Log In


Reset Password

Bulldogs cruise in opener

HERSHEY - One at a time.

That's how Northern Lehigh head coach Steve Hluschak wanted his team to approach the PIAA Team Wrestling Championships in Hershey.If the first round is any indication, Hluschak and the Bulldogs will be just fine.Northern Lehigh needed just 45 minutes to get past District 12 champion Archbishop Carroll, advancing to today's Class AA quarterfinals with an impressive 72-8 victory.The Bulldogs will face Wyalusing Valley, which squeezed by Saegertown, 28-26, in its first-round match."We talked about treating every match the same," Hluschak said. "We told them that if you win four matches, you'll be a state champion as a team. And I think everybody has that mindset coming into this weekend and obviously you have to take it one at a time to get there."We have one out of the way and I think we wrestled well. Coming in, we knew we would be the favorite and if we did what we needed to do we shouldn't have a problem. But you still have to go out there and do it and I think our kids did that."Northern Lehigh put on a clinic throughout the contest, shooting effectively and finishing matches when they went to the mat."We talked about wrestling the way they have been the last couple of weeks," Hluschak said. "We didn't want them to go out there and use moves they haven't used before. We wanted them to go out there and use it as a tune-up for the rest of the weekend, and have them work their singles and doubles, stand-ups off the bottom, be sound and work high percentage moves and things would work out our way."Obviously, the kids did that and we were able to come out with the win."The results offered further proof of the Bulldogs' dominance, as Seth Fronheiser (106), Colten Rex (113), Matt Schmall (132), CJ Young (152), Nate Farber (160), Austin Arnold (170), Chad Cederberg (182), Stephen Scheib (195) and Cameron Kates (285) all picked up first-period pins.In addition to the nine first-period pins, Northern Lehigh also had Jason Schaffer (220) win by fall early in the second period while Jacob Kistler (126) and Ryan Farber (145) got their hands raised via forfeit.With a roster that features no wrestlers with prior experience wrestling at a state tournament, Hluschak is hoping the first day of this event will help his team when it takes the mat today against the Rams at 12 p.m. inside the Giant Center."I'm sure some kids were nervous," he said. "You're always going to have some who are and some who aren't. But I think you wrestle well when you're nervous. If they were, that might have been a good thing because we won the match."Hopefully they can use that as a little bit of a confidence booster since none of them have been here before. It was good to come out and get a taste of the environment. Not only will it help us in the next round, but also if we have anyone make it out here individually."Despite the loss, Archbishop Carroll and coach Thaddeus Kavanagh are hoping the experience of competing on Pennsylvania scholastic wrestling's biggest stage will benefit a team that only recently returned to competition."This is the second year since the program has been rejuvenated," said Kavanagh. "We didn't have a program for seven seasons, so winning the District 12 championship and coming here is a step in the right direction for where we want to go as a team and as a school."We have a good group of freshman and some talented seniors that are going to do well individually. But being in Hershey and representing District 12 is really an honor for us."No. Lehigh 72, Archbishop Carroll 8*106 - Seth Fronheiser (NL) pinned Guillermo Murgueytio 1:08113 - Colten Rex (NL) pinned Nick Senderling in 1:15120 - Nick Poulos (AC) maj. dec. Ezra Neff, 9-0126 - Jacob Kistler (NL) won by forfeit132 - Matt Schmall (NL) pinned Jon Saylor in 0:59138 - Nick Forman (AC) maj. dec. Austin Hemingway, 11-3145 - Ryan Farber (NL) won by forfeit152 - CJ Young (NL) pinned Steve Caltabiano in 1:56160 - Nate Farber (NL) pinned Tommy Scott in 1:29170 - Austin Arnold (NL) pinned Jake Poulos in 1:35182 - Chad Cederberg (NL) pinned Dan Finley in 1:29195 - Stephen Scheib (NL) pinned Shuao Chen in 1:24220 - Jason Schaffer (NL) pinned Emmet Lynch in 3:40285 - Cameron Kates (NL) pinned John Kearney in 0:33* - Match started at 106.

bob ford/times news Matt Schmall of Northern Lehigh (left) puts the finishing touches on a :59 pin of Archbishop Carroll's Jon Saylor at 132 pounds.