BETHLEHEM - Refuse to lose.

Throughout the District 11 team tournament, Northern Lehigh has exhibited an unrelenting will to win.It started with a first round, 30-29, win over Northwestern, and continued during a second round, 28-22, triumph over top-seed Saucon Valley, a team the Bulldogs lost to in the Colonial League team championship match earlier in the week.All of that, coupled with the team's relentless desire to improve throughout the season, helped Northern Lehigh topple Tri Valley 40-26 for the District 11 Class AA team title and secure a place in Hershey for the PIAA Team Wrestling Championships.The Bulldogs will now face District 2 champ Archbishop Carroll in Hershey on Thursday.The title is a milestone for head coach Steve Hluschak, Jr., who is only in his second year at the helm of the Bulldogs."Since Day 1 they have bought into what we have preached as far as technique, mindset and strategy," Hluschak said. "They never question us - they've done everything we've asked and it's paid off. I'm so glad it has, especially for our seniors."The ultimate goal in this sport is to wrestle at states, in some form or fashion, whether it's individually or as a team. And I'm just so happy for our team to be able to experience that. It really is an awesome feeling."Northern Lehigh wasn't the only team from the Times News area competing on Saturday, as Northwestern and Panther Valley also advanced to the second day of competition.The Tigers were able to get past the Panthers, 43-25, in the consolation quarterfinals, and North Schuylkill, 45-22 in the consolation semifinals.But Northwestern's chances of advancing to Hershey were dashed when it ran into Saucon Valley in the consolation finals, suffering a 40-22 defeat.Championship FinalsNo. Lehigh-Tri ValleyAs if, almost, symbolically, Northern Lehigh's match against Tri Valley started at 170 pounds with senior Austin Arnold taking the mat.Arnold, who has been injured much of this season and missed time during this tournament, pinned Tri Valley's Shykir Bethea in the first period, giving the Bulldogs a quick 6-0 lead."I wanted to start the match right and kind of set the tempo," Arnold said. "I came out and was real aggressive and just tried to get that pin. I knew that was going to be huge for the team because it was going to be a close match. It was big."Though Northern Lehigh never trailed, Tri Valley did manage tie the match twice, at 6-6 after the second bout and 10-10 after the fourth.The two teams alternated wins and losses over the first five matches before Northern Lehigh's Seth Fronheiser got a forfeit at 106 to give the Bulldogs back-to-back wins after Cameron Kates got a decision at 285.Colton Rex followed that with a pin at 113, completing a stretch of three matches that saw Northern Lehigh gain 15 points on Tri Valley, one more than the final margin of victory."We have, without a doubt, wrestled the best we have all year this weekend," said Hluschak. "We got hot at the right time and it paid off. We're District 11 champs and it's unbelievable."A Caleb Bordner pin at 120 made it 25-16, and the two teams split the final six matches.But Northern Lehigh got 15 points in those bouts, while Tri Valley managed only 10.With one goal accomplished, Hluschak and the Bulldogs will now turn their attention to Hershey, where they will try to continue their run of nearly unprecedented success."Anything can happen out there," the coach said. "There will be several really good teams that will be there, as there are every year; everybody's good at this point."But we're going to work hard this week in practice. We're not satisfied. We're going out there to wrestle to win and that's what we do. We don't' come to have moral victories. We want to win and that's what we're going to try to do, and it starts Monday at practice."Northern Lehigh 40, Tri Valley 26106 - Seth Fronheiser (NL) won by forfeit113 - Colton Rex (NL) pinned Dawson Boltz in 0:33120 - Caleb Bordner (TV) pinned Ezra Neff in 5:32126 - Jacob Kistler (NL) dec. Kyle Stephen, 