Northwestern’s hard work in the off-season seems apparent in the early going of the 2019-20 wrestling season.

Examples of that were obvious in Wednesday’s Colonial League match against Northern Lehigh.

“This is always a match we want to win, and I know Northern Lehigh wanted to win as badly as us,” Tiger head coach Jim Moll said after his team’s 51-18 victory. “Whether it’s here or at our place, it’s always a very competitive match and tonight was no different.”

Despite the final score, there were reasons for concern for Moll. But overall he was pleased with a strong showing by the Tigers, who improved to 2-1 on the season.

“If we wrestle like this for the rest of the year, I’ll be really, really happy,” Moll said. “I’m really proud of the guys for the way they wrestled tonight.”

The winners nabbed five of the six contested matches, as Lucas Miller (152), Ryan Haverkamp (195), Ben Griffith (132) and Mason Brensinger (138) all earned pins, and Eli Dellicker (120), pulled out a 10-9 decision.

“Eli Dellicker and Ben Griffith both lost to the guys they faced tonight, last year,” Moll said. “Eli’s win was just six minutes of effort. It was an excellent match, and probably the best he’s wrestled for us all year.”

Against Brendan Smoy, the back-and-forth nature of the bout left the winner in doubt until a late maneuver tilted the win in Dellicker’s favor.

“He got a takedown with 15 seconds to go to take the lead, and then just held on,” Moll said.

The Tiger sophomore was definitely happy with his result.

“I’m pretty sure the coaches had me losing that match,” Dellicker said about the normal bout-by-bout pre-match breakdown coaches do. “So it’s just a great feeling to come back from a loss last year and win it this year. I just worked for it, and I used all six minutes of that match, which is really hard to do, but you just have to keep fighting to the absolute end.”

Griffith also reversed results from a year ago against the Bulldogs’ Preston Bauer.

“Ben lost a couple of times to that kid last season, so for him to come out and wrestle and win in the fashion he did was just great,” Moll said. “He’s really put in a lot of hard work in the offseason, and it’s starting to show.”

Griffith said, “It was definitely a good match for me, because I wrestled him three of four times since my freshman year and lost to him every time. The off-season work really is helping me and the team out.”

“Tonight, I don’t think anyone wrestled particularly well for us,” No. Lehigh coach Scott Snyder said. “There were a few mental lapses at times, but that’s correctable.

“It was good to see Jason Hunter go out at 220 and get that fall pretty quickly. He’s improved tremendously for us since last season.”

TIGERS WILL BE BUSY … With the holiday break approaching, both teams will be in action. The Tigers have a tournament at Wilkes University this weekend and will participate in the Holiday Classic at Bethlehem Liberty over their break. They also have a dual meet against Salisbury on Dec. 28th.

TOURNAMENT TIME … The Bulldogs will participate in the Bob Rohn Duals at Bloomsburg University on Dec. 28th.

Northwestern 51, No. Lehigh 18

145 - Trevor Amorim (NL) won by forfeit; 152 - Lucas Miller (NW) pin Dylan Smoyer in 3:24; 160 - Harrison Bernhard (NW) won by forfeit; 170 - Nathan Peters (NW) won by forfeit; 182 - Tyler Watson (NW) won by forfeit; 195 - Ryan Haverkamp (NW) pin Matt Frame in 3:37; 220 - Jason Hunter (NL) pin Isaiah Johri in :53; 285 - Joshua Schaffer (NL) won by forfeit; 106 - double forfeit; 113 - double forfeit; 120 - Eli Dellicker (NW) dec. Brendan Smoy, 10-9; 126 - Jake Dellicker (NW) won by forfeit; 132 - Ben Griffith (NW) pin Preston Bauer in 3:49; 138

- Mason Brensinger (NW) pin Nathan Ellan in 2:28.