The Northwestern wrestling team faced some challenging competition over the holiday break, competing in the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic on Dec. 28-29 at Liberty High School and then taking part in Saturday’s Parkland Winter Duals.

The Tigers went 3-2 at the duals, held at Parkland High School. They beat Abington Heights and Bangor in their first two matches before falling to Northampton. They bounced back with a win over Hatboro-Horsham before falling to Council Rock in the fifth round.

Northwestern beat LaSalle in the fifth-place bout to finish off the tournament.

“I was relatively happy,” said Northwestern head coach Joe Killar. “We were fighting hard every match. What I’m most worried about is the fight. Against higher level guys we have to find a way to compete a little more, but we were fighting and I was happy about that.”

In a 39-27 win over Abington Heights, Braydon Uricchio, Nolan Koehler and Vinnie Fugazzotto posted consecutive pins from 160-189 and Luke Fugazzotto got a forfeit win at 215 to put Northwestern ahead 39-21.

Trent Croll won by technical fall against Abington. Adam Griffith earned a win by major decision and Logan Heeps picked up a forfeit win.

The Tigers beat Bangor 50-22 with Mackenzie Case, Weston Killar, Uricchio, Vinnie Fugazzotto, Luke Fugazzotto and Ian Zettlemoyer all pinning their Slater opponents. Chase Sukanick won by major decision, while Croll won by decision and Koehler picked up a win by forfeit.

Northampton, which went 6-0 to win the event, beat Northwestern 54-18.

Killar and the Fugazzotto brothers pinned their Northampton opponents for Northwestern’s only wins against the Kids.

In a 53-22 win over Hatboro-Horsham, Griffith, Sukanick, Uricchio, Vinnie Fugazzotto, Luke Fugazzotto and Heeps won matches by fall. Croll earned a win by technical fall, while Noah Griffith and Koehler won bouts by forfeit.

Council Rock South, which went 5-1 with it’s only loss coming to Northampton, beat Northwestern 40-27.

Koehler and Luke Fugazzotto pinned their Hatter opponents. Vinnie Fugazzotto won his match by technical fall and Sukanick earned a major decision. Heeps picked up a win by forfeit.

The Tigers rolled to a 53-21 win over LaSalle College Prep in the fifth-place match.

Croll, Uricchio and Koehler pinned their Explorer opponents. Killar won by technical fall and Adam Griffith earned a win by injury default. The Fugazzotto brothers and Heeps won matches by forfeit.

Luke Fugazzotto was the team’s highest finisher at the Liberty Tournament, where the Tigers had four medal winners and finished 17th as a team.

Luke Fugazzotto pinned his first two opponents at the Holiday Classic before taking down Quakertown’s David Clayton 12-6 in the semifinals. He fell to Nazareth’s Brayden Zuercher, a two-time district champ and returning state medalist, by sudden victory in the 189-pound title bout.

Croll (145) and Sukanick (152) both reached the fifth-place bout at Liberty and settled for sixth-place finishes, while Vinnie Fugazzotto reached the seventh-place match and finished eighth.

The Tigers beat Palmerton 54-21 on Dec. 23 to improve to 3-0 in Colonial League matches.

Heeps, Killar, Cross, Koehler, Vinnie Fugazzotto, Luke Fugazzotto and Zettlemoyer all won matches by fall against the Blue Bombers. Uricchio and Sukanick picked up wins by forfeit.

The Tigers traveled to Catasauqua for a Colonial League match Wednesday and are slated to compete in the Mid-Winter Mayhem Tournament at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania this weekend.

Next week’s Colonial League match against Saucon Valley will likely feature a pair of unbeaten teams in league matches. That is slated for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14 in Hellertown.