While Bethlehem Catholic may have stole the show at the Escape the Rock tournament over the weekend, Liberty quietly had a solid performance themselves, placing five wrestlers in the daunting showcase to give head coach Jody Karam a sense of optimism of what his team can do once the individual postseason rolls around.

Luke Werner (106) and KJ Fenstermacher (113) each took home fifth place finishes, while John Ritter (138) and Andrew Gunning (220) took sixth respectively. Heavyweight Kyle Gildner rounded out the medal count with an eighth place finish for the Hurricanes, who now set their sights on an interesting end of season stretch of dual meets.

"I believe we benefited as a whole from the experience and would consider returning next year," said Karam of the weekend trip to Council Rock South. "I feel our guys got a good look at the commitment it takes to be a finalist in such an event.

"It was refreshing to see that we had more guys place at the event as teams such as Parkland and Northampton, yet, we are striving to have finalists and eventually champions. The tournament is a nice gauge for our guys as far as the PIAA championships are concerned."

Liberty (6-5) now shifts back into dual meet mode, as the 'Canes take on Central Catholic (1-10) tonight before Thursday's pivotal bout with Easton (11-4). Things don't get any easier for the Hurricanes on Saturday, when they host Freedom (21-0) at 7pm Saturday night, as each bout will be crucial for Liberty's prospects of qualifying for district duals.

"We are a typical Liberty team and have shown signs of growth and progress as the season went on," said Karam. "We aren't near where we want to be, by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly heading in the right direction. The kids are working hard and have demonstrated dedication, but, we lost nine wrestlers to graduation. The guys that we were counting on stepping in, weren't as prepared as I was expecting. We are playing catchup, but must be cautious about bringing them along too quickly. Rookie JV coach, Devon Lotito, is doing a great job with his JV team and hopefully we wont build off of this year's team next year."

Whether or not Liberty will make the cut for team postseason won't be determined until next week, as the 'Canes still have a match scheduled with Bethlehem Catholic (6-0) next Wednesday.

That means Liberty's fate for the season could rest on how they perform against Easton and Freedom this week.

"Qualifying for team districts is going to be close, but it is something I'd really like to see," said Karam. "Just from an experience standpoint, I feel this team could benefit from the experience."