Once a wrestler reaches this level, the pinnacle of Pennsylvania wrestling, one moment, one move, can be the difference between a dream dashed and one that remains a viable goal.

At least that was the experience for five L-L League wrestlers, three of whom left a bloody Friday with their state medal hopes still alive.

One, Hempfield's Austin Miller, is still very much in the hunt for PIAA gold, advancing to Saturday morning's Class AAA semifinals at 103 pounds with a 3-0 victory over Connellsville's Ethan Kenney.

Miller will wrestle, bright and early, at 8 a.m.

Two others, Solanco's Dan Neff and Warwick's Antonio Giorgio, found the need to reset their sights after losses in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon at Hershey's Giant Center.

Neff fell 9-8 to Pleasant Valley's Jordan Toledo at 130 pounds.

Giorgio lost a heartbreaking 3-1 decision to Springfield Delco's Andre Petroskie, his teammate-to-be at the University of North Carolina, at 189.

Both recovered to advance to Saturday's medal round, posting victories in the second round of wrestlebacks. Two wins away from wrestling for third place, their quest also continues Saturday morning at 8.

Two other local wrestlers, Manheim Township's Austin Schultz (189) and Conestoga Valley's Cole Dillman (285), were eliminated from the tournament with losses in the consolations.

Schultz lost to Dallastown's Phil Sprenkle by major decision, 9-0.

Reversed with six seconds left in double overtime, Dillman fell to Cody Mason of Jersey Shore, 3-2.

Despite being scoreless through the first four minutes of his quarterfinal, Miller (38-2) felt he was in a pretty good place.

Better still when he escaped, five seconds into the third period.

"I knew he didn't really have a whole lot of offense on his feet," said Miller, "except a single on my right leg."

Circling away from Kenney's preferred shot gave Miller a defensive advantage from neutral.

Getting inside on tie-ups gave Miller the offensive advantage.

Getting his Russian tie-up gave Miller the match.

"It's one of the more important parts of my offense," he said, "but I didn't get to use it much in the first period. We didn't really have a whole lot of tie-ups in the first.

"I figured if I could get him out of his comfort zone, maybe I could work something inside."

He got the Russian, a kind of two-on-one in which you trap the opponent's wrist with one hand and clamp his same upper arm with your other hand.

Miller's finish on it is a little different than most, and he soon had spun behind Kenney (44-7) and tugged him to the mat for a 3-0 lead with 1:34 to go.

From there the match was pretty much over as Miller had ridden Kenney the entire second period.

"I knew … I would be able to ride him pretty easily," Miller said. "He didn't really have anything from bottom. All I had to do was jam weight on him off the whistle and he couldn't go anywhere."

The going gets tougher from here for Miller, as one would expect.

His semifinal opponent, Bethlehem Liberty's Northeast Region champion Anthony Carbrera (35-5), handled Cedar Cliff's Chris Vassar in the quarters like nobody's handled Vassar all season, blasting him 9-0.

Toledo (39-4), a thick, squatty, muscular 130-pounder, opened leads of 4-1 and 6-2 on Neff, taking him down and letting him back out in a cocky display of confidence.

"I just got a slow start," Neff ruefully shared later.

He got up to speed with a takedown late in a first period that ended 7-5 in favor of Toledo.

Toledo let Neff (41-3) out again at the start of the second period and Neff responded with a bearhug takedown, letting Toledo know he wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Gaining the escape at 1:03, Toledo showed he'd gotten the message. A message Neff reinforced in the third period when, after letting Toledo out — and falling behind 9-8 — Neff took the match to Toledo physically.

"I slowed him down and he didn't really take any more shots," said Neff. "(He) just fended mine off."

Toledo took an injury timeout and a blood timeout, and a stalling warning, on either side of a minute left, but managed to avoid getting penalized for inactivity, surviving a stalemate stoppage with four seconds left.

"I definitely could've got a stalling point," Neff said, "but I shouldn't have left it to the refs. I should not have got in that situation. Hopefully, I'll see him again, coming back through because I'd like another shot at that."

Neff did his part to make that rematch a reality when he eliminated Matt Cimato (35-4) of LaSalle, 4-2, in overtime, gaining the winning points on a throw-by to a single leg.

Meanwhile, Giorgio was passing a character check after his state championship hopes tilted away in a moment's passing.

"Just trying to make a horrible situation a little less bad, I guess," he said after thumping Altoona's Keith Walters, 6-2 in the consis. "If I had lost, I was out. That was pretty much the incentive I had."

It was a situation he found himself in after Petroskie (37-2) stuck him in a stepover try, early in the third period.

"If they go with a quick tilt," Giorgio would later explain, "and they don't cover your hips, you can flop your hips over top."

Petroskie blocked Giorgio's hips the first time he went for it as they rolled out of danger. The second time Giorgio tried to roll through, Petroskie stuck him for a two-count.

"Usually when I get caught in a scramble there I come out on top," said Giorgio (26-1). "I had it, but he's good with his hips too. He held me just long enough."

Giorgio did escape off a restart, but trailing 3-1 with 1:30 left and Petroskie blocking him off, things looked bleak for the Warwick senior.

Giorgio never got a good shot and Petroskie picked up a perfunctory stall warning with 21 seconds left, before closing out the win.

In reality, Petroskie might've won the match back in the first period when he denied Giorgio on two great takedown tries, and again in the second period on a third shot.

"He's all about freestyle stuff," said Giorgio. "He was just squeezing (my arms) and rolling. It didn't feel like much, but it was enough to stop the takedown."

Schultz (34-6) could not stop Sprenkle's takedown as the Dallastown senior put three on the scoreboard and tilted Schultz once. Sprenkle (35-5) had pinned Schultz in the District Three quarterfinals, so this result represented an improvement. Just not a big enough improvement to reach Saturday.

Dillman and Mason traded escapes in regulation in a quintessential heavyweight matchup and Dillman (38-5) went ahead 2-1 with an escape in the first 30-second tiebreaker period.

He was riding Mason (27-10) tough in the second 30-second period, but was warned for stalling halfway through.

Off the restart Mason rolled into a no-control situation, then bettered that, reversing Dillman for the win.

dbyrne@lnpnews.com