With the holidays now out of their way, Catasauqua’s wrestling team will be priming itself for the final chapter of the season.

“The team is still working hard and getting better and better every practice,” said head coach Jonathan Reed. “The holidays are a tough time as lots of kids do traveling to see family so practices haven’t been as full as normal. Once the holiday break is over we can get back to a full room of kids and begin to prepare for the second half of the season.”

The Rough Riders recently placed 23rd in the Jim Thorpe Holiday Tournament. Senior John-Cordon Pinto (5-5) was the Roughies’ highest finisher with his sixth-place at 145 pounds. Fellow seniors Braden Bartholomew (9-7, six falls at 215) and Jacob Ramos (5-5 at 285) wrestled to the fourth round of consolations.

Junior Gavin Hacker has a 9-5 slate at 127 and fellow junior Evan Reed is 5-4 at 139/145. However, Reed is lost for the season with a knee injury.

The Roughies will return to action this weekend when they compete at the War on the Shore in Ocean City, Maryland. Reed and his grapplers are anticipating their inaugural visit to the tournament.

“It is the first time we are traveling to this tournament and looking forward to see how our kids do against some top kids from other states like Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania,” said Reed. “It is a great opportunity for our wrestlers to get out of the Lehigh Valley and compete against kids they don’t normally see.”

Reed is optimistic his club can work through some problems.

“We are having some issues with injuries as we have lost one of our best wrestlers, Evan Reed, to season ending knee surgery,” said Reed. “There are others who are rehabbing injuries and hope to get some of those kids back in the lineup.”

The second-year head coach also is confident a new rule in the new year can make a difference.

“With the new year giving a two-pound weight allowance we do have some kids who will be dropping weight classes,” added Reed. “That should make our lineup a little stronger.”