BETHLEHEM – Five matches.

Two days.

Just like Jim Moll drew it up.

Northwestern survived a bevy of contenders to reach the consolation final and place fourth at the District 11 Class 2A team championships Saturday.

“We wrestled well over the last two days, Thursday and today,” said the Tigers’ head coach. “As the 10th seed, I feel like our guys came in and did well; outperformed what our seed was, however much that means, I don’t know.

“But we looked good, which is what I care about.”

Northwestern posted wins over North Schuylkill (48-24) and Lehighton (45-27) in its first and second round consolation matches at Freedom’s Joseph J. McIntyre Gymnasium. The Tigers tournament came to a close with a 58-9 loss to Wilson in the consolation final.

The Indians fell 63-12 to Saucon Valley in the championship semis before losing to Northwestern.

Jim Thorpe defeated Mahanoy Area 46-31 in a first round consolation match before suffering a 51-21 setback to Wilson in its second consolation bout.

Bethlehem Catholic won the Class 3A title, while Saucon Valley captured the 2A crown. Northampton (3A) and Notre Dame Green Pond (2A) also qualified for states with runner-up finishes.

It is the Golden Hawks fourth 3A title in five years. The Panthers won their fourth straight 2A championship.

Consolation final

Wilson-Northwestern

After holding a 12-9 lead through the first four matches, the Warriors won the final 10 bouts to pull away from the Tigers.

Elijah Bundro (132), Owen Pelonero (145) and Marckis Branford (152) had pins for No. 3 seed Wilson, while Caden Poff (106) won by major decision.

Ben Griffith (126) had a pin, and Harrison Bernhard (138) a decision for Northwestern.

While disappointed with the loss, Moll saw progress in his team’s performance.

“I told our guys after the Wilson match that we looked, conditioning wise, 100 times better than we did a week and a half ago at Coal Cracker,” he said. “It may just be our bodies adjusting to the change in conditioning, and the change in our routine. Hopefully that makes a difference, and continues through the end of the month.

“We certainly point out growth and improvement. We talk about closing the gap on guys that we lose to, or teams that we lose to, and we’re certainly doing that. So that’s a good sign.”

Wilson 58, Northwestern 9

120 - Blake Hartrum (W) won by forfeit; 126 - Ben Griffith (NW) pinned Carmen Rawlinson in 3:07; 132 - Elijah Bundro (W) pinned Donovan White in :41; 138 - Harrison Bernhard (NW) dec. Dustin Hunara, 9-3; 145 - Owen Pelonero (W) pinned Jack Casciano in 1:46; 152 - Marckis Branford (W) pinned Ryan Fink in 1:08; 160 - Anthony Micci (W) dec. Ryan Haas, 11-4; 170 - Cayden Trimmer (W) dec. Will Dellicker, 10-5; 182 - Alec Snyder (W) dec. Tyler Watson, 3-2; 195 - Austin Wickham (W) dec. Ryan Haverkamp, 6-4; 220 - Kolby Flank (W) won by forfeit; 285 - Roger Russell (W) won by forfeit; 106 - Caden Poff (W) major dec. Eli Dellicker, 11-0; 113

- Blake Sheridan (W) won by forfeit.

Second round consolation

Lehighton-Northwestern

The Tigers never trailed, but it got close.

Lehighton, the No. 5 seed, sandwiched pins from Logan Pagotto (152) and Richard Fronheisr (170) around a decision by Northwestern’s Ryan Haas to cut the deficit to 24-21 with five matches remaining.

But Ryan Haverkamp hung on for a 9-8 decision at 182 pounds in the next match to make it 27-21.

The Tigers got forfeits in three of the final four matches to seal it.

Northwestern built the early 21-3 advantage after five bouts.

Jake Dellicker opened the contest with a pin at 113. Mason Brensinger (120) followed with a technical fall, and Donovan White (132) recorded a major decision before Harrison Bernhard (138) picked up a forfeit.

