For Catasauqua’s Gavin Fehr, it was a deja ‘vu moment. He was back where he wanted to be.

For the second consecutive year, Fehr was a champion in the 145-pound bracket at the Jim Thorpe Christmas Tournament. He won it there in the 138-pound bracket.

“It felt great to be back on top of the podium after winning it last year,” said the senior wrestler. “I came into the tournament with a positive attitude and focused on one match at a time. I was able to accomplish my goal.”

Fehr decisioned Archbishop Ryan’s Alex Pfeffer, 4-2 in the finals. Junior Chad Beller also took home the top spot for the Rough Riders when he claimed the crown at 215 with a pin over North Schuylkill Jared Tinar in 4:49.

With his win, Fehr is 13-0 with nine pins and is 15 wins away from the 100-win mark. Beller is 13-1 and had four pins and one tech fall in the tournament. Beller has registered eight falls this season.

Freshman Evan Reed finished second overall, as he was pinned in the 107-pound final. Junior Mikhail Hartranft was sixth at 121, and senior William Bear was eighth at 160. The Roughies finished seven out of 25 teams. They were 12th out of 22 teams last year.

Head coach Joe Russo continued to watch his team ride the wave.

“We wrestled well,” said Russo. “It was an opportunity for all of our wrestlers to compete as they allowed multiple entries per weight. Fehr and Beller were dominant.

“Reed went on the attack against his opponents, knocking off higher seeded kids and took second. Hartranft wrestled two tough matches against competitors that he will likely see in districts. (Sophomore 189-pounder) Allan Starr lost a lead late or he would have been in the top eight.:

Russo also cited Gavin Hacker, Brendan Nye, Vincenzo Limnadri, Trevor Rigits, and Jyzaiah Bonilla for their efforts.

The Roughies will take their 4-0 match record into play this week at Northern Lehigh Wednesday and then host defending state champion Saucon Valley Friday before they traveled to Pottsville Saturday for the Mats on the Mecca Tournament.

Fehr sees his team beginning to reach another level.

“We have a lot of wrestlers who are turning the corner including me,” he stated. “C.J. Beller and Evan Reed wrestled great. It was the best that I have seen them wrestle.

“Mikhail Hartranft also had a pretty good tournament in a tough bracket. I think we were looking forward to Wednesday to see if we could go 5-0.”