There was ice and water spilled all over the floor in the hallways of Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium during the championship round of the 3A Northeast Regional finals last Saturday night.

It wasn’t hard to guess the culprit either, as Hazleton’s Jimmy Hoffman was the one responsible for making a mess.

And you couldn’t really blame him for knocking over a water cooler after getting pinned by Northampton senior KJ Fenstermacher in the 132-pound championship.

Fenstermacher turned a moment of improvisation into a riveting victory, pinning Hoffman [in 6:59] just before the overtime buzzer sounded for the highlight win of the tournament.

Hoffman, who came into the bout as the top-ranked PIAA wrestler at 132 (according to PA Power Wrestling), trailed 1-0 with 4.3 seconds left in the third period before coaxing Fenstermacher to his third caution of the match during a restart, evening the bout at 1-1, and sending it to overtime.

From there, a tug of war between reluctant shots ensued, until Fenstermacher got in deep on Hoffman’s legs, put him over his back and sat back, pinning Hoffman’s shoulders with 0.2 seconds left in the one-minute period for an exhilarating championship victory.

“I was in deep on the shot and I looked in the corner of my eye and there was two seconds left,” said Fenstermacher. “So, I just rolled him up on my back because I knew there wasn’t enough time to finish the shot and the ref called it [the pin] and it was the best feeling.”

Fenstermacher’s championship victory punctuated a third-place team finish for the Kids, as they advanced six wrestlers to this week’s PIAA state tournament at Hershey’s Giant Center.

Sophomore Julian Chlebove continued his torrid run in the postseason, breezing by Liberty’s Luke Werner with a 12-2 major decision in the 120-pound finals.

Chlebove has now won two district titles, two regionals titles and a state championship last year, as he heads into this week’s tournament as the favorite in his weight class.

Winning a second straight state championship is obviously the goal, one that he feels more comfortable attaining than a year ago.

“Coming into regionals, I just wanted to show my dominance that I’m the best in the state,” Chlebove said. “I’m really excited to get back out on the Giant Center mat. I was a little nervous going out last year, but I’m just way more confident and relaxed now and I’m just ready to have some fun.”

Senior Dan Moran also reached the 138-pound finals on Saturday night, but lost to Nazareth’s talented Sammy Sasso 7-4. It was the second time in as many weeks that Moran lost to his senior counterpart, as both could see each other in Saturday’s state finals, should they make a run through their brackets.

Sophomore’s Sam Hanley (106) and Devon Britton (145) each took home fourth place finishes, while senior Cade Moisey (170) took third to round out the Kids’ contingent heading to Hershey, as wrestling gets underway Thursday afternoon.

Fenstermacher hopes he can follow in the footsteps of Chlebove by standing atop the Giant Center podium as a state champion, a goal that became even more attainable after his win over Hoffman.

“I wrestle with Julian all the time in the room and he helps me out a lot,” said Fenstermacher. “Just by working in the room and having him show me stuff, he tells me that I can become a state champ too.

“Wrestling with Danny [Moran] helps too because he’s one of the best in the state. Having two guys of that caliber just helps me get better and better every day.”