While the three district champions highlighted the weekend for the Northampton wrestlers, there were other noteworthy performances.

Freshman Austin Noe picked up two pins, a tech fall, and a major decision on his way to a third-place finish at 113 pounds. He pinned 2020 state qualifier Connor Werner of Liberty in the consolation final. His only loss was to top seed and district champion Charlie Bunting of Nazareth.

Senior Patrick Snoke claimed a spot in this week’s regional tournament by finishing third at 126 after a dramatic sudden victory win in the consolation final over Tyler Cunningham of Whitehall. He was the only wrestler to take the weight’s champion, Tyler Kasak, the full 6 minutes.

An emotional Snoke, who had one varsity match prior to this season, cherished the experience.

“It just gives me confidence that the rest of my life I can do anything I want if I work hard for it,” he said. “That’s what wrestling teaches me, that life will beat you up, but you have to keep going.”

Junior C.J. Fritz was the runner up at 138 pounds. He had a fall over Nazareth’s Vinny Hebel in the semifinals. He led Becahi’s Andrew Harmon 2-0 after the first period in the final, only to suffer a pin while trying to erase a 5-2 deficit in the third.

Sophomore Carson Czarnecki who wrestled in the heavyweight weight class despite weighing in at 197 pounds, won four consecutive consolation bouts to finish in 4th place and earn a district medal. In past years, the top-five places qualified for regionals, but COVID restrictions limited District XI to 3 qualifiers per weight class this year.

Seniors Kyle Perl and Blaise Wagner saw their Northampton wrestling careers end. Perl was concussed during his quarterfinal bout and had to withdraw. Wagner was 3-2 for the tournament, getting knocked out in the consolation semifinals when his comeback came up a bit short.

Sophomores Aidan Micheli and Mason Basara each picked up a win in their first district tournaments.

As team, the K-Kids finished third behind Nazareth and Becahi. Nazareth took the team title by 1 point after winning the final three weight classes by fall.