Palmerton and Southern Lehigh both won seven matches in their hotly contested Colonial League wrestling showdown on Wednesday night.

It was the Spartans however, that had the edge on the scoreboard when the dust settled for a 37-35 victory thanks to coming away with more bonus points.Southern Lehigh used four pins, a major decision and a win by injury default for its extra points.Palmerton, on the other hand, managed two pins, one technical fall and two forfeit wins for its bonus points."We dug the hole a little bit too deep," said Palmerton head coach Dave Lavin. "You can't give up pins like that especially from our guys who are supposed to be the ones who are getting wins. We had a lot of swing matches that were unexpected and it's tough to come back from that."The Bombers fell behind early, watching the Spartans build up a 31-11 lead with just six matches remaining.All Palmerton could muster through the first eight matches was a technical fall win (22-7) by Zach Graver and a forfeit win by Jake Christman.Then Daniel Russo started a flurry with a 4-0 decision at 113, followed by a forfeit win by Josh Evans. at 120.The Spartans bumped up Anthony Colasurdo to 126 to face Damien Fink, but the Blue Bomber didn't back down and surprised with a 52-second fall to keep the string alive and pulling the Bombers within five at 31-26.After Solehi's Adam Ziegler, one of the tougher Spartans picked up a fall, the Bombers knew they needed a pair of falls for a shot to win it.Zach Christman came through with a 1:36 fall at 138 and Joey Bubble wrestled his heart out but managed a 7-0 decision with Solehi's Jacob DePriore doing everything to stay off his back. DePriore was tagged with four stalling calls after the warning but it wasn't enough."I'm really proud of the effort at the end there," said Lavin. "That's a tough thing to do when the other team is going out there to do everything not to get pinned."We told Fink, you've got that move, go for it, and he did it. He stuck to it and kept going after it and that's what we wanted to see."Zach Christman found a way to get it done. Joey (Bubble) went for it against a big, strong kid and he fought him off."But you can't put yourself in that position. One kid on our team doesn't get pinned, one swing match, and we win."So. Lehigh 37, Palmerton 35106 - Fred Giordano (SL) maj. dec. Brandon Traugher, 11-3113 - Daniel Russo (P) dec. Jacon Steirer, 4-0120 - Josh Evans (P) won by forfeit126 - Damien Fink (P) pinned Anthony Colasurdo in :52132 - Adam Ziegler (SL) pinned Dillon Masington in :48138 - Zach Christman (P) pinned Tim Rice in 1:36145 - Joey Bubble (P) dec. Jacob DePriore, 7-0*152 - Matt Mirth (SL) inj. default over Travis Stroup160 - Peter Dex (SL) pinned Shane Grohotolski in 1:16170 - Zach Graver (P) tech. fall Christian Ricci, 22-7 (5:29)182 - Jake Christman (P) won by forfeit195 - Thomas Dex (SL) pinned Rae Washington in 1:33220 - Dylan Sheaffer (SL) dec. Andrew Strauss 4-3 (OT)285 - Daulton Romano (SL) pinned Skyler Rosenberry in 2:17* Match started at 152