Zach Valley knew wrestling at the Beast of the East tournament two weeks ago was going to help his chances heading into Bethlehem Holiday Classic at Liberty over the weekend.

Not only did the brute of taking on some of the best wrestlers at the Beast help Valley's cause at Liberty, but it also provided a boost of endurance that was notable in his road to winning the 132-pound title.

Valley was one of two Northampton champions from Sunday night's finals, as the K-Kids placed five wrestlers to grab a sixth place finish at the event. Scoring a 2-1 decision over Central Dauphin's Zach Elvin, Valley earned a hard fought gold medal that pushed Northampton (142.5) in front of Liberty (135.5) in the point standings.

"It was really important for us to finish as high as we could coming into this tournament," Valley said. "Liberty beat us in the dual meet earlier in the season, so we wanted to jump them in the standings. Mikey's [Scheetz] win helped us go in that direction and I was just happy to keep it going for us."

Michael Scheetz (113) put the Kids on the board in the championship round, carving out a 6-1 decision over Jake Jones of Stroudsburg to grab the first title for Northampton on the night.

Valley doubled that with his win over Elvin, using a stalling point and an escape in his route to the title.

Another caveat to his success was his endurance, which was helped by competing at the Beast.

"There's nothing really like wrestling at the Beast and it really helped with my conditioning," said Valley, who entered the Holiday Classic as the top seed. "I had a good gas tank and didn't really get tired here and I think it really showed on the mat."

Bobby Fehr (170) was the other K-Kid to reach the finals, but lost to one of Pennsylvania's top wrestlers, falling to Central Dauphin's Garrett Peppelman 5-0.

Northampton head coach Seth Lisa was aiming for a top five finish at the tournament, but wasn't going to sulk about taking sixth, especially with having three finalists.

But he did feel that his team grew from the event, which is something he hopes the Kids can take into the new year.

"All of our guys won matches here and that's what really gives guys confidence," Lisa said. "When you come into a big event like this and you get wins, it builds confidence. All in all it was a good tournament for us."

Dan Moran (106) and Todd Hetrick (126) rounded out Northampton's medal contingent, as both finished in third place at their respective weights.

Northampton closes out this week with a match against Emmaus tonight and then at Phillipsburg on Saturday.