In what he termed a "must win situation," Palmerton's Riad Kapur stepped up and delivered against Lehighton.

With his team trailing 36-34 heading into the final match, Kapur secured a pin to give the Blue Bombers a wild 40-36 non-league victory over the Indians.Though Kapur might only be in his first year of varsity wrestling, the Palmerton junior had plenty of experience to lean on in his match against a familiar foe in Lehighton's Dylan Schock."I used to do Jiu-Jitsu with him," Kapur said of Schock. "I was able to get his back from sprawling and it all came from Jiu-Jitsu, basically. If I didn't do Jiu-Jitsu, I probably wouldn't have won."Kapur used those skills to come out on top following a frantic scramble to start the second period.After starting with a 2-0 advantage following a takedown near the end of the first period, Schock was able to turn the tables and go up 3-2 before Kapur scored again to make it 4-3 before finishing the match with the decisive pin."I have a lot of confidence in Rio," Palmerton head coach Justin Petersen said of Kapur afterward. "He's a first-year kid, which is something you would never, ever realize when you watch him.He wrestles with emotion. He's exciting to watch."Kapur's pin came after Lehighton seemed to take control of the match following three straight victories. The run started when Tyler Schock picked up a major decision over Chris Fredricks at 145 pounds. Tegan Durishin picked up a forfeit at 152 before the Indians took just their second lead of the match at 36-34 when Cody Scherer pinned Nate Sterner at 160 pounds.But the 14-point swing wasn't enough. The Blue Bombers made the most of scoring critical bonus points throughout the match while preventing the Indians from doing the same."A lot of matches came down to bonus points, really," said Petersen. "A couple of our kids kept points off the board for them by keeping them to a major (decision) or a technical fall or what have you."That's not something you really see in the box score too much, but that's something that was just as important as getting a pin compared to a major and things like that. I thought overall everybody bought in to the strategy and did very well."Pins by Jared Mooney (182), John Ilies (220) and Lucas Christman (132) along with a major decision win by Damien Fink (138) were vital for the Blue Bombers."Palmerton wrestled a tough match," said Lehighton head coach Dan Williams. "Justin (Petersen) made all the moves he had to make to win it."And they were just a little bit tougher than we were tonight. Hats off to them."Though still early in the season, Williams knows his team needs to regroup and refocus with several tough tests on the horizon."Hopefully we learned from this and can put it behind us," he said. "We can't dwell on it, because we have North Schuylkill next week, and Northern Lehigh and Pen Argyl coming up right after that."QUICK TURNAROUND … Palmerton struggled to fill its lineup a year ago, resulting in a number of forfeits and only one Colonial League dual meet win.ON THE MEND … Lehighton was without Tyler Cann (170) and Wyatt Clements (220) Tuesday night. Williams noted the duo, recovering from a long football season, should be back within a week. Cann and Clements combined for 41 wins last year.Palmerton 40, Lehighton 36106 - Nate Kemmerer (L) won by forfeit.113 - Hunter Fierro (P) won by forfeit.120 - Devin Rivira (P) won by forfeit.126 - Zach Kemmerer (L) tech. fall Chase Faulstick, 17-2 (5:09).132 - Lucas Christman (P) pinned Chris Whiteman in 1:58.138 - Damien Fink (P) maj. dec Grant Wetzel, 14-2.145 - Tyler Schock (L) maj. dec Chris Fredricks, 11-1.152 - Tegan Durisin (L) won by forfeit.160 - Cody Scherer (L) pinned Nate Sterner in 2:09.170 - Riad Kapur (P) pinned Dylan Schock in 2:31.*182 - Jared Mooney (P) pinned Erik Skrincosky in 1:26.195 - Connor Frey (L) pinned Dan Nicolo in 0:55.220 - John Iles (P) pinned Dave Citro in 2:44.285 - Alexander Smith (L) dec Jericho Burger, 4-3 (SV).* - Match started at 182 pounds.