Just about every high school sports program goes through some down times. Northwestern had a few years where numbers were low and results showed it.

Those days seem to be over.

The Tigers returned to the district team tournament last season for the first time since 2010. They sent seven wrestlers to regionals and four to states last winter.

This year, with all but one of those regional qualifiers back with the team, the Tigers set a goal of winning their first district title sicne 2008.

“We were really close last year,” said Tiger head coach Jim Moll, who enters his seventh season at the helm. “We lost to Northern Lehigh by a point in district quarters. They ended up winning the whole thing. We were really close to them and Saucon and they were at the state tournament. Hopefully we take a step forward and get out to Hershey.

“I told the guys our goals are league champs, district champs and state medal.”

All but one of last year’s regional qualifiers are on this year’s roster, however defending District 11 champ Caleb Clymer is out with an injury and his return late in the season is questionable.

Senior Quentin Bernhard went 33-7 last season, taking second place at districts and fifth at regionals at 120 pounds. Senior Jarett White went 36-8 last season while earning third at districts and fifth at regionals at 126. Senior Andrew Sorensen went 15-9 last year while earning sixth place at districts. Bailey Wehr went 27-14 last season while taking fifth at districts at 113.

Sophomore Matt Peters went 34-9 in his first high school season, earning fifth place at district at 106. Clymer won the District 11 Class AA 138-pound weight class last year as a freshman and went on to second place at regionals.

Northwestern graduated two wrestlers, Anthony Fillis and regional qualifier Alex Russo.

The rest of last year’s returning wrestlers includes seniors David VanBlargan (18-15 at 145), Jason Hottinger (8-18 at 152) and Jacob Murray (15-11 at 285); juniors Daulton Webster (10-8 last year at 132) and Sam Day (160); and sophomore Quin Moyer (13-21 at 220).

Newcomers who could be challenge for spots in this year’s line up include senior Jacob Shellhammer (195), junior Matt Shatayh (152) and Jason Lin (285) and freshmen Zach Anderson (106) and Ryan Haas (113).

After a long stretch as the one of District 11’s top Class AA teams, Northwestern failed to qualify for districts the past few seasons while the program suffered from low numbers. That is no longer a problem in New Tripoli.

“Four years ago we had eight varsity wrestlers,” said Moll. “To go from eight to 28 in a matter of four years changes the level of energy in the room. Pretty much no matter who you match kids up with at practice, they have a good practice partner.”

The five years before that, from 2004-08, Northwestern wrestled in the district team title match every year. After losing the first three, the Tigers earned team titles in 2007 and 2008.

After a few lean years the team returned to districts last year as the No. 5 seed. They beat Williams Valley in the first round, but lost to Northern Lehigh in the second round. The Tigers wrestled back with wins over Panther Valley and North Schuylkill before falling to Saucon Valley.