Luke Fugazzotto can see the progress in the process.

Each time he steps on the mat, the Northwestern junior seems to take another leap forward.

Fugazzotto showed his growth a year ago with a spot in the PIAA Class 2A 172-pound final.

And he has continued that evolution — and dominance — this season, winning his first 36 matches, including the 100th of his career, to open his junior campaign.

His challenge in Saturday’s 191-pound final at the annual Coal Cracker wrestling tournament at Lehighton came against Faith Christian Academy’s Adam Waters, a rematch of last year’s state final, and another opportunity for Fugazzotto to showcase the strides he’s made since their last meeting.

While it was Waters who prevailed with a technical fall victory to claim the title, Fugazzotto walked away showing that his ongoing evolution is headed in the right direction.

“I definitely feel like I still need improvement,” said Fugazzotto. “There’s some stuff to work on, and now that I wrestled him again, it’s kind of given me a renewed focus and better understanding of what I need to do to get better.”

In last year’s state final, Waters pinned Fugazzotto in 1:41 to claim his second straight state title.

On Saturday, Waters led 6-2 after the first period, and pushed his advantage to 10-2 in the second after an escape and his third takedown of the match.

But Fugazzotto responded with an escape and a takedown midway through the period to trim the deficit to 10-6.

Waters, who is 31-0, extended the advantage with a takedown in the final 30 seconds and got four back points to make it 18-6 after the second period. A takedown 11 seconds into the third period secured the tech and the 21-6 (4:11) win for the junior.

“It definitely helps, because it’s good to get that really good competition and those really good matches. Those are the ones that make you better,” said Fugazzotto, who is now 36-1. “The ones where you get a pin in the first period, you’re not really going to get better from those.”

But Fugazzotto still had plenty of those at the two-day tournament. He reached the finals with five pins, coming in times of 0:11, 0:19, 1:30, 0:32 and 1:07.

“I’ve definitely crisped up my technique,” he said. “I’ve been exposing myself to new styles and stuff, different ways of drilling and working out. That exposure has really helped.”

Fugazzotto has recorded 28 pins so far this season. The momentum he created at the end of last year has certainly carried over, something that could lead to another big postseason run.

“It definitely gives me a lot of confidence in these tournaments,” said Fugazzotto. “And feeling like I have to kind of protect a reputation in a way. It helps me wrestle better. But just being out there in that environment and getting that far teaches me a lot mentally.

“In a way, it was the same outcome (against Waters). But it gives me a little bit of confidence just going forward. And I’ve definitely gotten better in a way.”

While Fugazzotto has already claimed his 100th career win as a junior, he’s also well on his way to another milestone — 100 career pins. He currently has 86 career pins and 113 victories against 17 losses.

Faith Christian Academy, the top team in the country and coached by Northwestern grad Ben Clymer, won the team title with a whopping 344 points to easily outpace Central Dauphin (159.5). The Lions had eight champions, including Fred Bachmann (116), who was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.

The Tigers competed in a dual meet against Catasauqua last week, picking up a 58-18 win.

The Tiger had five pins in the. The quickest fall came from Weston Killar (114) in 1:11, while Chase Sukanick (133), Noah Griffith (139), Colby Townley (145) and Jackson Bailey (215) all added pins.

Braydon Uricchio (127) and Luke Fugazzotto (189) also picked up technical falls for the winners.

The Tigers end the dual meet season at 13-5 overall and in fourth place in the District 11 Class 2A team rankings. The top eight teams qualify for the district team tournament on Feb. 1.

Northwestern 58, Catasauqua 18

107 - Logan Uricchio (NW) won by forfeit; 114 - Weston Killar (NW) pinned Jayce Perez in 1:11; 121 - Gavin Hacker (C) pinned Elijah McCown in 1:15; 127 - Braydon Uricchio (NW) tech. fall Ayden Frisby, 15-0 (4:00); 133 - Chase Sukanick (NW) pinned Jonathan Rizzo on 1:38; 139 - Noah Griffith (NW) pinned Brenden Takacs in 4:49; 145 - Colby Townley (NW) pinned Jonathan Cordon-Pinto in 4:50; 152 - Aiden Hill (C) inj. default over Hunter Greenwalt in 0:44; 160 - Noah Koehler (NW) won by forfeit; 172 - Vinnie Fugazzotto (NW) won by forfeit; 189 - Luke Fugazzotto (NW) tech. fall Eli Sandt, 17-2 (1:09); 215 - Jackson Bailey (NW) pinned Braden Bartholomew in 2:52; 285 - Jacob Ramos (C) pinned Jackson Huber in 2:38.