While most of their classmates were enjoying the break between Christmas and New Year’s Day, the Northampton wrestlers were hard at work at the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic at Liberty High School.

The annual tournament features the strongest public schools in the Lehigh Valley across both 3A and 2A as well as a number of schools from District 1 (the suburbs north of Philly) and even schools from the western part of the state like Greater Latrobe and North Allegheny.

As a team, the K-Kids finished in a tie for 4th place out of 34 teams with Phillipsburg (NJ). The top 5 teams were: 1. Council Rock South 188.5, 2. Nazareth 168.5, 3. Easton 166.5, 4. Northampton 148.5, Phillipsburg (NJ) 148.5.

Gabe Ballard continued his impressive freshman season by taking home the title in the 114-pound division. He beat Easton’s Nick Salamone in the final 8-2. Along the way, Ballard beat the top-ranked wrestler at the weight in District 1, CR South’s Connor Lenahan, in the quarters 5-3. Ballard is 19-1 on the season.

Trey Wagner had perhaps the most dramatic bout of the tournament in the semifinals as he scored a last-second takedown to force OT against Wilson West Lawn’s James Garcia. He eventually got the fall in 7:48. Wagner was pinned in 3:36 by former national prep champion Anthony Mutarelli, who transferred from Malvern Prep to CR South, in the final at 133. Wagner is 11-3 this year.

Gavin Grell continued to lay claim to being one of the top non-Sean Kinney heavyweights in the area. He stood fourth on the podium after a 6-2 tournament. His only losses were to wrestlers outside the district, P’burg’s John Wargo and Quakertown’s Calvin Lachman.

The Kids also had 3 more placewinners, Chase Grabfelder (139), Austin Noe (145), and Devlin Chevere (152). All three finished in seventh place. Noe racked up 4 falls to push his team-leading total for the season to 11.

The recap of Wednesday night’s home dual meet with Nazareth will have to wait until next week’s edition as it comes after Press deadlines.

The team will next be in action on Saturday for the Parkland Winter Duals at Parkland High School. The K-Kids will head back to Cedar Crest Boulevard on Wednesday for a dual meet with the Trojans. When the two schools locked horns last year, Northampton won 37-36 on criteria based on winning 7 of the 13 bouts.