Lehighton wrestling coach Dan Williams knew that stopping Stroudsburg would be no easy task.

The Mounties feature a talented lineup and were 15-3 last season, not to mention the fact that they have won three of the last four Mountain Valley Conference championships.But that didn't stop the Indians from giving everything they had against the MVC powerhouse, pushing the Mounties to the limit before falling 43-27."In the MVC, you're always going to run across tough teams, and Stroudsburg's certainly one of them," Williams said. "I thought that our guys made some improvements in the way that they battled, and that's what you want to see. That's something that we can build off of."I felt like they went out there and gave it everything they had. But when you go up against Stroudsburg, you're going to run into some tough kids."Stroudsburg coach Matt Kleinle had similar praise for a hard-nosed Lehighton group afterwards."Lehighton definitely came out to wrestle us tonight," Kleinle said. "They're tough kids and they gave 100% in each match. They came to wrestle and in some of our weight classes we didn't, and it showed."Lehighton (0-2) started strong, as Anthony Farano picked up a pin over Matthew Rodriguez in the opening bout at 145 pounds.But the Indians and Mounties (6-0) would alternate wins and losses over the next five matches, with Lehighton's Tyler Cann (160) and Connor Frey (182) picking up close victories, with Cann's coming in overtime to tie the score 12-12."That's what I'm growing more and more to expect from those two," Williams said of Cann and Frey. "I never worry about an overtime match with Tyler. I just expect him to get a takedown and win."That's just them being tough kids, being conditioned and working hard in the practice room. Connor's our go-to-guy, and when he needed to score to win the match, he did. That's what separates the good wrestlers from the great wrestlers and I was happy to see that."But Stroudsburg was able to seize momentum after the early back-and-forth, as Joe Palmisano (195), Kevin Hughes (220) and Cody Cooper (285) gave the Mounties three straight wins for a 30-12 lead with six contests remaining.In the ensuing match, Stroudsburg's Joey Denny fought back from a 10-8 deficit late in his bout with Antonio Lorenzo to tie the match 10-10 and force overtime. Denny was able to parlay his late match heroics into a 12-10 overtime victory, a loss Williams thinks Lorenzo will learn from in the future."That was a tough match," the coach said. "I think that was just a case of Antonio's inexperience (hurting him) there, doing some things that he didn't need to do at that point in time. But that's something we can build on."Lehighton didn't go down quietly, claiming three of the final five contests, as Ezra Neff (113), Tegan Durishin (126) and Joshua Gornick (138) all picked up victories for the Indians.While the result wasn't what he was looking for, Williams knows his team can learn from facing a quality opponent such as Stroudsburg early in the season."I think this is a really good step forward for us to go out there and battle against a really good team," he said. "We have a short turnaround time until our next match with one practice tomorrow and Pen Argyl on Thursday. We have to regroup and get ready for that."Stroudsburg 43, Lehighton 27106 - Joey Denny (STR) dec. Antonio Lorenzo, 12-10 (SV)113 - Ezra Neff (LEH) pin Adam Pembleton in 2:36120 - Jake Jones (STR) dec. Zach Kemmerer, 8-0126 - Tegan Durishin (LEH) pin Mike Palmisano in 5:27132 - Joshua Gornick (LEH) dec. Austin Wilgus, 9-3138 - Justin Schwartz (STR) pin Anthony Yerger in 1:12*145 - Anthony Farano (LEH) pin Matthew Rodriguez in 4:45152 - Paul Pinto (STR) pin Dustin Koons in 2:27160 - Tyler Cann (LEH) dec. Keith Howie, 3-1 (SV)170 - John Jakobsen (STR) pin Dustin Mystkowski in 5:32182 - Connor Frey (LEH) dec. Pat Pierson, 3-2195 - Joe Palmisano (STR) pin Logan Berger in 1:06220 - Kevin Hughes (STR) pin Perry Didyoung in 1:48285 - Cody Cooper (STR) pin Joel Kunek in :12* - Match started at 145 pounds.