POTTSVILLE - This was supposed to be a showdown match.

The upstart against the rulers of the roost.

Lehighton was trying to establish itself as one of the best teams in the Schuylkill League. Meanwhile, Pottsville, a program that just has gotten better and better with each passing season under Gary Koener, was already in that position.

The Indians figured to have a fighting chance, but they needed to have all the stars align to perfection. Things didn’t play out that way, though, as a rash of recent injuries forced Lehighton to forfeit six bouts.

The Crimson Tide stuttered at the outset, but when push came to shove, they took advantage of the free points and rolled to a 57-15 victory. The win puts the five-time defending league champions in an enviable position in their bid to add to that string of titles.

“They’re so tough, and you can’t give them an inch,” Lehighton coach Floyd Brown said. “When you give up that many forfeits, it’s almost impossible to come back. But I really thought that we could have won at least five matches.”

At the outset, it looked very promising when the Indians’ Rich Fronheiser buried Bryce Shappell after hardly breaking a sweat. Fronheiser gushed to a 17-3 victory.

“He’s a quality wrestler, he wrestled very well,” Brown said about Fronheiser.

“They have a nice team,” said Koener. “We got down a little bit, Lehighton could have very easily come out on top.”

After a forfeit at 189 tied the match, Lehighton got a standup performance at 215 where Gauge Hartney kept battling Pottsville’s Eric Mitchel. Hartney was on the verge of victory in regulation, but Ritschel managed to escape just as the buzzer sounded to make it 1-1 and force the extra period. Hartney wasn’t dettered, though, and won on an escape with 25 seconds to go in the one-minute overtime session.

However, the Indians’ momentum was short lived.

Pottsville began taking control in the 285 match where the Tide’s RJ Quinn pinned Richard Houser in 2:55, and teammate Connor Demcher dispatched Andrew Versuk with the night’s quickest pin (15 seconds) as the Tide built an 18-9 lead.

Lehighton’s Aiden Gruber may have had one of the best matches of his career in a 7-5 loss to Luke Sterns at 113 pounds. Sterns seized leads of 5-0 and 7-1, before Gruber came roaring back and had there been another 10 seconds, the Lehighton grappler may have picked off a win.

“He got hit with a five-point move, and battled back,” Floyd said. “It was a great match.”

Lehighton’s second forfeit of the night made it 27-9 before Pottsville’s Parrish McFarland posted a first- period pin over Nick Zigenfuse, upping the lead to 33-9.

The Indians’ Lucas Ferguson came out on top of Sam Sterns with a terrific fall at 1:08. Sterns picked up a takedown for a quick 2-0 lead, but Ferguson escaped and in a quick takedown, nailed Sterns’ back to the mat for a pin making the match score 33-15.

They would be the final Lehighton points of the match, as three more forfeits followed.

“Lucas and the Sterns kid have had a battle going on forever,” Floyd said. “He did a nice job for us.

“And in the match before that, Johnny Ahner did a nice job too, but unfortunately got hit with a headlock.”

LOSING SIX … Floyd said a mounting list of injuries has hit his team, creating lineup holes that produced the six forfeits. Before Wednesday, the Indians had given up just one forfeit in their previous six matches combined this season.

Pottsville 57, Lehighton 15

172 - Fronheiser (L) dec. Shappell, 17-3; 189 - Salen (P) won by forfeit; 215 - Hartney (L) dec. Ritschel, 2-1 in OT; 285 - Quinn (P) pinned Hunter in 2:55; 106 - Demcher (P) pinned Versuk in 0:15; 113 - L. Sterns (P) dec. Gruber, 7-5; 120 - Monger (P) won by forfeit; McFarland (P) pinned Zigenfuse in 2:33; 126 - Ferguson (L) pinned S. Sterns in 1:08; 132 - Ross (P) won by forfeit; 138 - Ross (P) won by forfeit; 152 - Borrell (P) won by forfeit; 160

- Bohard (P) won by forfeit.