In his first year as Palmerton head wrestling coach Justin Petersen saw his team give up a large number of forfeits with low numbers on the varsity level.

The Blue Bombers finished the regular season with a 6-14 record overall and 1-7 in the Colonial League.This year, Petersen has some numbers but a lot of inexperience to start with. As the season moves along however, he hopes to see this young team get better and better."It's going to be tough because we have a lot of freshmen and a lot of sophomores in the lower weight classes," Petersen said. "It's going to be interesting though since our numbers are up from last year."We aren't going to give up as many forfeits, but we have a lot of guys that are unproven. We have new guys that haven't wrestled any varsity matches yet, so we'll see how they do."I'm excited though. We had an outstanding junior high team last year and we have almost all of those eighth and ninth graders up with us now.The Blue Bombers lost a lot of leadership and talent in the wrestling room with the likes of Zach Christman, Zach Graver, Dan Russo, Matt Wolfe and others and that changes things a bit.Petersen, however, feels like he has others to step in as leaders with the likes of juniors Jared Mooney and John Iles.Going through the lineup, the first five weight classes will be filled with freshmen.Hunter Fierro looks like he'll fit in at 106 pounds."He did pretty well last year on the junior high level and has been in the program a while and is getting better each year," Petersen said.At 113, the Bombers have Devin Rivera."Both Fierro and Rivera came within a match of placing at junior high district duals last year, Petersen said.At 120, Max Apello looks like the starter.Chase Faulstick will fill the bill at 126."He was another one who was close to placing at the junior high district tournament last year," the coach said.Lucas Christman will be the 132-pounder."He placed at junior high districts and has the potential to be a great one," added Peterson.The 138-pounder will be senior Damian Fink.Fink wrestling his freshman and sophomore year, and has decided to come back out after missing his junior year.Nate Sterner, a sophomore, will wrestle at 145 or 152."He was part of the outstanding junior high team last year and was close to placing at districts," said Petersen. "He's bigger, more physical and is a good all-around athlete."Petersen is hoping he'll have someone to bump up to fill the 152-pound weight class.At 160, sophomore Kyle Kralik, another district junior high medalist from last year.Riad Kapur looks to be the man at 170 pounds."He's a new one who has been doing a lot of jujitsu in the past," said Petersen. "You'd never know it by his showing in the wrestling room that he was a first year wrestler."Mooney, a state qualifier last year, is at 182 and is looking good."It's all work ethic with Mooney," Petersen mentioned. "He works had, never complains and just does what we ask him to do."Illes, another junior with a good work ethic, was a match away from placing at districts last year and is at 195.Dan Nicolo is at 220 and senior Jericho Burger is at 285."I want to see us continually getting better and reaching our peak at the end of the year,"Petersen said. "I think district duals is definitely a possibility if we can fill the lineup."