CATASAUQUA - It was never going to be easy.

In order to capture the title at last night's Colonial League team wrestling championships, there was a good chance Northern Lehigh would have to go through top-seed Saucon Valley to do it.The Panthers entered the four-team tournament as the top seed, going 8-0 in league competition with an average margin of victory of over 48 points.The third-seeded Bulldogs, however, had an equally impressive regular season, going 7-1 en route to a West Division title. Northern Lehigh and Saucon Valley did indeed meet in the final, and the match did not disappoint.Tied with three bouts remaining, the Panthers won out to claim a 30-21 victory and their third straight Colonial League title.Despite Saucon's impressive credentials and talented lineup, head coach Steve Hluschak, Jr. made sure his Bulldogs were ready, regardless of the opponent."We come to win, no matter whom we're facing," he said. "You have to have that mentality. You don't ever want to come into a match expecting to lose because it doesn't teach the kids the right ethics and morals in life, no matter how far off it may be."And I don't think it was tonight. We always want to come to wrestle and come to win."Before Northern Lehigh or Saucon Valley could focus on any potential championship match though, both had to get past similarly imposing semifinal opponents.The Bulldogs avenged their only loss this season by storming past second seed Bangor, 47-18. The Panthers, on the other hand, held off No. 4 seed Northwestern, 35-30."Most of the matches went the way we expected them to," said Northwestern head coach Jim Moll. "We knew if we all did our jobs that we would be in the match at the end of the day, and we were there."It just didn't work out in the end."FinalsNo. Lehigh-Saucon ValleyNorthern Lehigh won the toss, and quickly jumped out to an early lead.The Bulldogs opened with a win by Matt Schmall at 132 pounds, and offset a pin by the Panthers' Nick Schneider with decisions by Ryan Farber (145), C.J. Young (152) and Nate Farber (160) to go up 12-6 after five matches."We knew that when we started at 132 we were going to be in the meat of their lineup," Saucon Valley head coach Chad Shirk said afterwards. "We lost a couple of matches there, but we just tried to weather the storm. "Fortunately, our lighter weights came through and picked up some really important wins."After the Panthers' Jason Lynch got a forfeit at 170 pounds to tie the score at 12-12, two teams alternated wins and losses over the next four matches, with the Bulldogs taking a 21-18 lead heading into the 106-pound bout.Saucon made the most of what might have been a slight advantage at the lower weights, as Paul Miller (106), Jack Hill (113), Angelo Mahaffey (120) and Ty Drunkenmiller (126) closed our the match with four straight decisions."Their lower weights are good," Hluschak said of the Panthers. "Their 106-pounder (Miller) beat our guy (Fronheiser) earlier this season. And Jack Hill (113) has beaten Colton (Rex) a few times throughout their careers."We knew they would be close at 120 and 126, but they might have had the edge."Even in defeat, Hluschak was pleased with the way his team wrestled, giving up only one pin."Our kids battled and I think we got better tonight," he said. "Saucon Valley is very good and we were right there in a lot of close matches."There weren't a lot of bonus points scored tonight and I think our guys had some tough, six minute bouts that I think that will carry over into district duals and ultimately the individual tournaments."SemifinalsNo. Lehigh-BangorAfter Brandon Tocket gave Bangor an 18-11 lead with a 3-1 decision over Nate Farber at 170 pounds, Northern Lehigh took control by winning the next, and final, seven bouts of the match for an impressive victory."They had more determination. They had the better wrestlers and they deserved to win," said Bangor head coach Rick Thompson. "We didn't wrestle well and those kids had more desire. Revenge is a beautiful thing, and they took advantage of it."Unlike their first meeting, a 