Wrestling teams are used to traveling far and wide throughout the season to find great competition.

Sometimes, the action comes close to home.

Jim Thorpe, Lehighton and Panther Valley were among eight teams to compete at the Indian Duals on Saturday.

The host Tribe posted a 4-1 mark, and finished second overall. Lehighton posted a 2-1 mark in its pool, defeating East Stroudsburg North 46-34 and Central Bucks South 64-11, but falling to eventual champion Whitehall 48-27. The Indians topped Jim Thorpe 37-32 and Scranton 31-30 in the final two rounds to close out the day.

“Overall, I thought it was a pretty good day,” said Lehighton head coach Floyd Brown. “I knew we would have close matches with Whitehall and Scranton and Jim Thorpe, and it pretty much turned out how I expected.

The Olympians finished with a 3-2 record. Thorpe went 3-0 in its pool, defeating Allen (52-27), Scranton (34-30) and Panther Valley (78-6). The Olympians fell to Lehighton and Whitehall 49-24 in their last two matches.

Panther Valley went 0-5. The Panthers opened the day with a loss to Jim Thorpe and fell to Allen 66-9 and Scranton 57-9 in their final matches of pool competition. PV ended the day with losses to Central Bucks South (18-12) and ES North (54-6).

Chris Whiteman and Alex Zeigenfuss both went 5-0 for the Indians. David Miller, Logan Pagotto and Richard Fronheiser all finished 4-1.

Brown was pleased with the contributions he got from throughout the lineup, win or lose.

“There were a couple matches where we couldn’t give up bonus points, and they didn’t give up bonus points,” the coach said. “That helped us a lot. I think everyone, in some way or another, stepped up today.

“In our last match (against Scranton), we had a couple kids (face good competition) and we didn’t give up those bonus points. They wrestled hard, and we ended up winning by a point. So that makes a huge difference. That’s one point in any of the 14 matches.”

Austin Williams and Ethan Mordaunt continued to roll for the Olympians. Both entered the tournament undefeated – and the duo left the same way.

Williams and Mordaunt went 5-0, as did Derek Hunter. Will Schwartz and Gabe Heaney finished 4-1, while Kendall Herron posted a 3-1 mark.

“It was a good day,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Shawn Albert. “We went 3-2, and I thought we wrestled really well as a team against William Allen and Scranton. Scranton was a tough match; I know they’re a good program, and I thought guys stepped up, getting some pins when we needed them, and we stayed off our back when we needed to as well.

“So I was real happy with how we did in the pool, obviously, because we went 3-0. Lehighton, we gave ourselves a chance in the last match, based on matchups, and really that’s all you can ask for.”

Steven Fritzinger recorded a pin in the first period for the Tribe to cut the Olympians’ lead to 32-31 in the penultimate bout. Lucas Sangiuliano received a forfeit in the final match to give the Indians the win.

“Overall, we did wrestle hard between the team, and I think we did do very well,” said Fritzinger. “It just comes down to practice.

“Overall, we benefit (from this experience) for districts, and overall, you get (to face) the experience level between wrestling all other kids from the different schools.”

Gaining that knowledge and skill is a process that is always ongoing for each team.

“In the Jim Thorpe match, I should have taken better shots,” said Lehighton’s Lukas Ferguson, who lost a 10-0 major decision to Thorpe’s Will Schwartz. “We’re just in a learning place right now.

“We just have to practice everything,” added Fritzinger. “Even if you lost, look at you mistakes through video and everything, and take it with you.”

Individually for Panther Valley, Sincere Flamer went 4-1 with four pins. Eric Moyer and Bryan Krapf were both 2-3, respectively, while Lamar Easley finished 1-4.

Despite having just four wrestlers at the tournament, Panthers’ head coach Zane Bachert was pleased with the effort from his squad.

“One of our goals this year is to not get shut out in any of our matches, and we haven’t,” said Bachert. “We stuck to that today. Lamar was our one win against Jim Thorpe (a pin), so that was huge for us.”

CHAMPS

… Whitehall went 5-0 to win its second title at the Indian Duals. In addition to wins over Lehighton and Jim Thorpe, the Zephyrs also took down Central Bucks South (66-11), East Stroudsburg North (57-18) and Scranton (45-24).

SEE YOU SOON

… Saturday’s event served as a tuneup of sorts for next week’s Schuylkill League Tournament, which will be held at Pottsville’s Martz Hall on Friday and Saturday. There will likely be several rematches – and opportunities for redemption – for several wrestlers that were dealt setbacks at the Indian Duals.