if I could get a few takedowns and try to get a lead, I would be OK. It definitely started to close toward the end, almost cost me the match. But that’s something I’ve been working on all year, and I’m getting better at it.”

After Miller got an escape with 1:23 left in the third period, Renner (34-11) got a point on a stalling call.

Renner, the Northeast Regional champion, got another stalling point with 0:07 left, and two points when Miller was hit for stalling again with 0:03 remaining to make it 7-6.

“I was a little mad at myself for giving up all those stall calls,” said Miller. “It definitely was just bad wrestling on my part. But if he choose bottom, or was on his feet it wouldn’t have mattered. I knew I had it.”

And he did. Miller kept Renner down off the whistle with three seconds left to secure the win.

“He’s flowing a little more,” Killar said of Miller. “He shut it down a little in the last match too early. I wish he wouldn’t (have), because instead of beating that kid by a point he could have won by 10 or so. But he got by, which is all you need to do here.”

After receiving a forfeit in his 160-pound preliminary round match, Fugazzotto got his feet wet in the first round against MacKay, who posted a 15-7 major decision.

MacKay (44-1) registered three takedowns in the first period and built a 6-2 lead with Fugazzotto getting points on a pair of escapes.

In the second period, MacKay again scored two takedowns with Fugazzotto’s two escape points making it 10-4. But Fugazzotto secured a reversal with 0:37 remaining in the period before a MacKay escape made it 11-6 heading to the third period.

“I didn’t really mind it,” Fugazzotto said of MacKay letting him up off the whistle. “I felt like I was doing good in neutral, so it wasn’t that bad. I felt like I would have done better in neutral, rather than him being on top.”

Fugazzotto (36-9) had a takedown opportunity near the edge of the mat in the third period, which would have cut the deficit to 11-8, but couldn’t quite finish it.

“After the match, the coaches talked about what I could have done better, and I agree with them,” said Fugazzotto. “Maybe I could have gotten a takedown or two. But that experience will help me.”

MacKay added two more takedowns in the period with Fugazzotto getting another point off an escape.

“There’s not going to be many kids better than him that he just wrestled,” Killar said of MacKay. “I thought he wrestled well, he just wrestled someone that was a little better than him today. There’s no shame in how he wrestled. I thought he did a good job. I thought he had a takedown (in the third period). But he wrestled well. He was going at it.

“I’m just excited that the kids are getting there. We’ll see if we can get a couple more wins or maybe more than that for both of them and bring home some medals. I think we can do it.”

It didn’t take long for Fugazzotto to have his hand raised at the PIAA Wrestling Championships. Miller wasn’t far behind.

The Northwestern pair posted preliminary round victories in the Class 2A bracket on the opening day of the state tournament Thursday morning.

Fugazzotto received a forfeit in his 160-pound bout, while Miller dispatched Beth-Center’s Jake Layhue with a first-period pin in his 189-pound match on a nearby mat just moments later.

For Miller, who is making his second straight appearance in Hershey, it was just the icebreaker he was looking for.

Miller (32-9) didn’t waste time seizing momentum with the first takedown 0:31 into the match against Layhue (38-12). He added two back points near the midway point of the first period before finishing the match at the 1:17 mark.

“I’ve just been working on a couple of areas that needed work,” said Miller, who was fifth at last week’s Southeast Regional Tournament. “Practicing the same things we always do, kind of a little more relaxed. I was hoping Luke could get some of that weight off (of his shoulders).”

Layhue was fourth at regionals, second at districts and was a runner-up at his section tournament.

Fugazzotto (36-8) was hoping to also find his stride in his preliminary bout, which was scheduled to be against Jefferson Morgan’s Chase Frameli (33-9).

Frameli was a state qualifier last year, and placed sixth at both regionals and districts this season after winning his sectional tournament. While Fugazzotto was looking forward to the opportunity to wrestle, he’s eager to make the most of his first trip to the Giant Center.

“It’s really fun so far, just being in this big arena and everything,” said Fugazzotto. “I really like the atmosphere.”

Fugazzotto, who was fourth last week at regionals, has experienced it before as a fan, watching the finals on some occasions.

Now, he’s looking forward to adding to his own legacy during a season that has already included District 11 and Colonial League titles.