The start of the District 11 Team Wrestling Championships featured a mostly familiar refrain for Northwestern.

Coming off a first-round bye in the Class 2A bracket, Northwestern was pushed by Notre Dame-Green Pond.But the Tigers have been here before, specifically last season, when they withstood the grind of the district tournament to advance to the PIAA Championships by winning the true second place match after a marathon day of competition.Northwestern showed its mettle once again Thursday, fighting off the Crusaders' best shot before pulling out a 37-33 quarterfinal win."We've been in a lot of close matches all year," said Northwestern head coach Jim Moll. "Catasauqua was close (42-36 win); Southern Lehigh was close (39-30 win); we had some close ones at the Zephyr Duals. So we're used to being in tight matches."And a lot of these guys did it last year in district duals. So we've gone through this a lot as a team already and I think that experience kind of helped our guys a little bit tonight."The Tigers were the only Times News squad to advance to Saturday's semifinals, but they won't be the only area team competing at Freedom High School.Lehighton knocked off Panther Valley 45-22 in the first round to secure a spot Saturday's competition before falling to Wilson 51-15 in the quarters.The Indians will face Pen Argyl in a first round consolation match.With the loss to Lehighton, the Panthers were eliminated.Palmerton's tournament also ended in the first round following a 40-33 loss to Notre Dame Green Pond.Action will resume with consolation matches Saturday at 9 a.m. at Freedom High School. The championship semifinal matches are scheduled for 10:45 a.m. The finals are scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Should it be necessary, the true second place match will take place at 7:30 p.m.QuarterfinalsNorthwestern-Notre DameFourth seed Northwestern had several key wins against the Crusaders, but perhaps none bigger than Colin Rex's pin at 132 pounds.With the Tigers trailing 9-3 after thee bouts, Rex stepped up and pinned Blake Daniel, a state qualifier a year ago, in 3:49 to knot the score at 9-9."Colin Rex is sick, and he went out and wrestled Blake Daniel, who was a state qualifier, and he came through," said Northwestern head coach Jim Moll. "Colin Rex is an excellent athlete, who is a very good wrestler, and he came through, sick."Jackson Bernhard got a pin at 145 and Caleb Clymer picked up a major decision at 152 to give Northwestern valuable bonus points.The Tigers' also won a potential tossup bout at 120, when Bailey Wehr grabbed an 8-4 decision over Ryan McGuire."Northwestern just out-wrestled us," said Notre Dame head coach John McGuire. "Plain and simple. Even the matches that were the close ones we won, they wrestled really well. We had some matches we thought we would win, like 132 … and we end up getting pinned there, so that was a huge one. And at 120, it's a tossup with those two anytime they wrestle, and that went Bailey's way."But I just thought overall they out-wrestled us. And I told the kids, this is Northwestern. They're a proud program with a really good coaching staff, with good kids. They're not going to lay down for you. You're going to have to bring it. But they just did a better job of it tonight."Even in matches that didn't go his team's way, Moll still had reason to smile."Harrison Bernhard wrestled a great match," Moll said of Bernhard's 5-3 overtime loss to Richie Markulics at 113 pounds. "He's wrestled a great match the last two nights. He had (Saucon Valley's Nick) Rosengrant at leagues on Monday, and he wrestled him really tough (a 4-2 loss)."Up next is a meeting with top seed Saucon Valley in the semis. The Panthers defeated Northwestern 67-6 Monday on their way to the Colonial League team title and shutout Catasauqua 71-0 in Thursday's quarterfinal match."We just want to compete," said Moll. "We wrestled them tough last time. The score doesn't indicate it but there were a lot of close bouts. So we'll look for the same thing."Northwestern 37, Notre Dame 33113 - Richie Markulics (ND) dec. Harrison Bernhard 5-3 (OT).120 - Bailey Wehr (NW) dec. Ryan McGuire 8-4.126 - Nicholas Vonelli (ND) pinned Donovan White (NW) in 3:33.132 - Colin Rex (NW) pinned Blake Daniel in 3:49.138 - Mario Gordon (ND) pinned Tyler Derr in 4:43.145 - Jackson Bernhard (NW) pinned Liam Carroll in :53.152 - Caleb Clymer (NW) major dec. Isaiah Dejesus, 9-1.160 - Ryan Fink (NW) won by forfeit.170 - Dominic Scartelli (ND) won by forfeit.182 - EJ Medina (ND) pinned Ben McQuilken in 1:28.195 - Sam Day (NW) won by forfeit.220 - Robert Fielder (ND) won by forfeit.285 - Micah Marusshak (NW) won by forfeit.106 - No match.Wilson-LehightonIt didn't take long for the second seeded Warriors to establish control against the Indians, getting bonus points in the first three matches with pins by Jon Consorti (113) and Marckis Branford (120) and a technical fall from Jared Corriere (126) to set the tone."I was happy with the way our kids came out," said Wilson head coach Tom Mertz. "Lehighton had that match against Panther Valley (in the first round), and they had a lot of momentum going, and they looked really sharp against Panther Valley."I kind of liked where we started at 113, and at 120 we got a big win from (Marckis) Branford, who got majored by (Nate) Kemmerer last year. But he put in a ton of time in the offseason, so we were kind of