“Mason tweaked his quad against North Schuylkill, and he was kind of on the fence whether he was going to wrestle against Lehighton, and he decided after warmups that he was good to go. He wrestled through that pain to get a win, which was huge. If he doesn’t wrestle, that’s a nine-point swing, and that changes a lot of things.

“And Jake Dellicker, same thing. His leg is bothering him, and he hobbled through a big win. Those are two really gutsy wins we had from those two guys. It shows the character of those two guys. They wanted to go. It’s real easy to say, this hurts, that hurts, I’m going to sit out and get healthy. But they wanted to wrestle for the team. That shows a big part of their character.”

Chris Whiteman (145) got a pin for the Indians to cut it to 21-9.

“We’re facing some of the better teams, who these guys are going to wrestle again in districts,” said Lehighton head coach Floyd Brown. “Just being here, getting the experience of the crowd; the crowd noise, the excitement going on, and staying focused wrestling tough competition can only benefit us.

“I thought we wrestled pretty tough overall. I thought we wrestled well. This is good experience for these guys to wrestle the top teams in AA. You get to wrestle these kids and kind of learn what they do, and know what level you have to get to.”

Steven Fritzinger posted a decision for the Indians at 126 pounds.

“We got four extra matches out of this against quality teams,” said Brown. “So it’s a win-win for everybody on the team. It’s good experience.”

Northwestern 45, Lehighton 27

113 - Jake Dellicker (NW) pinned Lukas Ferguson in :42; 120 - Mason Brensinger (NW) tech. fall David Miller, 18-3 (5:58); 126 - Steven Fritzinger (L) dec. Ben Griffith, 9-7; 132 - Donovan White (NW) major dec. Lucas Sangiuliano, 11-3; 138 - Harrison Bernhard (NW) won by forfeit; 145 - Chris Whiteman (L) pinned Jack Casciano in 3:49; 152 - Logan Pagotto (L) pinned Ryan Fink in 1:35; 160 - Ryan Haas (NW) dec. Jon Ahner, 10-4; 170 - Richard Fronheiser (L) pinned Will Dellicker in 4:25; 182 - Ryan Haverkamp (NW) dec. Alex Zeigenfuss, 9-8; 195 - Tyler Watson (NW) won by forfeit; 220 - Christian Rodirguez (L) won by forfeit; 285 - Isaiah Juhri (NW) won by forfeit; 106

- Eli Dellicker (NW) won by forfeit.

Jim Thorpe-Wilson

The Warriors powered to a big lead, winning the first six matches to lay claim to a 33-0 advantage.

Wilson had seven pins in the contest. Carmern Rawlinson (126), Elijah Bundro (132), Dustin Hunara (138), Marckis Branford (145), Anthony Micci (160), Cayden Trimmer (170) and Austin Wickham (195) all won by fall for the Warriors.

Austin Williams (182) and Derek Hunter (285) had pins for the ninth-seeded Olympians.

Williams pinned Alec Snyder in 2:48. Snyder was third at districts last season and made it to regionals.

“Overall, I thought we wrestled really well,” said Jim Thorpe head coach Shawn Albert. “We go 2-2; it’s our first two wins, first really any victory for that matter at district duals for Jim Thorpe’s wrestling program, so we’re very excited about that. We’re glad to kind of cross that off the list.

“I thought we wrestled really well. We certainly got a lot of matches that gave us some really good experience for us to continue to improve, as we’ve got just three more weeks left before districts.”

Caleb McDermott (152), Ethan Mordaunt (220) and Will Schwartz (106) all had decisions for Thorpe.

Mordaunt’s win was a 3-1 decision in overtime against Kolby Flank, a district champion last year. Flank placed third at regionals and qualified for states.

“I think when you wrestle a Wilson, even just watching some of these teams that you haven’t wrestled against, it helps in two parts,” said Albert. “One, individually, each kid gets to see and feel out what Valley wrestling is all about, so that kind of opens their eyes a little bit as to what they need to do.

