The PIAA Wrestling Championships got underway Thursday morning.

Three Times News area wrestlers qualified in the Class 2A boys field that got underway at 9 a.m. and kicked off the three-day event that will also feature 3A boys - and for the first time ever - a girls tournament.

Lehighton’s Jacob Ferguson (160) lost his preliminary bout 7-1 to Honesdale’s Mason Avery.

Ferguson moves on to a consolation bout this afternoon where he will face the loser of the first-round match between Chase Frameli (Jefferson Morgan) and Hudson Ward (Canton).

Reese Balk (Lehighton) competed in a 285-pound preliminary match and fell to Aiden Hidlay (Central Columbia), 6-1.

Balk will face the loser of a first-round match between Sawyer Robinson (Towanda) and Braden Ewing (Tyrone) this afternoon in a consolation bout.

Northwestern Lehigh’s Luke Fugazotto (172) was scheduled to take on Braedon Welsh (Fort Cherry) in a first-round bout later this morning.