ORWIGSBURG Working with little room for error, upset-minded Wilson and Pottsville proved to be more than up to the challenge on the opening night of the District 11 Team Wrestling Tournament at Blue Mountain High School.

Battling No. 6 Lehighton in their Class AA first round match, the 11th-seeded Warriors were able to avenge an early season loss by claiming a 39-31 victory over the Indians.In the Class AAA bracket, the 11th-seeded Tide used a torrid start and held off a late surge from No. 6 seed Pleasant Valley to claim a 38-36 win, the first in program history.With the losses, both Lehighton and PV were eliminated from the tournament.Class AALehighton-WilsonWilson was able to take advantage of several key pins to atone for a 45-23 loss to Lehighton at the Anthracite Duals earlier this month.The Warriors got 24 points from their four pins after getting only one in the first meeting, which proved to be the difference this time around."That's something that we've been working on," said Lehighton head coach Danny Williams. "It seems like lately, we've been having a bit of a hard time with that, and we need to do a better job of making sure it doesn't happen."Trailing 12-0 early, Lehighton closed to within 18-16 after a pin from Cody Scherer (132) and a major decision from Tegan Durishin (138),But Wilson responded by taking two of the next three matches, getting pins from John Fischer (145) and Dan Fischer (160) to take a 30-22 lead with four matches left.The healthy returns of the Fischer brothers, who missed the first meeting, paid dividends for a Wilson team that has limited depth even when at full strength."We have 13 kids on our roster so it's hard to do a lot with that," said Warriors' head coach Tom Mertz," but the kids that we have all battle and fight. Tonight we had kids out there battling to stay off their backs and save team points and it takes that type of effort to get these close wins."Wilson did just that, giving up only two pins after allowing five in the first match.After Josh Roberti got a forfeit at 170 pounds to give Wilson a 36-22 lead, Lehighton closed to within five at 36-31 after Connor Frey (182) won by forfeit and Kyle Strohl (195) got a decision.Lehighton had one more chance in the final bout at 220 pounds, but Wyatt Clements came up on the short end of a 3-1 decision against Mike Fabian.Despite the setback, Williams knows his team has a lot to look forward to and plenty of time to improve."Now we're going to focus on the individual tournaments that are coming up," he said. "We have a few duals (Blue Mountain, Tri Valley, Panther Valley) before the end of the season and we're going to use those as a barometer to see where we're at."Class AAAPleasant Vy.-PottsvillePottsville head coach Gary Keener knew where his team might have an advantage against Pleasant Valley."We're pretty strong from 120 to 152 and we have a few pretty decent guys up top, too," he said. "But the best part of our lineup is from 120 to 152."And he was right.The Tide reeled off five straight wins to open the match, with Brian Farrell (126), Luke Gardner (132), Nathan Cromyak (138), Cole Painter (145) and Tyler Dieter (152) all getting pins to give Pottsville a 26-0 lead over Pleasant Valley.Bears' head coach Justin Micklos was also aware of just how critical the bouts were to his team's success."I knew we had a few key matchups where we had to win or not give up bonus points, especially in the beginning of the night starting at 126," Micklos noted. "But that's wrestling; it happens. Pottsville came out really tough."The Bears got on the board when Garrett Gouger (160) and Brody Keefe (170) got back-to-back pins to make it 26-12.But Pottsville answered by getting pins from Brandon Kesock (182) and Kolby Kleckner (195) to make it 38-12.The Bears were able to close the gap to 38-33 with four straight victories, including pins by Trent Thomas (220) and Ahmad Curtis (285).But needing a pin and six points, Pleasant Valley's Jason Jacobi was only able to get a 4-1 decision over Richard Bentz in the final match at 120 pounds.After missing the tournament a year ago, Micklos reminded his team of what they've done to make it to this point."I told all the kids when I pulled them into the locker room that, it's okay that we lost," he said. "What's more important now is how you learn from your mistakes and your losses that will make you a better wrestler in the end.I think, to a man, they all understand that and we'll be better because of this. And I told them to keep their heads up high because what they accomplished this season has been great."