It may have been a little tougher for Freedom’s Jared Karabinus at the Northeast Regional 3A wrestling tournament compared to districts, but the result didn’t change.

Karabinus walked away with his second straight gold medal in as many weeks following a 16-5 major decision over Bethlehem Catholic’s James Deluise in the 189-pound finals at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium last Saturday afternoon.

After pinning Easton’s Shane Linegar in the district finals, Karabinus had to work a little more for his first regional crown, but it still came in dominating fashion.

He registered five takedowns in the match and put Deluise on his back twice in the second period for five points to help catapult the major decision. It was a stark contrast from the 5-2 decision over Deluise in the district semifinals, his closest match of the season so far, and displayed his ability to learn and adapt from their prior meeting.

The Freedom senior now heads to Hershey for the PIAA championships this Thursday, hoping his third trip to the Giant Center pays off with a medal around his neck.

“My mindset is to take this momentum and wrestle my match and my pace at Hershey,” said Karabinus. “My objective is to get a medal and that’s been my goal since the beginning of the year.”

Karabinus will be the only Patriot heading to Hershey, as Joe Bodnar came close for Freedom, but was one spot short of qualifying with his fifth-place finish at 139-pounds.

Bodnar made a run to the semifinals, but lost to Nazareth’s Jack Campbell by fall in 5:59 to drop him into the consolation round.

That’s when Bodnar dropped a 12-0 major decision to Bethlehem Catholic’s Marco Frinzi to bounce him out of the running for Hershey. He finished the tournament with a 6-4 decision over Aiden Mcnulty of Bangor for fifth.

After not bringing home a medal during his first two years at the Giant Center, Karabinus hopes the lessons learned can pay dividends this time around.

“I got close last year and lost a tough one to a Nazareth kid in the blood rounds,” he said. “Feel like I can get back out there and do even better this year.”