Teams and wrestlers bounced from mat to mat and gym to gym.

Tamaqua’s Blue Raider Duals were an opportunity to compete and improve, something each of the 14 teams — including host Jim Thorpe, Lehighton and host Tamaqua — made the most of.

The Olympians posted a 5-1 mark, while the Indians went 4-2 and the Blue Raiders finished 1-5.

Regardless of their outcomes, there was something to gain for each program in every match.

The event also capped two days of high level wrestling at Tamaqua, with six girls teams participating in the Blue Raider Invitational Friday night.

“It’s nice to put things together where wrestling can be done at its best,” said Blue Raiders’ head coach Jim McCabe. “The girls had a great opportunity yesterday, and got a bunch of matches in, got their medals and really learned a lot.

“Today, there was all levels of competition, and everybody was challenged in some way, shape or form. That’s the key. We want to create a situation where people could learn and grow as an individual.”

Jim Thorpe bounced back from a 53-18 loss to Germantown Academy in its opening match by ripping off five straight victories. The Olympians topped Columbia Montour Vo-Tech (52-24), Berwick (54-20), Williams Valley (53-19), Tamaqua (60-15) and Mahanoy (35-33).

“I thought it was a good opportunity for us,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Dan Heaney. “I knew we’d have our hands full in that first match, but I thought once we got into this pool that we could wrestle well and that we could wrestle with these teams and get some wins. We had a real good day. Against Mahanoy, we had some big matchups. Nik Schwartz beat Kyler Quick (8-5), who was a state qualifier last year. That was a big match. Blake Carroll came up big at heavyweight (winning an 8-5 decision over Kyle Pollack in sudden victory overtime). That was a tight match and a really good win.”

The Olympians had two wrestlers go 6-0 in Aidan Sterling and Nikolas Schwartz. Sterling registered one victory by technical fall, four with a pin and received one forfeit, while Schwartz had three pins, a decision and two forfeits.

Stephen Korte and Cooper Kresge went 5-1.

Prior to Saturday, Jim Thorpe had competed in two duals and Catty’s season-opening Rough Rider individual tournament Nov. 30.

“After Christmas we’ll be able to shift our lineup down, so a lot of our kids are close to the weight below them, and we’re moving them around a little bit to try to keep the lineup full and to get us the best matchups so we can win dual meets,” said Heaney. “And the kids have been great about it. They’ve been winning matches, they’ve been wrestling tough. We’re happy with where we’re at right now.

“Stephen (Korte) had some good matchups today. I thought he had a great match with (Tamaqua’s) Evan Temarantz (a pin in 0:57). That was a good one for us, because he (Temarantz) was a district medalist and regional qualifier. Josh Mantilla was bouncing back and forth with Stephen at 133 and 139, and he had a really tough match with (Tamaqua’s) Brody Schlier (a 10-9 loss), who is another regional qualifier and district medalist. Our younger guys are coming up, and they’re wrestling real well. We graduated a number of seniors, and have a big group of freshmen who are taking up a large part of our lineup. And Chris Jacobacci (a senior) also had a great day.”

Much like the Olympians, Lehighton rebounded from a loss in its opening match — 68-6 to eventual champion Berks Catholic — with four consecutive wins. The Tribe topped Tamaqua (47-25), Bangor (35-33), Abington Heights (45-28) and Hanover (57-11) before falling to Central Dauphin.

“I thought we wrestled really well today,” said Lehighton head coach Floyd Brown. “After that loss, we had four really good wins before we lost to Central Dauphin, who got second. Those are two powerful schools (Berks Catholic and Central Dauphin) with a good history and some of the better schools in the state. We got great competition, and we were also able to build some confidence and win some matches in the middle of the day. I am very happy with our performance today.”

Sophomore Marc Macias went 6-0 at 285 pounds for the Indians, recording four pins, one decision and receiving one forfeit.

“I thought Lukas Croizier really stood out because he wrestled some studs today,” Brown said of Croizier, who went 4-2, with his only losses coming to Central Dauphin’s C.J. Ferree, who placed eighth at states last year, and Berks Catholic’s Andrew Messner, who was seventh at regionals. “He wrestled tough and did a really good job. He has a good attitude and just goes out and battles. He wants to wrestle the best kids. Brok (Solt, who went 4-2) did a nice job. He’s coming back from an injury last year and is getting in the swing of things. Our heavyweight (Macias) was phenomenal.

“And Evan Wentz (4-2), Blake Muffley, Jack Lucykanish. Every kid did something good along the way today. It was a really good day for us.”

In addition to their matches with Lehighton and Jim Thorpe, the Blue Raiders fell to Emmaus (58-15), Mahanoy (46-18) and Berwick (37-36, on criteria). They topped Williams Valley 33-27.

Aiden Schlier finished the day 5-1 with two pins and a technical fall, in addition to two forfeits. His only loss was to Teagan Caciolo of Emmaus, who placed fifth at the 3A Northeast Regional last year. Evan Temarantz also went 5-1, while Brody Schlier, Jacob Hehn and Bradley Whalen were 4-2.

“Everybody got to experience great levels of competition, and also see new competition,” said McCabe. “And with Lehighton and Jim Thorpe no longer in the Schuylkill League, we got to wrestle them as well.

“Our guys are embracing the challenge. I think we’re wrestling well. We’re getting good competition, and we’re not backing away from the competition. And that’s what it’s all about.”

GROWING INTEREST ... Saturday’s tournament was run in both of Tamaqua’s gymnasiums to accommodate the number of teams. Last year’s event featured just six squads.

UP NEXT ... Jim Thorpe will be at Pen Argyl this Tuesday followed by a match at home with Notre Dame Green Pond Thursday. Lehighton will host Palmerton for boys and girls matches on Tuesday before traveling to Catasauqua Thursday. Tamaqua visits North Schuylkill on Wednesday. All three teams will be at Jim Thorpe’s annual Christmas tournament on Dec. 27-28.