Northampton will be adding two new names to their list of district wrestling champions following last weekend’s PIAA District XI AAA tournament at Liberty.

After suffering a 2-point loss in last year’s district final, sophomore Trey Wagner cashed in on his second finals opportunity with grinding 2-0 win over Easton’s Christopher Kelly in sudden victory. The match was light on offense but high on drama as the two 127-pounders traded rideouts before Wagner converted a shot attempt halfway through the overtime period.

“It means so much to me. No better way to get a win in any tournament than going into overtime and sticking it out. Just a really good match, a really good kid. And I’m so grateful to have that opportunity to wrestle and win,” said Wagner.

He added, “When I look up at those names (of district champions in the wrestling room), I see years of history, some of the best wrestlers in the country in that room and to have my name up there really means a lot. I’ll be up there with D1 kids, greats, and it’s an honor to be up there with them.”

Freshman Gabe Ballard had an even more dramatic finals win as he took on longtime rival Reef Dillard of Bethlehem Catholic. Ballard scored a takedown early in the first period and looked like he was going to ride out a 2-0 decision when Dillard scored a reversal with 3 seconds left in regulation.

After a scoreless sudden victory period, Ballard escaped in tiebreaker period 1 and crucially scored a takedown with 2 seconds left in the period. Those points were the difference as Dillard escaped but could not equalize in the second tiebreaker period.

Ballard discussed the critical sequence that led to the takedown in overtime, “It kind of presented itself. I was going to keep backing away and then he made a little mistake and I just capitalized off it. I hit that little shrug and it worked out, thank the Lord.

“It feels great. I’m happy to just get my name up on the wall with all the other great wrestlers from Northampton. It just overall feels great. I hope I do this a few more times,” he added.

Gavin Grell made the finals where he went up against Nazareth’s all-time leading pinner and two-time state champion Sean Kinney. Grell gave a good accounting of himself, holding Kinney to a 5-0 decision and becoming only the second PA wrestler Kinney has failed to pin this year.

Austin Noe racked up 4 pins in 5 matches to take third place at 145. His lone blemish was a 2-0 loss to eventual champion Shane McFillin of Bethlehem Catholic when McFillin scored a reversal with just 15 seconds left in their semifinal match.

Northampton’s two other regional qualifiers, Colin Marano and Chase Grabfelder both finished fourth.

Marano reached the semifinals before being knocked into consolations by eventual champion and returning state champion, Keanu Dillard of Bethlehem Catholic. He rebounded with a 7-2 decision over Davian Carasquillo of Liberty to reach the consolation final before dropping a 3-1 decision to Teagan Caciolo of Emmaus.

Grabfelder also reached the semis before being bounced by Easton’s Ben Fanelli 5-1. Grabfelder pinned Bethlehem Catholic’s Mason Thomas to advance to the third place match, but lost to Leo Kern of Parkland.

Northampton finished fourth in the team standings. The top 5 teams were: (1) Bethlehem Catholic 241.5, (2) Easton 224.5, (3) Nazareth 222.5, (4) Northampton 159.5, (5) Parkland 119.5.

Regionals start Friday at 5 p.m. at Liberty High School with the preliminaries, quarterfinals, and first consolation round. The semifinals are at 11 a.m. on Saturday with the finals and placement matches at 4 p.m. The top four places advance to Hershey.