BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP — With the strength of Northwestern’s middle and upper weights, the Tigers just need to stay within striking distance early in most matches before they can rack up points later in the contest.

But, Saturday in the semifinal round of the District 11 Team Championships, the early deficit the Tigers faced against Tri-Valley was too large to make up as they fell to the Bulldogs 45-27.

“Every match that was close, we ended up getting pinned,” said Northwestern head coach Joe Killar. “We didn’t wrestle well. They took it to us. We tried to wrestle to our ability at every weight and we didn’t.”

The Tigers lost eight of the 13 matches, with six of their losses coming by fall.

The Bulldogs (15-4) won four of the next five matches, with three coming by fall to take a 33-6 lead Saturday at Freedom High School.

Weston Killar (127) was the only Tiger winner in the first seven bouts.

When the match got to 160, the Tigers (11-4) looked to go on a roll despite bumping most of their wrestlers up one weight class to make up for some holes in the line up.

Chase Sukanick (160) won by fall, before Nolan Koehler (172) earned a win by decision. Vinnie Fugazzotto (189) and Luke Fugazzotto (215) both pinned their opponents in less than 35 seconds to get the match score to 33-27.

Tri-Valley wins at 285 and 107 sealed the win.

The Tigers were missing two wrestlers from the middle of their lineup in Trent Croll and Braydon Uricchio.

“It kills us being out two guys, but we’re not the only ones who are hurt or beat up,” said Joe Killar. “It is what it is. Tri Valley wrestled well. They had some strong kids. We didn’t wrestle well, and it didn’t go our way.”

Croll is expected back for individual districts. Uricchio is likely out for the remainder of the season.

The Tigers, who were seeded second for the eight-team Class 2A tournament, got to Saturday’s semifinals by beating No. 7 seed Pine Grove 39-33 in the opening round.

Northwestern’s Logan Heeps, Weston Kilar, Sukanick, Koehler, Vinnie Fugazzotto and Luke Fugazzotto all pinned their Cardinal opponents, as their team won eight bouts and picked up bonus points in seven of them.

Mackenzie Case, who was one of only two Tigers to lose a bout against Tri-Valley but avoid getting pinned, won her match by decision against Pine Grove.

Lehighton also qualified for team districts, earning the No. 5 seed and a matchup against No. 4 North Schuylkill in the quarterfinal round.

The Spartans, who beat the Indians by just a point during the regular season, jumped out to a 27-0 lead Saturday en route to a 54-9 win.

“They came to wrestle and we didn’t,” said Lehighton head coach Floyd Brown. “I felt good coming into it, but they got off to a good start and we couldn’t get our feet on the ground after that.”

North Schuylkill (16-3) won the first five bouts, with four coming by fall, before Lehighton’s Lukas Croizier got a pin at 139 to stop the bleeding.

The Indians (13-5) didn’t win another match until Pretson DiGrazia earned an overtime win at 189 for his team’s final victory on the match.

“Our goal was to be here and be in semis and have a chance to get to finals,” said Brown. “It just didn’t work out for us. We have to go back and work harder so we’re ready for the end of the season. We have one more dual meet, and then we focus on [individual districts].”

CHAMPS ... Top seed Saucon Valley beat Tri-Valley 52-21 in the Class 2A final to win this year’s title. In Class 3A, Nazareth emerged from a crowded field with a 36-25 win over Bethlehem Catholic.

STATE TOURNEY ... The top two teams in each class advance to the state team tournament. Tri-Valley will compete in Tuesday’s preliminary round against the District 12 champ. The winner will take on the District 1 champ that same night. Saucon Valley will face the winner of a match between the District 3 runner up, and the third-place team from District 4 on Tuesday. In 3A, Becahi competes in a Tuesday preliminary bout while Nazareth will have just one bout on Tuesday against the third place team from either District 3 or District 1.

INDIVIDUAL DISTRICTS ... Most wrestlers will now turn their focus to the individual district championships, which are scheduled for Friday-Saturday, Feb. 20-21 at Freedom and Liberty high schools in Bethlehem.

Tri-Valley 45, Northwestern 27

114 - Easton Moore (TV) tech. fall Mackenzie Case, 20-5 in 3:54; 121 - Garrett Leitzel (TV) pinned Luke Breidinger in :25; 127 - Weston Killar (NW) pinned Dalton Leitzel in :51; 133 - Jaxson Bruso (TV) pinned Emory Lloyd in :55; 139 - Landon Horoschak (TV) pinned Adam Griffith in 4:26; 145 - Liam Yourey (TV major dec. Noah Griffith, 17-9; 152 - Robert Schwartz (TV) pinned Liam Scanlon in 1:17; 172 - Nolan Koehler (NW) dec. Hunter Updegrove, 5-0; 189 - Vinnie Fugazzotto (NW) pinned Maxwell Masser in :34; 215 - Luke Fugazzotto (NW) pinned Kyle Bowman in :17; 285 - Donovan Keeth (TV) pinned Ian Zettlemoyer in 1:49; 107 - Owen Wolfgang (TV) pinned Logan Heeps in :39.

Northwestern 39, Pine Grove 33

107 - Logan Heeps (NW) pinned Joshua Witherow in :57; 114 - Mackenzie Case (NW) dec. Liam Levan, 4-1; 121 - Chase Nagle (PG) pinned Luke Breidinger in 1:28; 127 - Weston Killar (NW) pinned Taylor Enge in 1:08; 133 - Andrew Hikes (PG) major dec. Adam Griffith, 12-0; 139 - James Hoy (PG) pinned Noah Griffith in 2:39; 145 - Aaron Osatchuk (PG) tech. fall Liam Scanlon, 17-0 in 2:40; 152 - Chase Sukanick (NW) pinned Kendrick Wolfgram in :47; 160 - Nolan Koehler (NW) pinned Austin Frantz in 1:56; 172 - Vinnie Fugazzotto (NW) pinned Isaiah Miller in 1:49; 189 - Luke Fugazzotto (NW) pinned Logan Troup in :39; 215 - Zachary Kurtz (PG) won by forfeit; 285 - Scout Franktz (PG) pinned Ian Zettlemouer in 1:45.

North Schuylkill 54, Lehighton 9

107 - Gaige Mentusky (NS) pinned Elijah Guy in :45; 114 - Evan Miernicki (NS) pinned Ryder Crozier in :57; 121 - Stanley Padakowski (NS) pinned Michael D’Amico in 2:54; 127 - Alex Deritis (NS) dec. Jack Lucykanish, 7-4 SV; 133 - Noah Leib (NS) pinned Danny Edgar in 2:10; 139 - Lukas Croizier (L) pinned Johnny Peters in :28; 145 - Brock Holmes (NS) dec. Connor Dugan, 9-7; 152 - Bode Gates (NS) pinned Evan Wentz in 5:10; 160 - Kaden Tavares (NS) dec. Konner Nalesnik, 10-9; 172 - Bryce Kile (NS) pinned Carter Hontz in 2:53; 189 - Preston DiGrazia (L) dec. Connor Dower, 4-1 SV; 215 - Cadyn McGraw (NS) dec. Asher Traylor, 4-2; 285 - Williams Wysoski (NS) pinned Marc Macias in 5:51.