First, it was a fourth-place showing in the annual Nazareth Invitational that saw four Northwestern wrestlers finish as finalists.

Then it was a dominating Colonial League victory against Southern Lehigh, 60-18, last Wednesday at Northwestern High School in which seven Tigers gained pins.

The Tigers' success continued on Friday as Northwestern traveled to Blue Mountain to wrestle in the Gauntlet Tournament. When all was said and done, the Tigers won three matches to place third out of five competing teams.

"It just shows all of the work that we've been putting in," said Alex Russo, who captured a decision a 195 pounds against Southern Lehigh's Wyatt Noone. "All of those losses have resonated with us since last year. We know that we have the talent, and now we just have to put it together."

Russo was one of four wrestlers to win every match at the Blue Mountain Gauntlet Tournament. Baily Wehr (113), Quentin Bernhard (120) and Jarret White (132) were the other unbeaten Tigers.

Some of the Tigers' early-season success has to do with the increase in numbers, but the way head coach Jim Moll's team is fighting in each bout is what is most impressive.

"The way they wrestled is more important than the score," Moll said following the Southern Lehigh match. "They wrestled well at Nazareth on Saturday at the tournament. They picked up where they left off. If we can continue to wrestle like that, we'll do real well in the league."

Coming in, Moll thought his team would have an advantage early on in the lighter weight classes. It wasn't just success at those bouts; the Tigers cruised through the first eight matchups without a defeat.

Matt Peters led the way with a pin at 106, and Wehr (113) and Bernhard (120) earned forfeit victories in the next two bouts.

Following that 18-0 lead after three classes, the Tigers doubled that up to a 36-point advantage after Jackson Bernhard (126), White (132) and David Van Blargan (138) all captured victories by fall.

"We knew we matched up pretty good at the bottom," Moll said. "We kind of got what we expected out of our light weights."

With that comfortable lead in tact, Caleb Clymer stepped to the mat at 145 pounds against Southern Lehigh's Anthony Colasurdo. It wasn't another pin for the Tigers, but it may have been their most impressive victory of the night.

Clymer, a freshman, took a 2-0 lead with 1:13 remaining in the second period after starting off in the down position. He held a 4-2 advantage in the final 30 seconds, and as Colasurdo attempted a late takedown, Clymer was able to stage off a potential overtime period.

"I just kind of stuck with it and kept my head in it," Clymer said. "I never gave up on the takedown, and I was able to scramble out of it."

"He probably had the biggest toss up when we were looking at the lineups," Moll said. "He outwrestled him for six full minutes. It was nice to see."

Clymer didn't experience that one-win season in the Colonial League last year, but he's excited to get 2015 off on the right note.

"It's huge going from winning one match to getting the program back together like my brothers to finally get back in it, and possibly have a chance at districts," Clymer said.

The Spartans took three of the next four matches, including a pin from Rick Frable at 182 pounds, to make the score 45-18.

But one of the Tigers' top wrestlers, Russo (who placed second in that Nazareth Invitational), edged out Noone for a hard-fought 9-6 decision to help regain momentum.

"It's good that I picked up the win, but I still feel I have a lot of things I have to improve on yet if I want to make it far in the postseason," Russo said. "Overall, it was a pretty good day."

"We kind of anticipated them bumping up," Moll said, "and we knew Russo was going to get the tougher of those guys around his weight class. He was ready for it. He wrestled good."