Is this the year Northampton's wrestling team regains its dominant form?

That may be a bit too much to ask in one season, but it would be fair to say the K-Kids should take steps in that direction this winter.

Equipped with four returning PIAA qualifiers, including three state medalists, head coach Seth Lisa should see his team improve from last year's 9-9 finish, which saw the Kids get bounced from district duals following a quarterfinal loss to Easton.

Senior state medalists Michael Sheetz, (113-pounds, seventh), Zach Valley (132-pounds, fourth) and Bobby Fehr (160-ponds, fifth) all return with experience from Hershey this year, along with junior state qualifier Todd Hetrick.

Having those four wrestlers as a base to the lineup bodes well for the Kids, but the real direction of where this team will end up, could land in the laps of freshmen Danny Moran (106), Zack Rooks (138), Cade Moisey (145) and Alex Darabaris (HWT).

Lisa understands that freshmen will go through their bumps in the road and putting any external pressure on young wrestlers wouldn't be ideal, but he seems confident in his new quartet of K-Kids.

"We need to continue to improve," said Lisa. "We have some freshmen and some guys with limited experience in the lineup. The team needs to come together, and fight every time they are out there. Our teams success depends on how hard we can work. We need to push the pace and work for six minutes. If we can do that, we can have success."

The Kids were set to test out there new lineup on Tuesday night against Liberty, but that match was postponed due to inclement weather and has been rescheduled to December 19.

Despite having that bout postponed, the Kids will still get plenty of LVC action this week, as they took on Dieruff Wednesday night and travel to Nazareth Saturday afternoon.

The bout with the Blue Eagles will be a true test of what the Kids have in their arsenal at this point of the year, but Lisa isn't taking anyone for granted.

"Every team in the LVC is very talented," he said. "There are no easy dual meets. Easton, Nazareth, Parkland, Bethlehem Catholic, always come to mind but Emmaus, Freedom, and LIberty always put good line ups out.

"Wrestling is one of those sports where you can improve in almost every area, all the time. We need to continue to be aggressive and work for bonus points and minimize the damage through a dual meet. Our only goal is improvement win more duals, send more guys to states and improve individually."