It’s not uncommon for an EPC wrestling dual meet to take less time than the one-way bus ride for the visiting team, but generally such things occur when a Lehigh Valley team heads to Monroe county. Last Wednesday, Northampton fans who traveled to Emmaus to watch the K-Kids’ 52-24 win saw 19 minutes and 15 seconds of action as only one bout went the full 6 minutes.

A Zayne Dayoub pin of Bryce Kleinle in 32 seconds at 114 was sandwiched between Emmaus forfeits at 107, 120, and 127. Matt Sommer, Carson Wagner, and Trey Wagner were the recipients of the wins.

The 133-pound bout was the only one that went the distance, although it wasn’t particularly close. Aiden Micheli used 5 takedowns and 2 nearfall points to notch a 13-4 major decision over Logan Armstrong. All of Armstrong’s points were due to Micheli letting him up for escapes.

Austin Noe made quick work of Xayden Sallit at 139, registering a fall in 56 seconds.

At 145, Mason Basara was even with Marco Albanese at 2-2 in the second period when he got taken to his back and pinned at the 3:26 mark.

Devlin Chevere had the highlight of the meet at 152. Jesse Scott was in deep on a single leg when Chevere fought it off and cradled Scott for a pin in 1:19. Chevere recounted the moment, “We wrestled last year and he pinned me in the first period. I just came out and wanted to get back at him. He shot in and I went through the motions and threw him on his back.”

Billy Stuhldreher registered a 52-second pin over Taliesen Frantz at 160.

Dagen Condomitti squeezed in 3 takedowns and a fall during his 38 seconds of mat time against Phoenix Zatar-Hanson at 172. Northampton led 52-6 at that point.

Over the weekend, the team participated in the prestigious Beast of the East tournament in Delaware. Condomitti was seeded sixth at 157 but reached the final before losing 4-0 to top seed Alessio Perentin of Delbarton (NJ). He was the Kids’ only place winner as Northampton finished 28th in the team standings, 1 point behind Nazareth. Delbarton won the team title by 9 points over Bethlehem Catholic.

The Kids struggled at the 3 highest weight classes as Landon Roland, Jacob Koch, and Brandon McIntyre were all pinned by their Hornet opponents.

The victory marked the first dual meet win for first-year head coach Joe Provini. Despite the lack of competitive matches against Emmaus, Provini sees value in the experience. He explained, “I tell the guys that every time out it’s an opportunity to get better. You manage your weight the right way. You prepare mentally to compete hard. You warm up the right way. Even if you’re wrestling somebody who you’re superior to, you should still get better through the whole process. Overall, they wrestled hard. They scored points. I was happy.”

The team will next be in action at the Bethlehem Holiday Classic tournament at Liberty High School during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Fans can look forward to some fun dual meets to start 2023 when the Kids will wrestle Nazareth, Parkland, and Easton in a 4-day stretch from Jan. 4 through 7.