7-6132 - Matt Schmall (NL) won by forfeit138 - Sammy Hepler (TV) maj. dec. Austin Hemingway, 17-5145 - Chase Schaeffer (TV) dec. Ryan Farber, 5-4 (UTB)152 - C.J. Young (NL) pinned Dawson Schwalm in 0:58160 - Anthony Snyder (TV) dec. Nate Farber, 3-1*170 - Austin Arnold (NL) pinned Shykir Bethea in 1:35182 - Hunter Harner (TV) pinned Chad Cederberg in 1:46195 - Stephen Scheib (NL) maj. dec. Cole Smeltz, 15-6220 - Dan Scheib (TV) maj. dec. Jason Schaffer, 13-4285 - Cameron Kates (NL) dec. Alan Renninger, 8-1* Match started at 170.Consolation FinalsNorthwestern-Saucon ValleyNorthwestern's contest against Saucon Valley was a rematch of a bout in the Colonial League team championships on Tuesday, which the Tigers lost 30-25.Despite leading late, Northwestern was unable to hold on, as Saucon Valley used an impressive finish to claim the win."We won the flip and got the matches we wanted, but they just got the wins," Northwestern head coach Jim Moll said afterwards. "We just didn't do our jobs."The Tigers held a 7-6 advantage after the first three bouts following Andrew Sorensen's (170) decision and Alex Russo's (195) major decision.Trailing 15-7 heading to the lighter weights, Northwestern won three of the next four matches, as Matt Peters (106) got a decision while Quentin Bernhard (120) and Jarret White (126) each picked up pins to give the Tigers a 22-19 lead.But that's when the Panthers turned it on, winning the last five matches, gaining bonus points in three of them."In the beginning of the season, our goal was to qualify for the league tournament and qualify for district duals," he said. "But about half-way through the season, we kinda changed our goals and we wanted to be in the top two at districts."Some of our kids had to wrestle some tough, tough matches this week," said Moll. "And that's the kind of stuff that helps you prepare for districts, regionals and states."That's the stuff you take out of this type of tournament. We're going to see these guys again, and hopefully we'll get them then."Saucon Valley 40, Northwestern 22106 - Matt Peters (NW) dec. Paul Miller, 6-0113 - Jack Hill (SV) maj. dec. Baily Wehr, 14-6120 - Quentin Bernhard (NW) pinned Angelo Mahaffey in 0:59126 - Jarret White (NW) pinned Ty Drunkenmiller in 1:05132 - Jason Jones (SV) maj. dec. Dalton Webster, 11-0138 - Nick Schneider (SV) dec. David VanBlargan, 6-3145 - Dylan Yonney (SV) dec. Caleb Clymer, 5-2152 - Nathan Harka (SV) tech. fall Jason Hottinger, 16-1 (5:57)160 - Ben Suites (SV) pinned Sam Day in 0:12*170 - Andrew Sorensen (NW) dec. Blayne Hirshbeck, 6-3182 - Jason Lynch (SV) pinned Anthony Fillis in 1:34195 - Alex Russo (NW) maj. dec. Devon VanVliet, 24-11220 - Sam Sheetz (SV) dec. Jacob Murray, 10-5285 - Trey Polak (SV) pinned Quin Moyer in 0:39* Match started at 170.SemifinalsNo. Lehigh-Saucon ValleyFinally.After coming up just short against Saucon Valley earlier in the week in the Colonial League team championship final, Northern Lehigh atoned for its loss to advance to the Class AA final.The Bulldogs were able to come out on top in several close bouts, winning all three overtime matches that were contested."To win in overtime you have to be well-conditioned," said Hluschak. "Saucon Valley is, but so are we and the chips fell our way there in those overtime matches."Obviously, we're grateful for that because they were huge in terms of getting the win."Northern Lehigh opened a 9-0 lead after wins by C.J. Young (152), Nate Farber (160) and Chad Cederberg (170).But the Panthers answered by taking the next two matches to tie it at 9-9 before the Bulldogs got on a roll.After losing to Sam Sheetz in the Colonial League final on Tuesday, Northern Lehigh's Jason Schaffer turned the tables by pinning his counterpart at 220 pounds on Saturday.Another wrestler that bounced back from a loss earlier in the week was freshman Seth Fronheiser, who got a 3-1 overtime decision against Saucon's Paul Miller after dropping a 4-3 decision in the first meeting.Following Fronheier's win, Saucon cut it to 22-18 