It's been a long time since Freedom had sniffed a victory over Northampton on the wrestling mats, but on Monday night, that all changed. The Patriots stormed out to a 23-0 lead and never looked back en route to a 44-22 win over the K-Kids.

Pates' head coach Brandon Hall could not remember the last time the Freedom program had beaten Northampton, but the general consensus was 1976.

After both teams have traded barbs on the mat over the past five years during Hall's tenure, the satisfaction of defeating Northampton was evident Monday night.

"My son ran over to me after the match and said 'hey dad, this is a big deal right,'" said Hall. "I think that pretty much sums it up. This is my fifth year here and it's been one of my goals. They [Northampton] had a couple guys out of their lineup, but our guys really looked forward to this match."

Monday's victory helped Freedom improve to 7-0 on the season, the best start in Hall's tenure, and part of it is due to senior 182-pounder Jake Young being back on the mats.

Young was on the fence about joining the team this season because of injury question marks, but he got things started against Northampton with an opening bout fall over David Rehrig in 1:09. Freedom followed with a pin by Evan Callahan (195), a technical fall by John Callahan (220) and a pin by Josh Newhart (HWT) to build their 23-0 advantage.

Logan Ninos (106) and Dan Moran (113) got Northampton on the board with a decision and major decision respectively to make it 23-7, but the Kids were just overmatched on the night, especially without the likes of Michael Scheetz and Jason Kocher in the lineup.

"We were without a couple guys and it forced us to bump guys from 132 on up and when you're forced to do that, things can go the other way and that's what happened," said Northampton head coach Seth Lisa. "I'm not going to make any excuses for our guys. Freedom is a good team. Our dual meets the past few seasons have been very competitive and they just wrestled better."

The loss puts Northampton at 1-2 on the season, with both defeats coming at the hands of Bethlehem schools, as Bethlehem Catholic defeated the K-Kids last Wednesday 50-12. The Kids lone win this season was a 62-18 win over East Stroudsburg North.

Northampton took on a talented Nazareth squad last night, which was past Press deadlines, before heading off to Delaware this weekend for the Beast of the East tournament.

"What we have to do moving forward is just give our best everyday," Lisa said. "We need to control our weight and have good practices this week because the Beast is going to be a tough test for our guys."