33-32 Bangor win, the Slaters were unable to limit bonus points this time around.Matt Schmall (132) and Ryan Farber (145) picked up major decisions, while Chad Cederberg (182), Stephen Scheib (195) and Jason Schaffer (220) all pinned their opponents."We just felt like we could have won the first time around," said Hluschak. "Bangor's a great team and we were happy to come out tonight and get another shot at them."I told the kids before the match that there aren't too many times in life that you get a second chance at something and that was one of them and they took advantage of it. You have to be happy with it."SemifinalsNorthwestern-Saucon ValleyThe Tigers proved to be more than up to the challenge against the top-seeded Panthers, taking an early 10-5 lead after a pin by Jarret White (126) and a major decision by Caleb Clymer (138).But three straight bonus point wins by Dylan Yonney (145), Nate Harka (152) and Brett Suites (160) gave Saucon Valley a 19-10 lead, an advantage that it would never surrender.The Tigers were able to battle back after falling behind, cutting the deficit to as little as three at 24-21 after Quin Moyer's major decision at 220 and as few as six at 30-24 after Matt Peters earned an overtime win at 106.With district duals later this week, Moll is hoping the experience of this tournament will benefit his squad."I told the guys that they have to learn how to win those matches," he said. "We had two chances to do that in the last few days, with Northern Lehigh on Sunday and Saucon tonight."It's good timing because we have, hopefully, rematches with both of those teams coming up at district duals. We'll see Northern Lehigh in the quarters if we get past Williams Valley. And if we beat Northern Lehigh, then we'll see Saucon. So we're hoping that we'll have another opportunity at both of these teams."FINALSSaucon Valley 30, No. Lehigh 21106 - Paul Miller (SV) dec. Seth Fronheiser, 4-3113 - Jack Hill (SV) dec. Colton Rex, 7-2120 - Angelo Mahaffey (SV) dec. Ezra Neff, 4-1126 - Ty Drunkenmiller (SV) dec. Jacob Kistler, 6-3*132 - Matt Schmall (NL) dec. Jason Jones, 12-7138 - Nick Schneider (SV) pinned Austin Hemingway in 1:17145 - Ryan Farber (NL) dec. Dylan Yonney, 4-3152 - CJ Young (NL) dec. Nathan Harka, 7-3160 - Nate Farber (NL) dec. Blayne Hirschbeck, 7-6170 - Jason Lynch (SV) won by forfeit180 - Nate Kehs (SV) dec. Chad Cederberg, 3-2195 - Stephen Scheib (NL) dec. Devon VanVliet, 8-4220 - Sam Sheetz (SV) dec. Jason Schaffer, 3-1285 - Cameron Kates (NL) pinned Trey Polak in 1:14* Match started at 132.SEMIFINALSNo. Lehigh 47, Bangor 18106 - Seth Fronheiser (NL) pinned Chris Barber in 1:34113 - Colton Rex (NL) dec. Robby Shoemaker, 8-6120 - Ezra Neff (NL) dec. Troy Detweiler, 11-6*126 - Blake McNew (B) pinned Jacob Kistler in 5:21132 - Matt Schmall (NL) maj. dec. Eddie Hay, 9-1138 - Austin Hemingway (NL) dec. Gaelen Happel, 5-3145 - Ryan Farber (NL) maj. dec. John Raub, 15-2152 - Charlie Sell (B) dec. C.J. Young, 4-0160 - Dallas Labar (B) won by forfeit170 - Brandon Tocket (B) dec. Nate Farber, 3-1182 - Chad Cederberg (NL) pinned Mike LaBarre in 1:29195 - Stephen Scheib (NL) pinned Terry Higgins in 4:45220 - Jason Schaffer (NL) pinned Tommy McKeough in 1:06285 - Cameron Kates won by forfeit* Match started at 126.Saucon Valley 35,Northwestern 30106 - Matt Peters (NW) dec. Paul Miler, 7-5 (SV)113 - Jack Hill (SV) tech. fall Baily Wehr, 18-2 (5:14)120 - Quentin Bernhard (NW) won by forfeit*126 - Jarret White (NW) pinned Ty Drunkenmiller in 5:57132 - Jason Jones (SV) tech. fall Dalton Webster, 16-0 (2:42)138 - Caleb Clymer (NW) maj. dec. Nick Schneider, 11-3145 - Dylan Yonney (SV) maj. dec. David VanBlargan, 11-3152 - Nate Harka (SV) maj. dec. Jason Hottinger, 13-5160 - Brett Suites (SV) pinned Sam Day in 0:23170 - Andrew Sorensen (NW) dec. Blayne Hirschbeck, 8-3182 - Jason Lynch (SV) tech. fall Anthony Fillis, 18-2 (3:52)195 - Alexander Russo (NW) maj. dec. Devon VanVliet, 13-5220 - Quin Moyer (NW) maj. dec. Trey Polak, 12-2285 - Sam Sheetz (SV) pinned Jacob Murray in 5:16*Match started at 126.