The way this season’s schedule shook out, the Northampton wrestling team will go over a month without facing any stern tests. Last Wednesday’s dual was a perfect example as the K-Kids trounced Liberty, 65-6.

The only match that went the full 6 minutes was Colin Marano’s 8-5 decision over Ben Miller in the final bout of the night.

“The message to the team (when approaching a noncompetitive dual) is, ‘This is part of our training for the postseason.’ It’s an opportunity for them to manage their weight the right way. To eat the right stuff after weigh-ins. To warm the way you warm up in the postseason. We can’t control who the opponent is. We have to take care of business and I was proud of the way they focused and performed,” remarked head coach Joe Provini.

That preparation is critical because Provini also explained that several of the athletes have begun their descent programs to get down to their postseason competition weights.

With three unappealing dual meets left in the regular season against PM East, PM West, and Allen, K-Kids’ wrestling fans can turn their thoughts to district duals which will be contested on Saturday, Feb. 1 at Freedom.

This year’s 3A tournament has additional intrigue because Notre Dame GP moved up from 2A and is a legitimate threat to claim one of the two state berths for District XI.

Bethlehem Catholic has been the best team this year with wins against Northampton, Easton, and Notre Dame. They will almost certainly get the top seed.

The key for the rest of the contenders is to try to get the second or third seed and avoid Becahi in the semis as the winner of the 4 vs. 5 quarterfinal match.

Nazareth is undefeated with narrow and lucky wins against Easton and Northampton. Of the big four EPC teams, Notre Dame only wrestled Becahi, but gave the Hawks their closest match, losing by 10.

The Rovers and K-Kids seem destined to meet in the quarterfinals to make for their lack of a regular season meeting. While that should be a great match up, both schools probably feel they are worthy of a state bid, but would have to pull a massive upset against Bethlehem Catholic to get there.

Northampton 65,

Liberty 6

133 - Gabriel Ballard (N) tf. Julyus Holguin (L) 19-0 4:22, 139 - Trey Wagner (N) tf. Jose Rodriguez (L) 17-2 2:11, 145 - Carter Chlebove (N) pinned Ben Reid (L) 2:28, 152 - Chase Grabfelder (N) pinned Damian Lopez (L) 1:35, 160 - Parker Williams (N) pinned Andrew Galvan (L) 1:42, 172 - Devlin Chevere (N) tf. Anthony Martin (L) 17-2 1:42, 189 - Colin Turner (N) pinned Michael Kounoupis (L) 1:42, 215 - Joell Small (N) pinned Jayden Perez (L) 2:51, 285 - Gavin Grell (N) pinned Jason Doughty (L) 0:45, 107 - Elijah Heimbach (L) pinned Ayden Clough (N) 4:00, 114 - Brayden Wenrich (N) won by forfeit, 121 - Ryan Marano (N) tf. John Solano (L) 21-6 5:47, 127 - Colin Marano (N) dec. Ben Miller (L) 8-5