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.”

Around the area

Fugazzotto’s runner-up finish was the best among area wrestlers Saturday.

Pleasant Valley and Palmerton each had two wrestlers medal.

Evan Gillespie placed fourth at 217 pounds for the Bears, while teammate Andrew Mihalichko was sixth at 287.

Wilson West Lawn’s Ethan Brownback earned a 10-4 decision over Gillespie in their third-place match. Caleb Nason of Athens Area topped Mihalichko 4-1 in their fifth-place bout.

Dillon Lombardi earned a fifth-place finish at 174 pounds for the Bombers, with Derek King placing seventh at 154.

Lombardi placed fifth via injury default, while King capped his tournament — which also included his 100th career victory — with an 11-7 decision over Midd-West’s Evan Maneval.

“Our coach says this is like a regional/state tournament,” said Lombardi. “I wrestled a state placer, a state qualifier, I wrestled a kid nationally ranked in the state, you have matches that were state finals a year ago. This is a really tough tournament.”

Lombardi has built off his stellar junior campaign, when he was a district runner-up and placed seventh at regionals. He has surpassed his win total from a year ago (26-11) and is currently 32-5, six wins from the 100th of his career.

King reached that milestone Friday at the Coal Cracker, and is also on pace for a career year. After winning 28 and 29 matches the last two seasons, he is currently 28-4 with 103 career wins.

“I’ve just tried to wrestle my match, pushing the pace, not letting the other guy dictate and getting to my offense, and not letting the other guy have a second to breathe,” said King. “Just pushing the pace and trying to be more physical.

“Probably about 95 percent of the sport is confidence. It’s not that I’m 10 times better than I was last year; but I feel 10 times better just from my confidence.”

The same can by said for Jim Thorpe’s Stephen Korte, who battled to place sixth at 135 pounds.

“Last year I was doing really well on the first day. But that second day was so tough,” Korte said of last year’s tournament. “I’m pumped with how I did today.”

Korte’s first match of the day Saturday was a 15-11 decision over Bangor’s Carter Smith, who pinned him twice earlier this season, including last Saturday at the Colonial League tournament.

“I really wanted to win that first match,” Korte said. “I was really pumped to get that one. It’s definitely a good gauge for me. I’m much better than I was my freshman year, sophomore year.”

Korte, who was a district runner-up and went 35-10 a year ago, is currently 28-10, and 90-31 for his career as a junior.

Rory Dixon, who attends Marian and wrestles for Mahanoy through a co-op between the two schools, returned from a knee injury and placed eighth at 162 pounds.

While he forfeited his last two matches, the sophomore proved he’s healthy, posting two tech falls, two pins and a 10-9 decision over Ryan Rossiter of Interboro, who is 22-5. Dixon’s only loss on the mat was an 8-5 setback in sudden victory to Andres DiGrigoli of First Baptist Academy in Florida. DiGrigoli is a top-ranked wrestler in Florida.

“It’s so satisfying. It’s a great feeling,” said Dixon, who had surgery 15 days earlier. “Just being able to come back and wrestle, it feels amazing.

“It was a bit of a mental block, because I was a little bit hesitant with my knee. It took me until my third match against a Florida state champ (DiGrigoli) to work up the courage to shoot. And once I did that the first time and I got the adrenaline flowing, I knew I could wrestle like normal. Today, I just wrestled like I normally do. I did what I had to do, I placed, and that’s what I really wanted to do here.”

CHAMPIONS ... 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.

HAMMER TIME ... 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.