“But from a team standpoint, we have talked about it quite a bit this year: good wrestling programs are a culture of wrestling; they’re not just a team of wrestlers. What these guys have seen over these two days is what a wrestling culture looks like. I’m glad they got that experience to see it. And not it’s just up to them as a team, and as individuals to respond and see what they want to commit themselves to; a culture of training all year long. It doesn’t mean they can’t play other sports. But still train to get better in wrestling.”

Wilson 51, Jim Thorpe 21

113 - Blake Sheridan (W) dec. Gabe Heaney, 2-0; 120 - Blaze Hartrum (W) won by forfeit; 126 - Carmen Rawlinson (W) pinned Austin Givens in :33; 132 - Elijah Bundro (W) pinned Andrew Eisenhardt in 1:08; 138 - Dustin Hunara (W) pinned Antonio Lopez in :22; 145 - Marckis Branford (W) pinned Alex Evans in :21; 152 - Caleb McDermott (JT) dec. Owen Pelonero, 6-0; 160 - Anthony Micci (W) pinned Nick Fayoczvitz in 5:05; 170 - Cayden Trimmer (W) pinned Jared Newhall in :58; 182 - Austin Williams (JT) pinned Alec Snyder in 2:48; 195 - Austin Wickham (W) pinned Kendall Herron in 3:44; 220 - Ethan Mordaunt (JT) dec. Kolby Flank, 3-1 (OT); 285 - Derek Hunter (JT) pinned Rodger Russell in 1:20; 106

- Will Schwartz (JT) dec. Caden Poff, 4-3.

Semifinal

Lehighton-Saucon Valley

The No. 1 seed and defending champion Panthers showed why they have been a perennial powerhouse in recent years, winning 12 of the 14 bouts.

Steve Fritzinger had a pin for the Indians at 126, which cut the deficit to 18-6 after four matches.

But the Panthers won the next six matches, before Lehighton’s Alex Zeigenfuss recorded a pin at 182.

Cael Markle (113), Kevin Dyer (120), Thomas Spirk (138), Ty Csencsits (160) and Michael Sullivan (220) all had pins for the Panthers.

Nick Rosengrant (145) and Dante Mahaffey (152) both earned narrow decisions. Rosengrant topped Chris Whiteman 7-5, while Mahaffey held on for a 3-2 decision.

“We were in a couple of those matches,” said Brown. “They could have gone either way. We were battling some good kids.”

Saucon Valley 63, Lehighton 12

106 - Conner Nicholas (SV) won by forfeit; 113 - Cael Markle (SV) pinned Lukas Ferguson in :53; 120 - Kevin Dyer (SV) pinned David Miller in 3:58; 126 - Steven Fritzinger (L) pinned Ryan Gilbert in 4:39; 132 - Josh Jones (SV) won by forfeit; 138 - Thomas Spirk (SV) pinned Lucas Sangiuliano in :11; 145 - Nick Rosengrant (SV) dec. Chris Whiteman, 7-5; 152 - Dante Mahaffey (SV) dec. Logan Pagotto, 3-2; 160 - Ty Csencsits (SV) pinned Jon Ahner in 2:40; 170 - Matt Arciuolo (SV) dec. Rich Fronheiser, 10-5; 182 - Alex Zeigenfuss (L) pinned Kyle Coronado in 5:21; 195 - Dane Csencsits (SV) won by forfeit; 220 - Michael Sullivan (SV) pinned Christian Rodriguez in 4:33; 285

- Nick Warnke (SV) won by forfeit.

First round consolation

Northwestern-No. Schuylkill

The Tigers carried the momentum they created with an opening-round win Thursday over No. 7 seed Tamaqua, storming out to a 24-6 lead after seven matches.

“It showed that maybe we’re better than we think they are sometimes,” said Moll. “The negative voices, doubt, self-doubt, can creep in there a little bit. It helps to get rid of that and gives you some confidence.”

