Simply put, the Catasauqua wrestling team is anxious.

The Rough Riders had been idle since Jan. 24 when they defeated Northwestern, 39-33, in the final meet of the season at home.

For them, the wait is over.

The Roughies will be in action this weekend when the District 11 Class 2A individual tournament begins at Freedom High School in Bethlehem Friday night. Catty did spend some time with one of their neighbors on the mats.

“Everyone is looking forward to finally getting back and competing after a pretty long layoff,” said Roughies’ head coach Jon Reed. “We tried to stay as fresh as possible. We worked out with Whitehall to get some different kids to work with, which I believe will definitely help.”

Reed’s starting lineup will be Gavin Hacker at 116 pounds, Mikhail Hartranft at 123, Evan Reed at 129, Jonathan Rizzo at 135, Jonathan Cordon Pinto at 141, Christopher Wellington at 162, Braden Bartholomew at 191, Chad Beller at 215, and Jacob Ramos at 287.

Seniors Hartranft and Beller both made it to states last season, but neither of them placed. Hartranft was fourth in districts and sixth in regionals, while Beller was third at districts and sixth at regionals, both of their performances from last season.

This year, Hartranft is 21-11 with 18 falls, and Beller is 27-5 with 16 falls. Other double digits performers in the lineup are Cordon-Pinto (20-12), Reed (18-16), Ramos (11-11), and Hacker (10-13).

Reed is optimistic that a number of his grapplers can advance to Saturday night of the tournament at Liberty, which can help punch their ticket to the next round.

“Our goal is to get as many kids there (Liberty), which means they would be top-six placewinners,” said Reed. “The top four at each weight class will advance to next weekend’s tournament.

“We’re hoping Mikhail (Hartranft) and Chad (Beller) can exceed their performances from last year, as I know both of them have goals of being district champs, which is possible if they get their minds right and go out and wrestle like they are capable of.

“Evan (Reed), John Cordon (Pinto), Jacob (Ramos), and Gavin (Hacker) have the ability to get to the placement matches if they believe in themselves and wrestle to their abilities.”

Reed also has aspirations for sophomore Aeriel Stallworth, who recently competed in the 136-pound weight class in the inaugural District 11 Girls’ Wrestling Championship last weekend at Easton Middle School. Stallworth made the move to Catty from New Jersey, where she wrestled for a year there.

Stallworth pinned Parkland’s Victoria Lasagna in 58 seconds in the opening round before she suffered a 3-1 defeat to Whitehall’s Ruth Rivera in the quarterfinal round (See story above for more).

“She has a tremendous attitude and is a fierce competitor who I could not wait to see who she competed against other girls,” beamed Reed about Stallworth. “It is a very exciting time for girls’ wrestling, and I am looking forward to trying to establish a women’s team here at Catty.”

Reed and his wrestlers are anticipating an interesting weekend ahead.

“This is the weekend we all mark our calendars at the beginning of the each year, and it is finally here,” he beamed. “We are all very excited to go out and compete.”