It’s not often that a defeated team walks away with more positives than the victor, but that was the case Wednesday night for Northern Lehigh in its final boys wrestling dual of the regular season against Northwestern Lehigh.

Despite the Tigers earning a 49-23 victory, Bulldogs head coach Joe Killar felt his team didn’t perform to its standard.

“Overall, I didn’t think we wrestled very well; it wasn’t the best performance by any means,” Killar said. “I just don’t think we were mentally ready. They just need to be ready every match.”

Northern Lehigh didn’t make things easy on Northwestern, even if the points weren’t coming early. After two forfeit wins to open the night, the visiting Tigers took five of the next six bouts, but most of the points came only after hard-fought matches.

At 121 pounds, MacKenzie Case recorded the first pin of the evening, stopping Javian Mercado late in the third period. Weston Killar followed at 127, pinning Henry Slonaker with six seconds remaining, and Adam Griffith added a major decision at 133 over Andrew Rudolph.

Northern Lehigh finally broke through at 139, where Zach Gosart earned a technical fall over Liam Scanlon early in the third period.

Northwestern responded with back-to-back pins from Noah Griffith and Trent Croll, but the Bulldogs answered with three strong performances that drew praise from their coaching staff.

At 160, Mason Rothrock gave the home team its first pin of the night by stopping Chase Sukanick. Then at 189, Connor Arrigio delivered a gritty effort against Northwestern standout Vinnie Fugazzotto, going the full six minutes before dropping a narrow 1-0 decision on a stalling point.

Northern Lehigh closed its scoring at 285, where Isaac Jackovitz pinned Ian Zettlemoyer with four seconds remaining in the second period.

Though the Bulldogs came up short on the scoreboard, Killar was pleased with the overall effort.

“I thought we wrestled well,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure these kids came out and wrestled as hard as they could today, and they did that. I’m proud of them.”

Killar singled out Slonaker’s effort despite the loss, Arrigio’s composure in taking Fugazzotto the distance, Gosart’s continued run of strong performances, and Rothrock’s showing after returning from nearly a month without competition.

“He was the best I’ve seen him wrestle in a long, long time,” Killar said of Rothrock.

WHAT’S NEXT? … While the regular-season dual slate has ended for both teams, postseason competition remains ahead. Northern Lehigh will compete over the next three Saturdays, beginning with the Golden Bear Tournament at Upper Moreland this weekend. Northwestern returns to action at Lehighton for the Coal Cracker Tournament.

Northwestern 49, N. Lehigh 23

107 - Logan Heeps (NW) won by forfeit; 114 - Cooper Smith (NW) won by forfeit; 121 - MacKenzie Case (NW) pinned Javian Mercado in 5:32; 127 - Weston Killar (NW) pinned Henry Slonaker in 5:54; 133 - Adam Griffith (NW) major dec. Andrew Rudolph (11-1); 139 - Zach Gosart (NL) tech fall Liam Scanlon, 21-6 (4:38); 145 - Noah Griffith (NW) pinned Kyle O`Connell in 1:04; 152 - Trent Croll (NW) pinned Skyler Loos in 1:38; 160 - Mason Rothrock (NL) pinned Chase Sukanick in 4:42; 172 - Nolan Koehler (NW) won by forfeit; 189 - Vinnie Fugazatto (NW) dec. Connor Arrigio (1-0); 215 - Dawson Newhard (NL) won by forfeit; 285 - Isaac Jackovitz (NL) pinned Ian Zettlemoyer in 3:56.

Records: Northwestern (10-3); Northern Lehigh (2-5).