HERSHEY - Luke Fugazzotto knows confidence is key.

He’s shown it throughout the postseason.

And the Northwestern sophomore put it on display Friday night inside the Giant Center at the PIAA Championships.

A poised Fugazzotto vanquished Notre Dame Green Pond’s Keegan Ramsay in the 172-pound semifinals in the Class 2A tournament to punch his ticket to the finals in his second appearance at states.

“I think he’s matured,” said Tiger head coach Joe Killar. “If he doesn’t score on someone, he doesn’t get flustered, where maybe last year he did. That’s the biggest difference I see with him. Luke always goes hard, wrestles hard. He’s in good shape. I think he’s in better shape than anybody he’s wrestled so far in this tournament, and that shows. In the third period he’s scoring more points than anyone. That’s where he’s winning the matches.”

Fugazzotto took command in the third period in his semifinal match against Ramsay en route to a 6-0 win.

Scoreless through the first two periods, Fugazzotto, who was tough on top throughout the second period, got out from bottom to start the third to grab a 1-0 lead. The sophomore secured a takedown with 0:57 left to push it to 3-0, and added three back points with 0:33 left to seal the 6-0 victory and his spot in the finals.

“I thought Luke wrestled well,” said Killar. “He got tied up a little first period; Ramsay had a nice shot on him in the first period but didn’t finish. The second period, Luke had a great ride. Rode him the period and almost turned him at the end. In the third period he got right out, and Ramsay had to score then himself, and that’s when we were able to capitalize.

“But Luke wrestled well. I’m super happy for him. Happy for his family, everyone. It’s great.”

Fugazzotto and Ramsay had met in the District 11 final on Feb. 24, a match Ramsay won 8-2.

The sophomore never flinched in the rematch - and on the biggest stage of the season - Friday.

In Saturday’s title bout, Fugazzotto fell to Faith Christian’s Adam Waters by fall in 1:41.

It was the second state championship for Waters, who only gave up one point at the PIAA tournament and won his other three bouts by technical fall.

It may not have been the way Fugazzotto - a district runner-up and third-place finisher at regionals this season - wanted to go out at Hershey, but it didn’t take anything away from possibly the best tournament he’s wrestled in his life.

“I just look at the possibilities for next year,” said Fugazzotto, who is only a sophomore. “Bringing home a medal means everything. Wrestling for a small school and being the only guy out here [for Northwestern], I think it says a lot to come out of here with some hardware.”

“Luke had a very tough draw,” said Killar. “His first kid was fourth last year. Then he had to beat a kid that was the state runner-up in his next match. Then he had Ramsay. “

Fugazzotto entered the state tournament with a strong mindset, which played a part in his reaching the semifinal round.

Before defeating Ramsay, he was an underdog against Grove City’s Hunter Hohman in Friday morning’s quarterfinal round.

Fugazzotto upset Hohman 16-12, battling back from an early 4-1 deficit. That win came after pinning Fort Cherry’s Braedon Welsh, who was fourth last year, in overtime to start his run Thursday.

After not coming home from Hershey with a medal his freshman season, the win over Hohman assured the Tiger wrestler he would be bringing home some hardware.

“You’ve just got to keep wrestling because anything can happen,” said Fugazzotto about falling behind against Hohman. “I was down early but it doesn’t matter. A weak-minded person would give up. You’ve just got to keep going. It’s part of the sport.”

An early hole in a quarterfinal match usually doesn’t bode well for competitors at states, but Fugazzotto used a first period reversal to cut the lead to 4-3 and expose a chink in Hohman’s armor.

The two traded takedowns in the second period before Fugazzotto put Hohman on his back late in the period to score a huge four-point move to build a 13-9 lead that would seize control of the match.

“He put up 12 points on me, but still, I had some good attacks and caught him off guard sometimes,” Fugazzotto said. “He was mostly going to my left leg with a sweep single, but they were coming mostly straight on and I think I figured it out.

“It’s all mentality honestly,” he said. “You have to come into this tournament and know that you can beat anyone. I wanted to beat [Hohman] even more because he was in the finals last year. There’s returning medalists getting beat in the first round and you can’t say this guy or that guy is 100 percent going to win. Anything can happen out here.”

During Friday’s matches, Fugazzotto battled through six minutes of regulation against Fort Cherry’s Braedon Welsh to a 1-1 draw, but scored the winning takedown in sudden victory and converted it to a fall in 6:36 to hammer his way to quarterfinals.

“I was just looking for openings and trying to counter his moves to use to my advantage,” Fugazzotto said of the round of 16 matchup. “That was probably the best way to start a tournament.”

Fugazzotto used a cradle to put Welsh on his back in overtime and send the returning state place-winner packing into the consolation round.