For the Catasauqua boys’ wrestling team, it continues to be a season that is a process.

The Rough Riders recently were corralled by Lehighton, 72-0, before they bounced back with a 37-30 victory over Northern Lehigh.

Head coach Jon Reed continues to watch his team experience their share of growing pains.

“We had a very, very tough dual meet with Lehighton where we didn’t get a win,” offered Reed. “They have done a tremendous job with their program and have over 40 kids on their boys’ roster and we’re just too outmatched.

“You can learn a lot from a tough loss like that and overall we were happy with the way they competed, not backing down from their kids. Gavin Hacker got caught and pinned when he was winning by 10, Evan Reed lost a hard-fought, 1-0 match to one of their district placewinners, and Jaxon Beaton got pinned late in the third period in a tight 2-2 match. So we did have opportunities to put some points on the board but just couldn’t get it done.”

Reed was impressed with his team’s win over Northern Lehigh. The Roughies received key falls from Jayden Perez Rivera (127), Gavin Hacker (133, 7-4 record), and Elijah Vasquez (145) along with a major decision (16-5) from Evan Reed (152, 7-4).

Elliot Jones (107) picked up a forfeit, and Blake Reed (121) sealed the victory with a fall in the final match.

Reed’s adjustment paid off, and he is confident those can make an impact down the road.

“The coaching staff had been going over lineups for a week to give us the best chance to win and we ended up bumping some kids around and moving everyone up a weight from 127 through 145,” said Reed. “The strategy worked and we won all the matches from 127-145 with Jayce Perez, Gavin Hacker, Aydan Frisby, and Elijah Vazquez all winning key bouts wrestling up a weight class. Evan Reed also got a win at 152, so we won the first 5 matches, something we needed to do in order to win the dual meet.”

Reed also liked what he saw overall.

“The top of the lineup wrestled tough and helped the dual tremendously by saving some bonus points,” stressed Reed. “Eli Sandt and Jaxon Beaton lost close matches but didn’t give up any bonus points to help the cause.

“The last bout of the night was at 121 with the score 31-30 in favor of us. Whoever won the last individual match would win the dual meet as well. Blake wrestled very well and fought off some tough positions and ended up getting the fall in the third period to seal the dual meet victory. It was a very exciting dual meet and it was great to get a victory over them.”

Reed also is excited with the progression of his younger wrestlers. Sophomore Josiah Martinez (172) and freshman Jaxon Beaton (215, 7-6) are off to good starts.

“This is Josiah’s first year wrestling and you can see him getting better and better with each match he wrestles. Jaxon is steadily getting better and better and we expect great things from him the rest of the year.”

In addition, Reed sees Perez, Blake Reed, Vazquez, and Frisby reaching another level.

“Perez and Blake Reed are also starting to hit their stride and Aydan Frisby beat a kid who beat him last year from Northern Lehigh which is always a sign of improvement. Elijah Vazquez got a win, and it was great to see as he works so hard in the room and has just been wrestling some tough kids with much more experience than him.”

Jones, a sophomore, freshman Carter Gonzalez (285) senior Nikoloz Kemashvili (160) also have made an impact.

“Gonzalez is slowly figuring out how to wrestle these tough heavyweights who are mostly juniors and seniors,” noted Reed. “We look for him, Kemashvili, and Jones to continually improve.”

The Roughies will be back on the mats when they participate in the Jim Thorpe tournament Dec. 29-30.