Luke Fugazzotto was in this same spot last season.

As a freshman, Fugazzotto made it to the third-place match at the Southeast Regional wrestling tournament where he fell in a back-and-forth match to West Perry’s Justice Hockenberry-Folk.

This time, things would be different.

On Saturday, against Berks Catholic’s Carmine Lenzi, Fugazzotto showed the poise and postseason experience of a wrestler primed to make a run in his second trip to states.

Fugazzotto ended his regional tournament in impressive fashion, posting a 7-5 victory over Lenzi to take third at 172 pounds.

“I’m pretty happy. It wasn’t the best semifinal,” Fugazzotto said of a loss to defending state champion Adam Waters of Faith Christian Academy. “It wasn’t the match that I wanted, but I was able to battle back and got third. The third-place match, the score was pretty close, but it’s still a (good) placement.

“I went in pretty confident. I could have been a little more offensive, like at the end. I think I could have scored more.”

It was an impressive showing for the sophomore, who won both of his matches after falling to Waters via technical fall in the semis earlier in the day at Freedom High School.

Fugazzotto didn’t waver after falling to Waters, who won his second straight regional title, in the semis. The sophomore pinned Joshua Kauffman (Susquenita) in 1:25 in the consolation semis to reach the third-place match.

A takedown in the first period gave Fugazzotto a 2-0 lead. Lenzi answered with a takedown in the first 15 seconds of the third period to tie it, but Fugazzotto was able to get a reversal with 1:35 left in the period to take a 4-2 lead, which is how it would stay through the remainder of the period.

“Lenzi had a nice takedown in the first period,” said Tigers’ coach Joe Killar. “But Luke didn’t let it faze him. He just kept wrestling, so that was good. I was happy with that.

“He got taken down, and then he reversed him right away. He kept wrestling.” Fugazzotto got a takedown with 1:24 left in the third to make it 6-2. Lenzi had an escape and a takedown in the final 0:33 of the third period to cut the deficit to 6-5 before Fugazzotto added an escape with 0:23 left after the takedown to make it 7-5.

“I thought he wrestled well in that match,” said Killar. “He gave up that takedown near the end. But it was good for him to go out as high as he can, which today was third, so that was good for him.

“I think he probably has more confidence than he did last year. I think he’s excited for states, and will be ready to compete when we’re out there.”

It was the second win of the tournament against a state qualifier from last year for Fugazzotto, who went 4-1 with two pins and a major decision in addition to his win over Lenzi.

Fugazzotto knows what it takes to wrestle with the best of the best, something he’s ready to show in his second trip to states.

“I’m feeling good,” said Fugazzotto, who was a runner-up at districts last week. “I made blood round last year (at states), and I already did better at regionals than I did last year when I placed fourth. It’s given me more confidence, and I’m ready to go back.

“It feels good (to end this tournament with a win). The pressure’s off. Now you wait until Thursday.”

Fugazzotto took care of business in his two matches Friday night in order to reach Saturday’s semifinals.

The first night of the Southeast Regional wrestling tournament was part of a long process for the Northwestern sophomore.

Fugazzotto wasted no time in his 172-pound quarterfinal match, securing a takedown against Trinity’s Anthony DeAngelo in the first 10 seconds and quickly adding three back points to make it 5-0.

“Not saying that you don’t have to work harder throughout the match, or that you can stop working hard, but once you get an early lead it just feels good,” said Fugazzotto. “If you want to lay off a little but still be active you’re able to do that.”

The pair wrestled a scoreless second period. Fugazzotto got a reversal within the first 20 seconds of the third period to make it 7-0, and added three back points with 0:08 remaining to seal the major decision, 10-0.

“Even though I was up, on my defense I just tried to stay offensive,” said Fugazzotto. “It might have seemed defensive, but I was just waiting for openings.”

DeAngelo was fourth at regionals and advanced to states wrestling for Carlisle last season, and is a 100-match winner in his career.

Fugazzotto was a district runner-up two weeks ago as the top seed, falling to Notre Dame Green Pond’s Keegan Ramsay 8-2.

“I feel like I’m at a perfect place,” said Fugazzotto. “I might not be able to avenge my match that I lost at districts, but that’s one of my new goals. If I keep wrestling like this, I think that I’ll be able to do good things.”

The sophomore was all business in the prelims. Fugazzotto got a quick takedown against Camp Hill’s Austin Shore before turning it into back points, and eventually a pin in 1:33 to reach the quarterfinals.

“It felt good,” said Fugazzotto. “It just helps you get ready for the rest of the tournament. There are always tough guys to wrestle. And once you get there, you made it there with the matches you won, and you just have to wrestle your hardest.”

Fugazzotto is far from finished. But he handled his business in impressive fashion Friday night.

“It took a couple days,” Fugazzotto said of getting over his loss in the district finals. “But it just hit me, like, ‘I have to keep wrestling.’ And if I do keep wrestling I’ll see him again.”

Northwestern’s Noah Schlofer also competed in regionals.

The Tiger senior dropped his opening bout at regional to West Perry’s Quade Boden beat Schlofer 2-1 (TB2). He bounced back with a 5-4 decision over Landon Klinger of Halifax at 215 pounds.

Schlofer’s tournament ended in the next round with a 15-7 loss to Delone Catholic’s Caleb Tyler.

Schlofer went 24-13 as a senior and finished his career at 74-39. He won over 20 matches the past three seasons after competing in just one varsity match in his freshman year in 2021.