The forfeits came in short order.

And Floyd Brown knew they would.

But the Lehighton wrestling coach wasn’t concerned about that. Brown wanted the Indians to focus on the matches at hand, and use them as an opportunity to get better.

After Lehighton’s 57-24 Schuylkill League win over Jim Thorpe on Wednesday night, Brown liked what he saw.

“Overall, it was good,” Brown said. “We got a win, and got some experience.”

The Indians (2-0) got six forfeits, including five in the first seven matches to build a 30-12 lead against the Olympians. Lehighton got 10 forfeits in a 66-15 win over Northern Lehigh on Tuesday.

“It is difficult,” Brown said. “It can be tough to keep the kids, as a whole, motivated. We just try and talk about it a lot, like staying motivated, being focused, to try and keep their heads in it.

“The kids who are gonna wrestle, know they’re gonna wrestle. We just talk to them and try to tell them to take it one match at a time, go out, wrestle, have fun, do your best, and try to keep getting better.”

Nate Kemmerer (126), Cody Engle (138) and Chris Whiteman (145) all had pins for the Indians.

“The last two nights, most of our experienced guys really didn’t get to wrestle. Our more experienced guys ended up with forfeits,” said Brown. “But the good thing about it is, our less experienced guys are getting matches, and that’s good.”

Olympians (0-1) head coach Shawn Albert knows how valuable that mat time is.

In the eight bouts that were contested, Jim Thorpe won four.

“I take out of it that we put eight guys on varsity tonight, yeah we gave up six forfeits, but I’m not worried about that scoreboard,” said Albert. “What I’m worried about is those eight guys who wrestled tonight, and I see a 24-21 win for us, head-to-head. And that’s the bottom line.

“We worry about who is out on that mat for us.”

Those four wins came from the Olympians’ heavy hitters. Austin Williams (182), Ethan Mordaunt (195), Will Schwartz (106) and John Newhall (113) all had pins for Jim Thorpe, with Newhall’s fall cutting Lehighton’s lead to 30-24.

“Our four captains went out, and they got six, they got bonus points,” Albert said of the quartet.

Junior Keven Madea hung on for a 3-2 decision over Jim Thorpe’s Andrew Eisenhardt at 120 pounds to kick off a string of five straight wins for the Indians to close out the match and seal the win.

COMING TOGETHER

… Kemmerer noted the Indians chemistry for playing a big role in the team’s early success. “Tonight, our team really came together well, and that made me happy. We were connected pretty well. Up top in the (wrestling) room, too, after the match. No one sees that, but we all work together as a team pretty well,” the senior said.

MAKE IT QUICK

… Several forfeits helped Wednesday’s match move at a rapid pace. But so did several quick pins. Mordaunt (0:27), Newhall (0:19) and Schwartz (1:10) all had first-period falls for the Olympians. Kemmerer’s pin came in 51 seconds.

Lehighton 57, Jim Thorpe 24

152 – Logan Pagotto (L) won by forfeit

160 – Tyler Schock (L) won by forfeit

170 – Richard Fronheiser (L) won by forfeit

182 – Austin Williams (JT) pinned Christian Rodriguez in 3:09

195 – Ethan Mordaunt (JT) pinned Alez Ziegenfuss in 0:27

220 – Brett Gasker (L) won by forfeit

285 – Will Smith (L) won by forfeit

106 – Will Schwartz (JT) pinned Mason Ferguson in 1:10

113 – John Newhall (JT) pinned Steven Fritzinger in 0:19

120 – Kevin Madea (L) dec. Andrew Eisenhardt, 3-2

126 – Nate Kemmerer (L) pinned Austin Givens in 0:51

132 – Lucas Sangiuliano (L) won by forfeit

138 – Cody Engle (L) pinned Julien Dechert in 5:42

145 – Chris Whiteman (L) pinned Tyler Reinert in 1:57