Catasauqua fist-year head wrestling coach Jon Reed is realizing this team likely will be in a rebuilding mode this winter.

The Rough Riders do have a number of seasoned wrestlers in their lineup, but they overall will have a maturing lineup.

Catty dropped its first dual meets to Bangor (42-27) and to Whitehall (63-3), the latter before a Muhlenberg College dual meet (63-3). They earlier finished 10th in their Rough Rider tournament.

“We were hoping to get off to a better start against Bangor,” said Reed. “I think it was a great experience for the kids to wrestle Whitehall before a Muhlenberg College dual meet. We knew we had our work cut out for us against a good East Penn Conference team. I was hoping to get three of four individual wins in the match.

“Whitehall works very hard especially in the offseason, and we will use the experience as a learning tool to see what needs to be done by our kids to get to the next level. The tournament was a good opportunity to show our coaching staff some things we need to take back to the wrestling room and work on.”

Individually, senior Char Beller (215) started the season with an undefeated, 5-0 mark with three falls. Beller won the individual title at the Rough Rider tournament. Fellow senior Mikhail Hartranft is 3-3 with three falls at 127-133, and junior Jonathan Cordon-Pinto had a 5-3 mark with three falls at 145. Sophomore Evan Reed had a 3-5 mark with three falls at 121.

“Individually, Chad Beller has looked outstanding and didn’t seem to skip a beat transitioning from the football field to the wrestling mat,” added Reed. “He has seemed very overpowering and quick in winning his five matches.

“Jonathan Cordon-Pinto was also very impressive. Jonathan missed a good portion of the season last year with an injury. He has five wins almost matching his eight total wins from a season ago. This should give him a lot of confidence to start the season!”

Reed already has an outlook for the rest of the season.

“The first two meets were a very good gauge on where we are,” he said. “It also shows us where were want to be moving forward.”