The dual meet season may have been tough on Northampton, but the K-Kids' individuals are shining at the right moment.

Northampton advanced five wrestlers to this week's PIAA wrestling championships in Hershey, giving head coach Seth Lisa his largest contingent in his three years at the helm of the program. The Kids brought back memories of Northampton's dominant years, as they finished third in the team standings, placed four in the finals and crowned three champions.

Dan Moran (106), Zach Valley (126) and Bobby Fehr (160) each took home their first regional titles over the weekend, but Saturday's finals at Liberty's Memorial Gymnasium proved to be a coming out party for Moran.

The freshman bounced back from his third place finish at districts to avenge a loss to Nazareth's Tyson Klump in last week's district semifinals, topping Klump by a 6-4 decision in the regional finals.

With the regional semifinals featuring all D11 wrestlers, Moran knew it was never going to be an easy trek getting to the finals or states.

"It's hard because you can't just do the same thing all the time because everyone knows what you're about," said Moran of his competition at regionals. "It's fun and it's good for our district and it pushes you to be ever better."

Moran said he reassessed his district performance and made some subtle diet changes in the week leading up to regionals to better prepare himself.

"I was a little lazy with my weight and my dad helped me with a better diet," Moran said. "I felt physically better and I think that helped me a lot out there."

Valley followed suit with Northampton's gold medal strut, making easy work of Easton's Evan Fidelibus, registering an 18-2 technical fall in 6:00 to catapult him to Hershey. Fehr capped off Northampton's winning ways Saturday evening, scoring a 3-2 decision over Cody Cordes of Wyoming Valley West to give both seniors their second gold medals in as many weeks.

Todd Hetrick (132) fell victim to Nazareth's Chase Zemenak for a second straight week, losing a 9-0 major decision in the finals.

Michael Scheetz (113) rounded out Northampton's medal contingent with an 8-1 decision over Arch Bishop Wood's Chad Haegele in the consolation finals to take third.

Scheetz, who took seventh at Hershey a year ago, now hopes he can increase that finish this time around his junior year.

"My coaches told me that I needed to step up after districts and that's what I came out here [regionals] to do," said Scheetz. "It feels good to get back out to states, but I want a higher medal now."

Valley (37-3) and Fehr (34-3) are both returning state medalists and have the ambition of winning state championships this weekend. That chance seems more feasible for Valley, who sits atop the weight class and is one of the top four wrestlers in the category. Fehr's path appears to be much more difficult, as Central Dauphin's Garrett Peppelman (42-1) is the clear-cut favorite to win gold.

Moran (34-6) has picked the right time to come on strong, as he could be a surprise, as he sits atop the bracket as well. Gage Curry (35-1) of North Hills, could be a potential semifinal opponent for Moran if he gets that far.