While Nazareth and Bethlehem Catholic have run roughshod over District XI and even the state of Pennsylvania, the homegrown talent from Northampton’s wrestling room acquitted itself quite nicely this past weekend at individual districts at Liberty High School.

Dagen Condomitti finished off his second district title with a first period pin of Nazareth’s Dominic Wheatley, a state medal winner in 2021.

“I was saying to myself before the match, ‘I really want to pin this kid.’ I was tired of wrestling six minutes with him because he’s a good wrestler but he’s awkward to wrestle.”, explained Condomitti. “I ended up pinning all my guys which is the best you can do.”

For his efforts and for being the only AAA wrestler not from Nazareth or Beca to win a District XI title this year, Condomitti was awarded the outstanding wrestler for the tournament. He keeps the award in the family as brother Jagger was recognized the previous two years. He also extends Northampton’s streak with the trophy to four years with Julien Chlebove’s win 2019.

The Kids’ other two finalists, Carson Wagner and CJ Fritz had to settle for silver medals. Wagner is still not totally recovered from the injury he suffered three weeks ago, but he battled Nazareth’s Tahir Parkins into sudden victory before falling 3-1.

Fritz ran into old nemesis Andrew Harmon of Bethlehem Catholic in the 145-pound final. The 9-1 loss marks his third straight postseason finals defeat to the Golden Hawks’ junior.

The District XI coaches selected Northampton leader Seth Lisa as their AAA coach of the year. It’s the second award for Lisa in four years.

As the tournament was winding down, he praised the effort of his squad in nipping Easton to take third place in the team standings.

Lisa remarked, “It’s one thing when your state-level guys go out and perform, but it’s another sense of satisfaction to see the guys that have been JV for a while, fighting to get a spot, become district-level guys. We’re really proud of the way these guys performed, and they kept us in this fight (for third place).”

Aiden Micheli won three consolation rounds to finish fourth at 132 pounds.

Austin Noe (120), Mason Basara (138), and Rocky Cappolella (172) all came through in their win-or-go-home bouts for fifth place to make a septet of K-Kids competing in this weekend’s regional tournament.

Lisa expressed his delight with Basara’s performance.

“Mason Freakin’ Basara beat three kids in this tournament that had beaten him in the regular season. You could see him wrestling with confidence,” he said. “I’m really proud that he was able to put it together and he proved this weekend that he’s a talented wrestler.”

The PIAA AAA Northeast Regional Tournament starts Friday evening at Liberty High School. The top four finishers in each weight class will advance to the state finals in Hershey next weekend. Tickets to regionals must be purchased through PIAA website, piaa.org.