The red hot mats at Saucon Valley High School belied the freezing cold temperatures outside as the Panther wrestlers easily rolled over neighboring rival Southern Lehigh, 47-12, Monday. The Panthers won 11 of the 13 matches wrestled, losing one match by forfeit due to the lack of a heavyweight wrestler. 

Cheering fans who braved the cold to attend the meet were rewarded with an action-packed night. Despite the lopsided score, the Spartans fought valiantly against the tough Panther team, losing several matches by close decision. Of special note were the matches pitting top-ranked wrestlers against each other, including the match-ups of Bryan Israel and Southern Lehigh's Adam Ziegler and Saucon Valley's Travis Buddock and Luke Gotzon. 

Saucon wrestlers met Notre Dame Green Pond on the mats at home Tuesday and will wrestle Saturday at 1pm at neighboring Palisades. 

Here are the complete results, by weight class:

Weight Class 103: Saucon’s Tyler Harka outscored Southern Lehigh’s Cole Ruppel 21-2 to take their match.

Weight Class 112: Panther Bryan Israel added 3 points to the team score by besting Solehi’s Adam Ziegler 8-2. Israel is one of the area's top wrestlers and has won all but two of his matches this year. Israel normally wrestles in the 103 pound class but moved up one in order to take on the 11-5 Ziegler.

Weight Class 119: Will Gusino of Saucon Valley won a tough match 6-3 against Spartan Joey Giordiano.

Weight Class 125: Paul Sloand of Saucon Valley pinned Solehi’s Tim Rice at 1:33 to add 6 points to the Panthers' score.

Weight Class 130: Spencer Beaver won a tough match for Saucon Valley against Spartan Jacob DelPiore, 3-2.

Weight Class 135: Panther Nathan Gimbar eeked out a 7-6 win in a well-wrestled match against Spartan Tye Vallone.

Weight Class 140: Solehi’s Adam Russek brought home the first match win for Southern Lehigh against Saucon’s Andrei Gausling, 7-2.

Weight Class 145: Senior stand-out John Lynch outscored Solehi's Matt  Gotzon 17-7 to bring home the match win for Saucon Valley. Lynch is one of the top-ranked wrestlers in the area, having lost only 4 matches this year.

Weight Class 152: Spartan Senior Luke Gotzon continued his winning streak by outmaneuvering Panther Travis Buddock to add only the second match win to the Spartans. Both Gotzon and Buddock are top-ranked wrestlers in the area.  Gotzon has only lost three matches this year.

Weight Class 160: Sam Dickey of Saucon Valley outscored Solehi’s Mike Venezia 15-4 to take their match.

Weight Class 171: Saucon’s Ray O’Donnell outscored Spartan Billy Hailey to take their match 13-3 and continue his winning streak at this weight. O’Donnell, a sophomore, is one of the top-ranked wrestlers in the area.

Weight Class 189: Panther Tyler Evans won his match WBF at 3:58 into the match against Spartan Nick Masciantonio.

Weight Class 215: Senior Ian Gimbar won by WBF by beating Solehi’s tall Michael Swan at 1:43. Gimbar was recently ranked the top wrestler in the area at the 189 pound class by the Morning Call and has only lost two matches this year. Read his senior spotlight profile on Hellertown-Lower Saucon Patch here.

Weight Class 285: Dalton Romano won by forfeit for Southern Lehigh.