There have been some good signs for Northampton's wrestling team, but there's also been signs of a growing curve for the K-Kids.

Following last week's 39-27 loss to Nazareth, head coach Seth Lisa knows there's one thing that his team has to get better at.

"Rule number one in wrestling is to not get pinned," said Lisa. "We've been giving up too many bonus points so far, but our guys are learning and getting better. That's the important thing."

Northampton (1-1) gave up five falls in their loss to Nazareth (2-0) and the Kids will need to reverse that trend this week when they took on Whitehall, which was past Press deadlines, as well as tonight when they host Council Rock South at the middle school gymnasium.

"We have a tough week and we need to be ready," Lisa said. "Every team in our league is talented and Council Rock (South) is a great challenge from out of the area. They're always coached well and have talented kids. It'll be a chance for our guys to step up."

And that opportunity will obviously increase when they head to Delaware on Friday to compete in the Beast of the East tournament.

Northampton has been a Beast regular since the tournament's inception and brought home a medal last year when Cole Sheptock took fifth at 152.

Lisa knows the difficulty of competing at one of the country's biggest and best tournaments and hopes his team can advance wrestlers into Sunday's second day of action.

"We know there's going to be programs out there that may out-class us on the mat," Lisa said. "I want our guys to wrestle the best they can and compete on the mat. If we have to fight off some opponents, that's fine, but the biggest thing is for our guys to compete."