Ben Griffith (126), Donovan White (138) and Harrison Bernhard (145) all had pins for Northwestern, while Eli Dellicker (106) and Mason Brensinger (120) won by decision.

Moll was especially pleased with Brensinger’s 4-3 win over Gavin Locke, who placed fourth at districts last season and was a regional qualifier two years ago.

“Mason Brensinger had a gutsy win,” said Moll. “Locke is a good wrestler. Mason wrestled a great match.”

After Dylan Edwards pinned for the sixth-seeded Spartans at 152 to cut it to 24-12, the Tigers ripped off a string of four straight pins to push their advantage to 48-12.

Ryan Haas (160), Will Dellicker (170), Tyler Watson (182) and Ryan Haverkamp (195) all recorded pins for Northwestern.

North Schuylkill got a pair of forfeits in the final two matches.

Northwestern 48, North Schuylkill 24

106 - Eli Dellicker (NW) dec. Tyler Slotterback, 9-6; 113 - Danny Grigas (NS) dec. Jake Dellicker, 11-8; 120 - Mason Brensinger (NW) dec. Gavin Locke, 4-3; 126 - Ben Griffith (NW) pinned Ethan Miernicki in 4:29; 132 - Mike Sterner (NS) dec. Anthony Russo, 5-3; 138 - Donovan White (NW) pinned Chris Cutrona in 1:23; 145 - Harrison Bernhard (NW) pinned Ben Wolfe in 3:31; 152 - Dylan Edwards (NS) pinned Jack Casciano in 3:10; 160 - Ryan Haas (NW) pinned Hayden Francis in 1:02; 170 - Will Dellicker (NW) pinned Shawn Sosnoski in 1:01; 182 - Tyler Watson (NW) pinned Patrick Coones in :42; 195 - Ryan Haverkamp (NW) pinned Blake Olayo in :37; 220 - Joe Tinari (NS) won by forfeit; 285

- Ryan Weitz (NS) won by forfeit.

Jim Thorpe-Mahanoy Area

Kendall Herron came through with the clincher, getting a pin at 195 pounds that made it 42-28 with just two matches left.

Derek Hunter (285) picked up a major decision in the final bout to set the final score.

Andrew Eisenhardt (138), Caleb McDermott (152) and Nick Fayocavitz (160) all had pins for the Olympians that pushed the lead to 36-18.

“We had a lot of guys that are young, or slightly inexperienced, step up when we really needed them to step up over the last two days,” said Albert. “That’s the reason we won.

“Nick Fayocavitz got two varsity wins and he battled like crazy. It’s good to see those young guys, those fresh faces, turn the corner a little bit.”

The fourth-seeded Bears clawed back too, with Alexis Perez grabbing a major decision at 170 and Danny Lawrence getting a pin at 182 to cut Jim Thorpe’s lead to 36-22.

But Herron sealed it with his pin.

John Babinsky (126) and Thomas Allison (145) also had pins for Mahanoy.

Jim Thorpe 46, Mahanoy Area 31

106 - William Schwartz (JT) won by forfeit; 113 - John McCabe (JT) won by forfeit; 120 - Gabe Heaney (JT) won by forfeit; 126 - John Babinsky (MA) pinned Austin Givens in 2:36; 132 - Cesar Rivera (MA) won by forfeit; 138 - Andrew Eisenhardt (JT) pinned Bryson Soult in 1:57; 145 - Thomas Allison (MA) pinned Ahmad Johnson in :42; 152 - Caleb McDermott (JT) pinned Sam Quick in 3:15; 160 - Nick Fayocavitz (JT) pinned Colin Timko in 1:33; 170 - Alexis Perez (MA) major dec. Jared Newhall, 13-1; 182 - Danny Lawrence (MA) pinned Austin Williams in 5:43; 195 - Kendall Herron (JT) pinned Charles Allison in 4:27; 220 - Colin Fegley (MA) dec. Ethan Mordaunt, 3-2; 285

- Derek Hunter (JT) maj. dec. Tommy Price, 18-8.