Losing is one of the greatest forms of motivation and Emilio Albanese had plenty of it heading into the Northeast Regional 3A tournament last weekend.

After falling to Whitehall’s Willmont Kai 2-1 in the 114-pound District 11 finals, the two met again at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium Saturday evening with another gold medal on the line.

This time Albanese made sure he wouldn’t have that same feeling of standing second on the podium, surviving a late takedown attempt by Kai to escape with a 3-2 victory and his first regional crown.

It was the perfect way for Emmaus to end the weekend, as they finished sixth in the team standings and advanced five wrestlers to this week’s PIAA championships in Hershey.

Albanese’s takedown 57 seconds into the first period proved to be the deciding points and the Hornets’ super sophomore made sure it held up in the end. He was a two-time district runner-up, and is now a regional champ.

“It was disappointing to lose in the district finals, not once but twice, but as our coaches say, as you go on in the postseason each match gets more important,” said Albanese. “I just put last week behind me and this is a great feeling.”

Albanese had to hold off Kai for the final 20 seconds of the bout, as the Zephyr was in position to squeak out a takedown to win the match, but Albanese held on to Kai’s leg to ensure heartbreak wasn’t going to fall on him.

“He got into my leg, but you can’t be nervous there,” said Albanese. “I been working on my scrambling in practices and I just used my experience to find a leg and hold on and hide my feet from him. Came down to the wire, but I held on.”

Jesse Scott (160) was the other finalist for Emmaus, but he ran into Bethlehem Catholic’s Charlie Scanlan for a second week in a row and lost 10-4.

After losing by a point to Scanlan in the district finals, Scanlan was able to open up the offense in this rematch, registering three takedowns to widen the gap.

Teagan Caciolo (121) took home third place with a 5-0 decision over Whitehall’s Kade Pascoe in the consolation finals, while Jackson Max (107) lost his consolation final to Notre Dame’s Cael Muller by fall in 4:13 to settle for fourth.

Xayden Sallit (172) rounds out the Emmaus contingent at the Giant Center this Thursday, after he demolished Wallenpaupack’s Gabe Caufield in the fifth place consolation by a 17-1 technical fall in 3:38.

Having five qualifiers for Hershey is one of the largest groups the program has ever had and certainly the biggest during head coach Jim Best’s eight years with the program.

“I think the most we had out one year was three guys,” said Best. “We have one senior in that bunch of guys that qualified and we definitely have motivated kids right now. These kids have really bought into the offseason weight lifting program and we have 15-18 kids that wrestle all year round.”

State championship wrestling starts on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Hershey’s Giant Center. Albanese is the only returning Hornet with state experience from last year, where he had made a run to take fourth place.

“I’m always looking for first place,” said Albanese. “I’m chasing that state title and that would be huge for me.”