HERSHEY Despite leaving Hershey without any hardware, the Northwestern wrestling team has firmly established itself as a program on the rise.

The fact that four Tigers, all underclassmen, qualified for the PIAA Championships only one year after the team had no representatives in the event speaks volumes about where Northwestern is headed in the years to come.

"The experience these guys had at the state tournament was very valuable," said head coach Jim Moll. "We did not come away with a place-winner, but every one of our guys wrestled very hard, and they were all in some very close, hard-fought matches with really tough wrestlers.

"Those are the kinds of matches that build toughness. Those are the matches that sometimes you need to experience in order to make that jump to the next level. All four of our guys had matches like that this past weekend. Whether you win that match or not, it is good to be in that kind of battle, and have to fight in every single situation, for every single point."

Freshmen Matt Peters and Caleb Clymer, and juniors Jarett White and Quentin Bernhard, showed tremendous heart despite not advancing to the medal rounds.

After winning a District 11 Class AA championship and finishing second at the Southeast Regional, Clymer went 1-2 in Hershey at 138 pounds.

After dropping his first-round match against Grove City's Luke Walter, who won by a 3-1 decision, Clymer rebounded to win his second-round consolation match in overtime, an ultimate tiebreaker triumph over Smethport's Adam Shunk.

But the freshman was stifled in the third round against Montoursville's Keith Batkowski.

Batkowski earned a takedown on Clymer early in the first period, and he was never able to recover, falling 3-1, a loss that ended his tournament.

White was impressive after getting pinned in his preliminary round match by Central's Brock Biddle at 126 pounds.

White, who won his first-round consolation match 11-2 over Warrior Run's Eric Hunt, won in overtime in the second round of consolations, 6-4 over Brookville's Cole Aaron.

"I just had to keep wrestling and not give up," White said afterwards. "It gives me a lot of confidence to know that I can score late and comeback like that."

White was unable to duplicate such a performance in his next match, dropping a 6-0 decision to Triston Law of Forest Hills in the third round, ending his tournament one match shy of being guaranteed a medal.

Peters and Bernhard both had tough draws at 106 and 120 pounds, respectively.

Peters suffered a 4-2 loss to Sharon's Jules Hicklin in his preliminary bout before being eliminated when he lost 9-2 a decision to Westmont-Hilltop's Derrick Christie in a first round consolation match.

Bernhard dropped a 9-8 decision to Westmont's Carnell Andrews in his preliminary match, and was bounced when he dropped a 7-4 decision to Burgettstown's Austin McDermitt in the first round of consolations.

Despite what might be perceived as shortcomings in the event, Moll was more than pleased with the performance of his young team.

"We are so proud of how they handled themselves out there," he said. "They are a great group. Hopefully it makes them hungry to keep improving and growing as a wrestler."

And, as Moll noted, that process starts now.

"Last off-season we had the best attendance since I have been here," Moll said. "I think that is a big reason for the success we had this year. I hope that we have the same effort from our guys this offseason as well."

With the majority of the team coming back next year, look for a more seasoned Northwestern team to once again be a factor in both Colonial League and District 11 competition for the foreseeable future.