Whenever you can come home from Hershey with medals from the PIAA wrestling championships, it’s always a good thing.

Northampton was able to medal two of their five entrees in last week’s 3A tournament at the Giant Center, as junior Jagger Condomitti led the charge with a second-place finish at 145-pounds.

Condomitti’s nemesis was Bethlehem Catholic’s Cole Handlovic, who he’s had plenty of experience with. The pair had split their district and regional championship matches before meeting in the state final, as Handlovic used a third period escape and takedown secure the 3-2 victory.

It was a bitter ending to the night and to Condomitti’s junior year, but one that presents plenty of promise heading into the offseason.

“Every match you wrestle you learn something,” said Northampton head coach Seth Lisa. “Jagger won some tight bouts all tournament and beat multiple D-I talents. He will evaluate his performance and make adjustments. That’s what the best kids do. Just need to be slightly better in all positions and more offensive.”

Condomitti rode a fine line all tournament long, as he scored a takedown in his round of 16 bout against Cade Balestrini of Shikellamy with 12 seconds left to win 3-2.

He then survived a 9-7 overtime win over Hempfield’s Tyler Linsenbigler in the quarterfinals, trailing 7-5 with 30 seconds left before tying the bout and eventually winning in overtime.

His easiest match was in the semifinals when he pinned Connellsville’s Jared Keslar in 1:20 before meeting Handlovic.

“I knew coming into the tournament that he was the best guy on that side of the bracket,” said Handlovic. “I just needed to wrestle my match and keep things in control.”

Freshman Carson Wagner (106) had an impressive run en route to a sixth place finish after losing in the round of 16 to Matt Repos of Central Dauphin 7-2.

Wagner would go on and win three straight matches in the consolation bracket to solidify a medal before running into Repos again, losing 5-3 in the bout.

That set him up with a meeting between Bethlehem Catholic’s Tyler Kasak, who won by fall in 2:13.

Despite finishing with losses in the medal rounds for K-Kids, Lisa was pleased with how things went for the program.

“Carson Wagner had a great three week postseason,” said Lisa. “He beat a bunch of talented kids and stormed to top six in the state as a freshman. Jagger making the finals was a highlight. We thought the other three wrestlers had shots at medaling but that didn’t work out. States is tough and sometimes the chips don’t fall your way.”

Dagen Condomitti (126), Ethan Szerencsits (132) and Blake Lambert (220) all came home empty-handed from the tournament.

The younger Condomitti went 1-2 after losing his opening bout and bumping him into the consolation bracket off the bat before getting eliminated in a 4-2 loss to West Chester Henderson’s Sam McMonagle.

Szerencsits and Lambert both went two and out.

“We believed all of our wrestlers had potential to medal,” said Lisa. “All the matches were close. You have to find ways to get your offense going and get points on the board. We struggled with that at times. It was good experience for Dagen and its unfortunate Ethan and Blake came up short.”