CRANBERRY TWP — He didn’t win a state championship, but Tony Palumbo did the next best thing at this year’s PIAA Wrestling Tournament.

He made history.

The Central Catholic senior and Cranberry Township resident wrestled eight matches in the tournament. The 160-pounder became the first wrestler to hit the mat that many times in one PIAA tourney in 40 years.

Palumbo placed fifth in his weight class.

“That’s just the way it worked out,” Palumbo said. “I had to wrestle a pigtail match to get into the tournament and another pigtail to get into the consolation bracket.

“The state expanded the tournament field this year to 20 qualifiers (from 16) per weight class. I was the only guy to wrestle two pigtail matches.”

Palumbo (30-8) made up for lost time at the state tournament this year. He missed his entire sophomore season to a torn ACL and MCL and missed all of December this season after having surgery to remove the MCL from a knee.

Last year, he was denied a state tourney berth when he lost a 2-1 overtime decision in the WPIAL consolation finals. Only the top three WPIAL placers in each weight class advanced to the PIAA event last season. The top four went this year.

“I was determined to get there and place this year,” Palumbo said.

Between the WPIAL and PIAA tournaments, Palumbo won 11 matches and lost three.

In the section, WPIAL and state tournaments this year, he was not taken down once.

“That was a remarkable achievement because of the caliber of wrestlers he faced,” Central Catholic coach Sonny Abe said. “The only time he lost was when an opponent rode him out.”

Palumbo nipped Brendan Burnham of Pine-Richland, 3-2, in the WPIAL consolation finals to reach the state tourney this year. His losses in Hershey were 4-3 to Cody Cordes of Wyoming VW and 1-0 to Noah Stewart of Mifflin County. Their two records combined this season were 78-11.

They placed second and fourth in the state meet, respectively.

The six wrestlers Palumbo defeated in Hershey were a combined 183-34 coming into the event. Three of them had 30 or more wins on the year, another — seventh-place finisher Frankie Klauss of Spring Ford — was 41-3.

“I’m really proud of Tony, the way he never quit and kept coming back,” Abe said. “He had a number of tight, grueling matches out there.”

Palumbo won two matches in overtime, scoring takedowns to decide both. His six other matches all went the distance.

“Coach Abe did a lot of mental training with us all season,” Palumbo said. “He put us in certain situations in practice, similar to what I faced in those overtimes.

“I was prepared and it paid off.”

Abe said he used some practice time to have his wrestlers square off against each other as if it was overtime.

“You really need to be the aggressor in those situations,” the coach said. “Basically, you have one minute to take the other guy down.”

It didn’t hurt Palumbo that his mat partner in the room all season — Vicenzo Joseph — is a two-time state champion at 152 pounds.

“I couldn’t help but get better going against him every day,” Palumbo said.

Palumbo finished his prep career at 73-29, missing out on 100 wins because of his knee injuries. Carrying a 4.6 grade point average out of a 5.0 scale, he will continue his academic and wrestling career at Davidson College in North Carolina this fall.

And he will go there totally healthy.

“I’m anxious to see what I can accomplish over four years while staying healthy,” Palumbo said. “My goal is to become an All-American.”

Davidson, coached by former Canon-McMillan wrestler Bob Patnesky, qualified two wrestlers to the NCAA national tournament last year for the first time in the program’s history.

“They scored points in the national tournament this year for the first time in seven years,” Abe said. “That program is coming.

“I’m excited for Tony’s prospects there. He’ll become a better wrestler, a better person and a better student ... and he’s already pretty good.”