Northwestern's venture into the Zephyr Duals this past weekend at Whitehall High School started with some promising showings. The Tigers picked up a 45-30 win over East Stroudsburg South and then edged LaSalle College 37-34.

Unfortunately, the afternoon session wasn't nearly as friendly to Northwestern. The Tigers lost to Whitehall and Wyalusing by a combined score of 114-39.

Coach Jim Moll was excited about the good start, but didn't have an answer for why his team struggled so much in their final two matches.

"We were 2-2 on the day," he said. "We had some really good things happen early in the day and then I don't know if they got tired or what the deal was, but we just really didn't show up against Whitehall.

"It's not really any different from a regular tournament. The kids wrestle four or five matches in a day and they have their breaks, so it's not all that different."

Quentin Bernhard went 4-0 on the day with all of his wins coming on pins. Bernhard and Jarett White picked up early wins in the match against Whitehall, but they would be the only wrestlers who would pick up wins, other than a win by forfeit. The Tigers took an early 18-0 lead, but were manhandled by the Zephyrs over the next 11 matches.

"We have some tough guys down low," said Moll, who is in his fourth season as the Northwestern head coach. "I kind of wanted to see Jarett White against Nico [Nicholas Kauffman] at 120 pounds, but we weren't able to determine the match-ups because they won the coin toss. We're a little stronger down low and the guys up top just matched-up really well against us."

At 1-3 on the season, Northwestern is looking to rebound now that the schedule, which was already busy because of the holiday break and then got worse by bad weather, figures to settle down into more of a routine.

Northwestern wrestles at Palmerton on Saturday and then has home bouts against Northern Lehigh and Catasauqua next week.

"It's always tough to get through the holiday schedule and now, with the snow, it adds an adversity to an already tough part of the year," said Moll. "We're excited to get into the Colonial League part of the schedule and face some tough competition there."

The Tigers picked up three pins in their win over East Stroudsburg South and then went on to collect five pins in their win over LaSalle College.

While the early part of the schedule has provided a slow start for the Tigers, Moll is seeing some encouraging signs with his team that he believes can continue for the rest of the season.

"We're improving, so I'm happy about that," he said. "As long as we keep improving, we'll eventually reach our goals."