with three straight victories.But the Bulldogs held on, as Matt Schmall (132) and Ryan Farber (145) won two of the final three bouts, with Farber's triumph coming in the last of the three overtime matches.No. Lehigh 28, Saucon Valley 22106 - Seth Fronheiser (NL) dec. Paul Miller, 3-1 (SV)113 - Jack Hill (SV) dec. Colton Rex, 6-2120 - Angelo Mahaffey (SV) dec. Ezra Neff, 6-4126 - Ty Drunkenmiller (SV) dec. Jacob Kistler, 4-3132 - Matt Schmall (NL) dec. Jason Jones, 6-0138 - Nick Schneider (SV) maj. dec. Austin Hemingway, 14-4145 - Ryan Farber (NL) dec. Dylan Yonney, 3-1 (SV)*152 - Conrad Young (NL) dec. Nathan Harka, 3-2160 - Nate Farber (NL) dec. Blayne Hirshbeck, 8-2170 - Chad Cederbeg (NL) dec. Nate Kehs, 4-2 (SV)182 - Jason Lynch (SV) won by forfeit195 - Devon VanVilet (SV) dec. Stephen Scheib, 6-4220 - Jason Schaffer (NL) pinned Sam Sheetz in 4:19285 - Cameron Kates (NL) maj. dec. Trey Polak, 17-5* - Match started at 152.Consolation SemifinalsNorthwestern-No. SchuylkillNorthwestern was able to use a late surge when the lineup turned over to down North Schuylkill.The Tigers got pins from Baily Wehr (113), Quentin Bernahrd (120), Jarret White (126) and Dalton Webster (132) in consecutive bouts before Caleb Clymer (138) and David VanBlargan (145) each picked up decisions.Jason Hottinger (152) finished the match with a pin for the final tally.The Tigers also got decisions from Andrew Sorensen (170) and Alex Russo (220).Northwestern 45, No. Schuylkill 22106 - Matt Peters (NW) dec. Owen Boyer, 10-8113 - Baily Wehr (NW) pinned Mason Madden-Edwards in 3:58120 - Quentin Bernhard (NW) pinned DJ Zahanick in 0:29126 - Jarret White (NW) pinned Zach Griffin in 0:52132 - Dalton Webster (NW) pinned Corbin Kessler in 1:56138 - Caleb Clymer (NW) dec. Jess Wetzel, 1-0145 - David VanBlargan (NW) dec. Joe Alexander, 5-3 (SV)152 - Jason Hottinger (NW) pinned Nick Price in 1:36*160 - Craig Fisher (NS) pinned Sam Day in 0:13170 - Andrew Sorensen (NW) dec. Brady Mickatavage, 2-1182 - CJ Steinhilber (NS) pinned Anthony Fillis in 1:19195 - Alek Hummel (NS) won by forfeit220 - Alex Russo (NW) dec. Dane Tarantelli, 6-5285 - Nate Gadinski (NS) maj. dec. Jacob Murray, 12-0* Match started at 160Consolation QuarterfinalsPanther Valley-N'westernNorthwestern took advantage of its depth and a strong finish to dispatch Panther Valley.The Tigers won the last seven bouts, getting victories from Quin Moyer (285) Matt Peters (106), Baily Wehr (113), Quentin Bernhard (120), Jarret White (126), Dalton Webster (132) and Caleb Clymer (138) to advance to the consolation semifinals."We needed those guys to come through and they did," said Northwestern head coach Jim Moll. "That gave us a lot of confidence and we used that to close it out."The Panthers were able to open up a 13-0 lead after Hunter Davidyock (145), Zachary Glassic (152) and Xander Kern (160) were all victorious.But Northwestern started to turn the momentum when Andrew Sorensen (170) and Alex Russo (195) picked up wins before Moyer kick-started the final push."When you wrestle matches like that, you find a lot of things to work on," PV head coach Tim Robb said. "So there are a lot of positives in having this as an extra event."Both Dylan Moyer (182) and Rian Shubeck (220) each picked up pins for the Panthers in the loss.Northwestern 43, Panther Valley 25106 - Matt Peters (NW) pinned Justin Ogozalek in 0:36113 - Baily Wehr (NW) maj. dec. Mike Lazar, 15-2120 - Quentin Bernahrd (NW) dec. Tanner Kennedy, 8-3126 - Jarret White (NW) dec. Darren Goida, 6-2132 - Dalton Webster (NW) pinned Hunter Kennedy in 5:16138 - Caleb Clymer (NW) dec. Ali Capobianco, 6-2*145 - Hunter Davidyock (PV) dec. David VanBlargan, 6-3152 - Zachary Glassic (PV) maj. dec. Jason Hottinger, 14-4160 - Xander Kern (PV) pinned Sam Day in 2:38170 - Andrew Sorensen (NW) pinned Grant Lorkowski in 0:33182 - Dylan Moyer (PV) pinned Anthony Fillis in 3:37195 - Alex Russo (NW) won by forfeit220 - Rian Shubeck (PV) pinned Jacob Murray in 2:59285 - Quin Moyer (NW) won by forfeit* - Match started at 145.