SPRING GROVE - Trailing going into the third period of their bouts, Exeter teammates Justin Landis and Tyler Harkness dug down deep.

With their teammates cheering them on, Landis and Harkness pulled out third-period victories Thursday night at Spring Grove to help Exeter defeat Shippensburg 38-23 in the Class 3A semifinals of the District 3 Wrestling Team Tournament.

The victory puts Exeter (21-1) in the District 3 championship match for the first time after semifinal losses in each of the last three years. In the final Saturday at 1 p.m. at Milton Hershey, the second-seeded Eagles will face No. 4 Cedar Cliff, a 35-27 winner over No. 1 seed Central Dauphin.

"It feels amazing," said Landis. "We're making history for this team. I'm glad to be doing this with my teammates. It's a brotherhood here."

The aspiration not to let down his teammates drove Landis to pull out a 4-3 victory at 145 pounds in the fourth bout of the match. Trailing Ian Reed 3-2, Landis scored a takedown with 15 seconds left and prevented Reed from escaping, tying the team score at 9-9.

"I'm thinking my team needs this one," Landis said. "I'm fighting through an injury but I know I just have to push that extra bit for my team."

That same motive was running through Harkness' mind as he headed to the third period of the 152-pound bout trailing Eddie Ocher 4-3. Harkness dominated the third period, turning Ocher to his back twice, for an 11-6 decision that put Exeter ahead to stay.

"I knew my team was counting on me," Harkness said. "I knew I had to gut it out. I knew if I tried my best and I worked really hard I could come out winning."

The Eagles went on to sweep the next five bouts to open a nearly insurmountable 32-9 lead.

Tyler Borton followed with a major decision, Tyler Bagoly scored a first-period fall, Nolan Buck won a major decision and Dennis Karas scored a second-period fall to put the Eagles one win away from breaking through the semifinal roadblock.

"Pulling out real close wins really helps out the team,"Harkness said. "After we got that momentum flowing, we just kept building on it. That's how teamwork works."

?You can read the rest of the story on the Reading Eagle website: http://www.readingeagle.com/sports/article/wrestling-exeter-finally-reaches-district-3-championship-match?