Northampton's 33-30 win over Easton roughly two weeks ago was a catalyst for propelling the K-Kids into this week's District 11 3A wrestling tournament.

Now Easton will have a shot at redemption when both teams square off at Nazareth tonight for a 6 p.m. showdown in the opening round of district duals.

The Rovers enter as the seventh seed and take on 10th-seeded Northampton in an elimination round bout, with the winner set to take on Freedom at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Northampton head coach Seth Lisa knows what's at stake tonight and also understands the perception people outside of Northampton may have about the result that occurred on January 14 between both teams.

"You have a do-or-die situation for both teams and that's difficult in the opening round," said Lisa. "People may have thought it was a fluke that we beat them the first time, but that's something we're going to use as motivation."

Both teams won seven matches last time they faced each other, but Lisa acknowledged that there will be changes in the lineup Thursday night.

For starters, Northampton will have Ty Marinelli in at heavyweight, which should change things from last time, as Alex Darabaris was pinned by Easton's John Williams. Eliminating six points there would be a positive gain for Northampton this time around.

Logan Ninos (106) lost a 6-4 overtime decision to Casin Corallo last time they wrestled, which could be a toss up bout for both teams, while Todd Hetrick (132) and Evan Fidelibus could be a featured bout with major implications if matchups are moved around.

"I see five or six matches that are toss ups," said Lisa. "We got to win the close ones to have a chance and we need to get bonus points. Lineups are going to look different, but we're ready to go. The coin-flip will definitely matter, but more importantly, the kids need to show up."

As mentioned the winner of the match will take on second-seeded Freedom, who defeated Northampton 44-22 in the middle of December.

The unfortunate part of this being win or go home scenario, is that both programs are worthy of having an opportunity to wrestle back through the consolations if given the chance.

"We're pretty evenly matched, but you need to win because if you don't you're eliminated," said Lisa. "It definitely makes for a more exciting match, but the opportunity to wrestle back isn't there for whoever loses and I think that's unfortunate."