With a season-opening tournament and a pair of dual meets under their belts, here are some of the early season highlights and observations for the Northampton wrestling team.

The return of fans makes all the difference in the atmosphere at dual meets. Seth Lisa commented after the opening Emmaus match, “It’s a good feeling getting the kids lined up, fans in the stands – you can feel it. The tension, everybody getting ready to go. It felt good to be back.”

Seniors Carson Wagner (113) and Dagan Condomitti (160) look ready to be in the state title mix. Both won their respective weight classes at the strong Tom Best Top Hat tournament to open the season with Wagner pinning Williamsport’s Cael Nasdeo in the final. Nasdeo beat Wagner in the quarters at 106 last year in Hershey.

At 126, sophomore Austin Noe finished third at Top Hat and has a pair of pins against Emmaus and Whitehall. After qualifying for the East Super Regional last year, Noe is poised to claim a spot on a Hershey podium this year.

The close win against Emmaus (39-28) in the opening dual should serve as a wake-up call.

“I would say we are very lucky we walked away with a win and lucky is the word to use because they completely out-wrestled us,” Lisa said. “Some of our better guys totally did not step up. We got some impressive things our little 106-pounder, Kody stepped up and got a win. Kid weighs 92 pounds and showed more heart than some of our seniors.”

Senior Joey Confer did step up against Emmaus, securing a pin at 152 in his first varsity match to break the Hornet’s 3-bout winning streak and put the Kids back on top 18-13.

Confer described the experience, “Definitely nervous. I knew he was a lot stronger than me, I suspected that, but I knew that whoever has the most heart wins. I always tell myself no matter how bad I lose or how well I win, I don’t want the person outworking me.”

Sophomore Landon Roland also had a big pin at 189 over Emmaus’ Jack Brion. Roland caught Brion in a headlock and decked him in 1:50.

There was a scary moment in the heavyweight bout. Early in the second period Carson Czarnecki was knocked out after hitting his head on the mat. The official failed to notice and stop the match allowing the Emmaus wrestler to continue to pursue a pin. The Northampton coaching staff was justifiably enraged at the referee’s failure to protect Czarnecki. He is currently in concussion protocol, but fortunately did not suffer any neck or spine injuries.

Even before Czarnecki’s injury, the K-Kids were thin at the upper weights. Their other options at 215 and 285 freshman Gavin Grell and junior Joseph Doumat started wrestling only a couple of weeks ago.

CJ Fritz was also “dinged up” against Emmaus and missed the next day’s Whitehall dual won by the Kids 39-25. The injury is not expected to impact the majority of Fritz’s season.

Next up for the team is the Bethlehem Holiday Classic on the Tuesday and Wednesday after Christmas. Nazareth and Easton are also competing so there could be some preview matchup for when the duals with those schools happen in the middle of January.