BETHLEHEM - Pine Grove can take a lot of positives out of this weekend's District 11 Class AA Team Wrestling Championships.
Especially what happened during the Cardinals' final dual meet Saturday evening at Bethlehem Freedom High School.
After getting clobbered by North Schuylkill on Jan. 15 in a Schuylkill League Division I dual meet, Pine Grove gave the Spartans all they could handle before bowing 38-36.
The Cards wrestled aggressively, splitting the 14 bouts and win-
ning five matches by fall. That made this result a whole lot closer than the 46-27 North Schuylkill win a little over two weeks ago.
Earlier in the day, sixth-seeded Pine Grove defeated No. 10 Lehighton 45-26 and No. 4 Northern Lehigh 33-31 to make its way through the consolations. In all, the Cardinals went 3-2 in the District Duals and finished fourth in the 12-team field.
To top it off, senior Ryan Heim earned his 100th career victory with a pin against the Spartans.
"They got after it all weekend long,'' Pine Grove coach Jack Drey said. "I can't say enough about them. At every moment there was a kid that came through and did something special for us.''
Competing five times allowed the Cardinals' standouts to showcase their skills and showed the younger wrestlers what it takes to succeed at the district level. The District 11 Class AA Tournament is less than three weeks away, again at Freedom.
"The first thing is our seniors," Drey said. "We've been saying that we have to step up, we have to take that next step. And they've been doing that. Most of the challenges they've been getting, they've been winning.
"For the younger guys, we have to build our program up," he added. "We have a lot of green kids on the wrestling team, so hopefully going through something like this will get them excited and get them to work in the offseason.''
Heim (26-7) won his three bouts Saturday - all of them by fall. His last pin, in 2:31 over North Schuylkill's Nick Price, marked win No. 100.
Remember, Heim's been going full force since at least August. The Republican-Herald All-Area Offensive Player of the Year as a record-setting running back during the fall, Heim missed the early part of the wrestling season with an injury, but has been gaining momentum of late.
"He's a grinder all football season long,'' Drey said of Heim. "He had a little slow start and an injury. He's starting to open up now. He's been in the program for four years, really plugging away for us, so I'm really excited to see him get his 100th win.''
Pine Grove 45, Lehighton 26
The Cardinals' long day began at 9 a.m. with an elimination dual against the 10th-seeded Indians.
Falls by E.J. Herb (195), Ryan Martin (285), Heim (145) and Jesse Fisher (170) - plus three forfeits - produced the bonus points Pine Grove needed to pull away. Danny Diaz-Walton added a 6-0 decision over Zach Kemmerer at 120.
In a featured bout at 182, Lehighton's Connor Frey edged Guy Zimmerman 7-6. Zimmerman, who entered the day 31-1 and ranked seventh by Off the Mat, led 3-2 after the first period and 5-4 after two. Frey, No. 10 at 182 according to Off the Mat, used an escape and takedown in the third period to pull out the win.
Pine Grove 33, Northern Lehigh 31
In the second round of wrestlebacks, Zimmerman returned to his winning ways when the Cardinals needed him most. And with a big assist from Fisher, Pine Grove edged the Bulldogs.
Trailing 31-24 with two bouts left, Fisher rallied from an early deficit and was tied with Austin Arnold as the final seconds ticked away. He won a scramble with 11 seconds remaining for the go-ahead takedown, then rode out Arnold for a 6-4 decision.
With Pine Grove holding the tiebreaker, Zimmerman needed at least a major decision for his team to advance. Northern Lehigh's Theo Young knew that, too, as he worked the edges and engaged as little as possible.
Still, three takedowns and a stalling point gave Zimmerman a 7-3 lead after two periods. A quick escape and takedown made it 11-3, but Zimmerman saw an opening for more. Locking up a cradle before Young could get back to his base, Zimmerman stacked him for the fall just 15 seconds into the third period.
Zimmerman recalled wrestling in the final match and having the dual meet rest on his shoulders once before.
"Yeah, in junior high, and I lost,'' he said with a laugh right after his match. "(Just) try to pin him. I got a little mad there. He was backing up, didn't really do much. It's pretty cool. It means we keep going.''