There is no fiddling about Tamaqua's upstart wrestlers, for it's as plain as an unadorned Christmas Tree.

To be sure there is no LED flashing lights, no ornaments to hang, or popcorn to string along, the Blue Raiders are indeed going to struggle, but this squad will gather experience even after getting thrashed last evening by the invading Pottsville Crimson Tide, 71-3."I'm not excited, I'm not totally disappointed," Jon Maschak sighed after the opening of the dual meet season in this Schuylkill Wrestling League Division I match Wednesday.The Tamaqua coach says there will be a silver lining in each and every match, including Wednesday's loss. He pointed to Mike Frederick at 170 pounds, the only winner of the night for Tamaqua in his debut.He pointed to a tight match with Tanner McHugh and Richard Bentz at 132, where McHugh went down to the wire with Bentz before giving way 3-2. Frederick's 18-11 win came over promising freshman Timmy Nevadomsky.The bummer for the Raiders was giving up 30 points (forfeits) without a wrestler hitting the mat, which surely put the team at a disadvantage. "We give up those points before ever coming into the building," said Maschak. "We had three wrestlers (injured) out for the match, and it will help once we get those kids back."Pottsville jumped out in front immediately with a 3-0 decision at 146 when Branden Goodman held off Jordan Smith with a 9-3 decision. Then the crash came quickly, as the Tide garnered a major 17-2 decision from Luke Gardner, followed by a pin from Cole Painter."We got off to that good start and that helped us with (momentum)," said Pottsville coach Gary Keener. "We came out and we were ready to wrestle. They're not that bad, they gave us (points). So take 30 off the board."Frederick put his finger in the leaking dyke before the headwaters broke free. The underclassman fell behind 2-0 to Nevadomsky, but Frederick kept getting freebies when the Tide wrestler kept letting him loose. That strategy eventually worked in favor of Frederick en route to a 18-11 decision.From that point on, it was all Tide. They racked up five straight forfeits and were never contested the remainder of the way.BRIGHT LIGHTS … Tamaqua's junior high team clouted Pottsville in the opener 48-26.LIFELINE … Maschak said his junior high program has numbers, and if all stay with it the dividends will pay off down the road.UP NEXT … Tamaqua will host Pocono Mountain East tonight at home.Pottsville 71, Tamaqua 3145 - Braden Goodman (P) dec. Jordan Smith, 9-3152 - Luke Gardner (P) tech fall Ty Hinkle in 3:45 (17-2)160 - Cole Painter (P) pinned Noah Griffin in 2:22170 - Michael Frederick (T) dec. Tim Nevadomsky, 17-11182 - Kory Kleckner (P) won by forfeit195 - Kolby Klechner (P) pinned Ryan Morgan in :50220 - Cy Hinson (P) won by forfeit285 - Mike St. Juste (P) won by forfeit106 - Gavin Holly won by forfeit113 - Nick Onea (P) pinned Cody Balliet in 1:07120 - Ryan Green (P) pinned Brandon Mader in 1:40126 - Romeo Eaddy (P) won by forfeit132 - Richard Bentz (P) dec. Tanner McHugh, 3-2138 - Nick Ondeck (P) pinned Brandon Eberts in 1:06