It was nearly a week since Tamaqua suffered a first-round setback at the District 11 team wrestling tournament.

The Raiders made sure the loss didn’t linger.

Tamaqua hit the mat Wednesday night recharged and refocused, posting a 43-34 Schuylkill League win over Jim Thorpe.

Competing for the first time since stumbling against Northwestern last Thursday, the Raiders didn’t seem the least bit rusty.

“You have to build on the positive,” said Tamaqua head coach Jim McCabe. “You gotta starve the negativity and feed the positive. And that’s what we’re trying to do.

“It’s so important for the kids to realize that, sometimes bad things happen, and you can’t control it; you can only control the way you react to that situation. And it’s always better when you’re reacting to a win as your situation.”

The Raiders hit their stride down the stretch against the Olympians.

Khalid Holland’s pin at 160 pounds snapped a tie (22-22), giving Tamaqua just its second lead of the night with five matches remaining at 28-22.

Nate Wickersham (170) and Carson Krell (195) delivered pins in two of the next three bouts to push the Raiders’ advantage to 40-28.

“Coach said right before the match that we’re not really looking to the pin, but if it comes, then it comes, and we’re gonna probably get the win,” said Wickersham. (We knew) we’d have tough matches throughout. So really getting those pins and getting up by a lot coming into that last match, really helped us out.”

After Ethan Mordaunt’s fall at 220 pounds brought Jim Thorpe to within six, Bronson Strouse sealed it with a 2-1 decision over Derek Hunter at 285.

The matchup was a showdown of the top two heavyweights in the area, with Hunter coming off a title at the Coal Cracker Tournament and Strouse a state qualifier a year ago.

“I knew he was a good kid from the start,” said Strouse. “He’s heavier than me. I just have to get better with shots, moving from 220 to heavyweight this year; I’m missing a lot of weight.

“I can move around him quicker. It’s just that, with my high crotch now, instead of lifting, I get stuck and have to sweep out of it because of how much weight I’m giving up.”

It’s a match that could be a preview of what’s to come in the postseason.

“That match was exciting,” said Olympians’ head coach Shawn Albert. “I thought Derek really went out there and battled hard with him. There were a couple times where I thought he could have turned the corner on those snap-down, go-behinds. But if he doesn’t lock hands in the second period, it’s a 1-1 match going into overtime. For the most part, I thought Derek pushed the action against a kid that’s got a great reputation and is a great wrestler. But we were pushing the action.

“We’ll take it. We’ll get better. We won’t lock hands again and we’ll see these guys at districts.”

Tamaqua came away with five pins in the contest, bonus points that were key to erasing an early deficit.

Pins from Randolph Steigerwalt (126) and Caleb Sell (145) bookended a string of four straight wins, which included a major decision from Aaron Coccio (138), that gave Tamaqua a 22-18 lead.

Caleb McDermott delivered a major decision against Zack Fannock at 152 pounds for Jim Thorpe to tie it.

Fannock fought off his back near the end of the second period to avoid giving up six points and handing the Olympians the lead.

“Coach always preaches, if you’re not gonna win, just try not to get pinned,” said Steigerwalt. “That’s the biggest thing we can do.”

Jim Thorpe jumped out to an early 18-0 lead with a forfeit at 106 pounds and back-to-back pins from William Schwartz (113) and Gabe Heaney (120).

“I knew it was gonna be tough after losing in the first round at district duals, and they made it on to Saturday, and wrestled good there,” said Wickersham. “I knew it was going to be tough, so getting this win really means a lot with districts coming up in a couple weeks.”

SENIOR NIGHT

… Mordaunt, Austin Williams and Ahmad Johnson, the Olympians’ three seniors, were recognized prior to the start of the match. “Tonight’s about them. I couldn’t be more proud of them, and really their families with how they’ve been with our program. I said in the introduction that they came in as wrestlers, but they’re all gonna leave as family members to us, and that’s what it’s all about when it comes down to it,” said Albert.

UP NEXT

… Tamaqua hosts Catasauqua in a non-league match Saturday. Jim Thorpe’s next contest is its regular season finale next Wednesday at Lehighton.

Tamaqua 43, Jim Thorpe 34

106 – John McCabe (JT) won by forfeit; 113 – William Schwartz (JT) pinned Nick Wall in 1:14; 120 – Gabe Heaney (JT) pinned Tyler Hazlett in 1:31; 126 – Randolph Steigerwalt (T) pinned Austin Givens in 2:51; 132 – Joey Minehan (T) won by forfeit; 138 – Aaron Coccio (T) maj. dec. Andrew Eisenhardt, 14-2; 145 - Caleb Sell (T) pinned Ahmad Johnson in :47; 152 – Caleb McDermott (JT) maj. dec. Zach Fannock, 11-0; 160 – Khalid Holland (T) pinned Nick Fayocavitz in 2:44; 170 – Nate Wickersham (T) pinned Jared Newhall in 2:24; 182 – Austin Williams (JT) won by forfeit; 195 – Carson Krell (T) pinned Kendall Herron in 4:44; 220 – Ethan Mordaunt (JT) pinned Brandon Eberts in :39; 285

– Bronson Strouse (T) dec. Derek Hunter, 2-1