BETHLEHEM — Aiden Sterling might be soft spoken, but the Jim Thorpe senior 215-pounder isn’t short of confidence when it comes to his expectations this weekend at the District 11 3A wrestling tournament.

Sterling is the best hope for the highest local finish at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium, as he handled Bethlehem Catholic’s Connor Gillahan with a dominating 10-0 major decision in the quarterfinals.

He made quick work of Dieruff’s Mario Flores in the round of 16, pinning him in 23 seconds to kickstart his night and punched his ticket to Saturday morning’s semifinals with the win over Gillahan.

“I felt pretty confident coming in and that first win spilled over to the rest of the night,” said Sterling. “This just builds my confidence even more to hopefully go and win districts this year.”

Sterling wasn’t the only Times News representative to win in the quarters Friday night, as Pleasant Valley’s Evan Gillespie (215) also had an impressive night, pinning East Stroudsburg South’s Jasiah Rodriguez in 5:39 to avenge an early season loss by fall to the Cavalier.

The Times News area had five wrestlers in the quarters and Jim Thorpe teammates Stephen Korte (133) and Nikolas Schwartz (172) got their first taste of wrestling in the 3A postseason Friday night and came away with mixed results.

Korte won his round of 16 bout by a 19-4 technical fall over Freedom’s Anthony Crisafulli in 1:48, but his quarterfinal showdown against Easton’s Ethan Krazer was a showcase of what wrestling against some of District 11’s blue bloods was all about in a 5-3 loss.

“For us, we’re not a high-caliber team by any means, but we still get in there and put the work in,” said Korte. “Being used to teams like Mahanoy and Tamaqua and then being up against teams like Nazareth, it’s a big change. I just want to make it to regionals and take it from there.”

Schwartz started off fast in his opener, winning by fall in 1:32 over Pocono Mountain East’s John Varakinus, but then lost in the quarters to Nazareth’s Elijah Simak 8-3.

Pleasant Valley’s Andrew Mihalichko (285) had a similar start and finish to Friday’s festivities.

He opened with a fall over Parkland’s Max Pugach in 2:34, but couldn’t keep the momentum rolling in the quarters, falling to Freedom’s Dan Schiffert by a 10-2 major decision.

Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. today and consolation finals are slated for 3 p.m. with finals to follow at 4:45 p.m.

Sterling expects to be one of those wrestlers competing for a gold medal Saturday evening and showed on Friday night he belongs.

“Being here in 3A isn’t that much different to me,” said Sterling. “I didn’t really wrestle much last year in 2A because I was hurt. I just want to win and keep moving on so I can get make it to states.”