The District XI 3A public-school wrestling dual meet championship belt changed hands last Wednesday as Northampton suffered its first loss of the season, 40-17 at Nazareth.

Head coach Seth Lisa’s postmeet commentary is parsed below.

“I thought it started all right,” Lisa said. “Ethan Szerencsits getting a win, Jagger able to get a major on Farber. We were feeling good.”

Szerencsits started the night with a strong 9-3 decision at 138.

At 145, Jagger Condomitti turned in a dominating performance over last year’s state runner-up at 138, 16-5. The Kids led 7-0.

“CJ Fritz, we’re in the match to maybe score and win at the end,” said Lisa. “We lose a close one.”

The only scoring at 152 was a first period takedown and a reversal with 47 seconds left in the match by Nazareth’s Jake Dressler.

“60 we fend off big points,” Lisa said. “70 we do the same thing.”

Nate Stefanik won the battle of wide receivers and 160 pounders, 23-10 over Jared Russell. Traisach Roland fought through an apparent shoulder tweak to hold Connor Herceg to an 8-5 decision. Nazareth took its first lead, 10-7.

“And then fall, fall, fall and that breaks your back,” Lisa said.

Andrew Shuman at 182 in his first varsity match fell in :41 to Joe Capobianco. At 195 Kyle Perl managed a reversal before falling in 2:28 to Drew Clearie. Makei Hubert was pinned in 3:43 at 220 by Stephen Schott.

Blake Lambert stopped the bleeding with a 5-4 decision in the ultimate tiebreaker in the 285-pound bout. The Blue Eagles led 28-10.

“We wrapped back around,” Lisa said. “I thought we were in the bout at 106. We lost a close one.”

In a battle of talented freshman, Carson Wagner lost to Charlie Bunting by decision 8-6.

“It looked like we got down on ourselves during that match. That kind of happened at 13 too,” Lisa said.

Gunnar Wagner dropped a 9-4 decision to Jake Doone.

“The lesson is that no matter what the score is, you have to keep wrestling,” Lisa said. “There’s no time for feelings. You have to wrestle hard, like you’re prepared to win. So we have to learn some lessons.”

At 120, A.J. Dew was pinned by Andreo Ferraina in 1:33. Noah Reichelderfer won a 5-2 decision at 126. Dagan Condomitti finished the meet on a high note for the Kids with a 12-4 major at 132.

“All-in-all, it wasn’t a bad dual,” said Lisa. “We won 5, I could have found 7 maybe. So that’s the positive.”

There is one tuneup left before district duals. On Saturday at Easton Middle School, Northampton will wrestle Easton for 3rd place in the EPC. The Kids handled the Rovers easily less than two weeks ago, 45-16. The times have not yet been released, but in the past, the 3rd place match has been scheduled for 5 p.m. Nazareth and Bethlehem Catholic will wrestle for the EPC title at 7 p.m.