The Northampton wrestlers wrapped up their dual meet season by placing third at the District XI AAA Team Duals this past weekend. They knocked off archrival Easton in the consolation final, 37-27.

“Three wins over Easton in any year makes a pretty good season,” opined head coach Seth Lisa. “We had our ups and downs. 13-2 overall. Two losses to Nazareth. Third in the EPC. Third in the district. That’s about as good as we could have done this year.”

The K-Kids’ 42-27 quarterfinal win over Parkland was highlighted by Carson Wagner’s 13-4 major decision over previously unbeaten Aaron Ciampittiello at 113 pounds. The team took 10-6 lead after Austin Noe’s pin at 120 and was never in any danger of losing after a tech fall by Aidan Micheli at 132, and consecutive pins by Mason Basara, CJ Fritz, and Dagan Condomitti. Rocky Cappolella added a decision at 172 and Parkland forfeited to Makei Hubert at 215.

The semifinal contest against Nazareth is one that Northampton would want to expunge from the historical record. The Blue Eagles won 61-3 with the Kids’ lone win coming via a 10-5 Dagan Condomitti decision in the final bout of the match.

Even more troubling than the team result was the gut-wrenching sight of Carson Wagner clutching his knee halfway through his bout with Tahir Parkins. Wagner was able to complete the match against Parkins, a 5-3 loss, and came back with a 49 second pin against Freedom about an hour later. He also won his match against Easton in the evening, a 15-4 major, but did take injury time during that bout.

Wagner’s pin against the Patriots was crucial as Northampton defeated Freedom 35-27 in the consolation semifinals. With no other wrestler weighed in at the weight class, the K-Kids would have had to forfeit 113 for a 12-point swing.

Even with Wagner’s heroics, Northampton trailed 27-24 going into the final three bouts. CJ Fritz evened things up with a contentious 5-1 decision over Connor Bevan that saw both wrestlers get penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Fritz stated after the match, “I teched him last year in Quakertown (in the East Super Regional), so I think that’s why he came out like that. We talked after the match, we’re fine. He’s been my friend. I’ve practiced with him my whole life.”

Joey Confer put the K-Kids ahead with a gritty, 6-5 decision at 152. Dagan Condomitti brought out the hammer to close out the match with an 18-1 tech fall in 3:41.

“I actually thought that this match might come down to the last match so I was thinking, ‘It might come down to me to win this for us.’ I got it done.”

In beating Easton for the third time in three weeks, the cliché that it’s hard to beat a team three times in the same season almost proved prophetic. The K-Kids were down 24-22 with four bouts left. Fritz and Condomitti delivered first-period pins and Confer scored a late takedown to claim a 4-3 decision to clinch the dual.

The team is now off until the start of individual districts on Feb. 25 at Liberty High School.