excited about that match, and we thought if we could get the ball rolling there, we would be all right."The Warriors got bonus points in eight of the 10 matches they won."They're the second seed for a reason - they're tough, they're physical," said Lehighton head coach Floyd Brown. "They just out-manned us."Still, Brown was pleased with the effort, and knows his team can learn quite a bit from a facing a quality opponent such as Wilson this late in the season."This only helps us for individual districts, and even getting ready for Saturday," he said. "The score might not indicate it, but we were in a lot of the matches. The kids were battling and I felt good about it."Cody Scherer (160) got a pin for Lehighton, while Tyler Schock (132), Chris Whiteman (145) and Dylan Schock (170) all picked up decisions for the seventh seeded Indians.Wilson 51, Lehighton 15113 - Jon Consorti (W) pinned Lucas Sangiuliano in 1:09.120 - Marckis Branford (W) pinned Nate Kemmerer in 2:26.126 - Jared Corriere (W) tech. fall Logan Pagotto, 17-0 (4:52).132 - Tyler Schock (L) dec. Anthony MIcci. 4-0.138 - Zavery Lesher (W) pinned Isaiah Wetzel in 3:25.145 - Chris Whiteman (L) dec. Luke Fleck, 6-2.152 - Jon Fischer (W) dec. Grant Wetzel, 12-7.160 - Cody Scherer (L) pinned Beau Lantosh in :44.170 - Dylan Schock (L) dec. Lamont Singletary, 10-4.182 - Josh Roberti (W) pinned Alex Ziegenfuss in 1:28.195 - Alec Snyder (W) major dec. Jack Zimmerman, 10-0.220 - Kolby Flank (W) dec. Brett Gasker, 5-1.285 - Trevor Loebsack (W) pinned Jake Houser in :17.106 - Elijah Bunfro (W) pinned Kevin Madea in :52.First RoundLehighton-Panther ValleyLehighton seized command early against the Panthers, winning nine of the first 10 matches to grab a 45-4 lead."We came out and wrestled real well," said Lehighton head coach Floyd Brown. "There were a couple of tossup matches that went our way. There were matches we thought were going to be real close ones that could have gone either way, and we got wins there. So that really propelled us."One of those matches came at 145 pounds, where Chris Whiteman pinned Panther Valley's Derrick Beckham in 2:55. Beckham defeated Whiteman twice at the Schuylkill League Tournament last month.Whiteman, Lucas Sangiuliano (113), Nate Kemmerer (120) and Grant Wetzel (152) all won by fall for the Indians. Tyler Schock (138), Cody Scherer (160) and Dylan Schock (170) won by decision.Scherer turned in a gutsy effort, getting a 3-2 decision in ultimate rideout overtime against Hunter Kennedy."That was a big win for us a 160, especially moving up a weight class," Brown said of Scherer. "He really pushed himself and went all-out, and got a win. That was a nice win for him."The 10th seeded Panthers closed strong, winning the final four matches.Tyler Baez (182) and Chris Walkinshaw (285) both collected pins, while Hunter Kerestes (195) and Justin Rodriguez (220) won by decision.Lehighton 45, Panther Valley 22106 - Miguel Santiago (PV) major dec. Kevin Madea, 10-2.113 - Lucas Sangiuliano (L) pinned Louden Breiner in 1:11.120 - Nate Kemmerer (L) pinned Brandon Meyers in 1:38.126 - Logan Pagotto (L) won by forfeit.132 - Isaiah Wetzel (L) won by forfeit.138 - Tyler Schock (L) dec. Gary Goodhile, 12-5.145 - Chris Whiteman (L) pinned Derrick Beckham in 2:55.152 - Grant Wetzel (L) pinned Mark Clewell in 1:10.160 - Cody Scherer (L) dec. Hunter Kennedy, 3-2 (UTB).170 - Dylan Schock (L) dec. Xander Kern, 4-3.182 - Tyler Baez (PV) pinned Alex Ziegenfuss in 5:58.195 - Hunter Kerestes (PV) dec. Jack Zimmerman, 6-2.220 - Justin Rodriguez (PV) dec. Brett Gasker, 6-1.285 - Chris Walkinshaw (PV) pinned Jake Houser in 2:15.Notre Dame-PalmertonThe Blue Bombers nearly erased a 34-0 deficit before falling to the Crusaders.No. 5 seed Notre Dame Green Pond won the first six matches (three pins, two technical falls, one forfeit) before Lucas Christman put Palmerton on the board with a 9-4 decision over Isaiah Dejesus at 152 pounds."I thought Lucas battled," Palmerton head coach Justin Petersen said of Christman, who nearly secured a pin early in the bout. "He had a great match. That was his first tough match since coming back (from injury), and he came out on top."He actually was probably giving up 15 pounds, or close to it, so that right there is a big confidence booster for him."The 12th seeded Blue Bombers won the next five matches, with Kyle Kralik's pin at 182 pounds sandwiched between four forfeits, the last of which came at 220 and cut the Crusaders' lead to 34-33.But Robert Fielder sealed the win for Notre Dame Green Pond with a pin in the final match at 285 pounds."It's not a great feeling right now; they're feeling it right now," said Petersen. "But I think that's a good feeling for them, to know how it feels. This is not something you want."Notre Dame 40, Palmerton 33106 - No match.113 - Richie Markulics (ND) won by forfeit.120 - Ryan McGuire (ND) pinned Shawn Gardner in :48.126 - Nicholas Vonelli (ND) tech. fall Devin Rivera, 16-1.132 - Blake Daniel (ND) tech. fall Matt Lalik, 15-0 (2:52).138 - Ethan Valkovec (ND) pinned Chase Faulstick in 2:54.145 - Mario Gordon (ND) pinned Nate Sterner in 1:53.152 - Lucas Christman (P) dec. Isaiah Dejesus, 9-4.160 - Dylan Gonyo (P) won by forfeit.170 - Riad Kapur (P) won by forfeit.182 - Kyle Kralik (P) pinned EJ Medina (ND) in 4:18.195 - Jared Mooney (P) won by forfeit.220 -John Iles (P) won by forfeit.285 - Robert Fielder (ND) pinned Dan NIcolo in 1:45.