It’s fair to say that winning the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic might have meant more for KJ Fenstermacher than any other wrestler last week at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium.

Fenstermacher, a senior transfer from Liberty, was back at his old stomping grounds and was motivated to put on a show.

After registering two falls and a technical fall in his first three bouts of the 132-pound bracket, Fenstermacher held off Central Dauphin’s Andrew Wert 4-2 in last Thursday’s finals.

Two weeks removed from failing to place at the Beast of the East, along with coming back to Liberty, was all the motivation Fenstermacher needed to come away with a gold medal performance.

“This one actually means a lot,” said Fenstermacher of his first Holiday Classic title. “My uncle [Johnny Fenstermacher] started this tournament 23 years ago and I always wanted to get this win, in this gym, for him. I fell short my first three years, but it feels great getting it on my fourth try.”

It was a great feeling for everyone in the orange and black, as Northampton showed District 11 that they will be a force to be reckoned with this season, as the K-Kids crowned three champions, medaled seven wrestlers and outpaced Easton (159 points) for the team title with 184.5 points.

Julian Chlebove (126) and Cade Moisey (170) also took home gold medals, but it was Fenstermacher’s decision over Wert that gained him a dose of revenge after losing to him 1-0 at the Beast of the East.

“The loss to him at the Beast really bothered me,” Fenstermacher said. “I was thinking about wrestling him again for a week and when I knew we’d be seeing each other in the finals, I got really excited. Whenever you lose, you get that eye of the tiger and you want to get that revenge. Plus, being back in this gym felt great. I love this gym.”

Chlebove didn’t love what he had to endure in his 126-pound championship bout with Easton’s Jonathon Miers.

A stubborn nose bleed that bothered him for most of the day two of wrestling, forced Chlebove to have a massive wrap around his face, limiting his breathing in an otherwise decisive 8-3 victory. While he split his four victories in the tournament with two decisions and two majors, his bloody nose might have been the most problematic opponent he had to deal with.

“This is the first time I’ve had an issue like this and I couldn’t breathe at all,” said Chlebove. “It was bleeding in the warmup and when I hit a double leg in the final, the nose plug came out and it kept bleeding. I thought I wrestled well, the best that I could, but I do wish I could have scored more.”

Moisey had little trouble dispatching Pleasant Valley’s Trevor Dorn by a 9-1 major decision in the finals to cap off a wonderful two days for the program.

The other Kids to medal included Dan Moran (138, third); Joey Tiwold (106, fifth), Zackary Rooks (182, sixth) and Edward Confer (220, seventh).

Northampton (2-0) hosted Parkland on Wednesday night and welcome Pocono Mountain West on Thursday, as all will be in preparation for next Wednesday’s home meet against Bethlehem Catholic.

But the Kids performance over the holiday certainly showed that Northampton wrestling is enjoying glimpses of their glory days.

“We always say we want to win the team title, but to actually do it was pretty mind blowing,” said Chlebove. “I think we’ll be able to hang with teams like Bethlehem Catholic and we’re excited to see what we can do when we have our whole lineup.”