With the Holiday season upon us, the Whitehall wrestling team looks to unwrap a few league wins once the break is over.

It's been of a bumpy start for the Zephyrs, losing their opening bout to Bethlehem Catholic High School, 71-6. The lone win was a forfeit at 106. That was followed by another league match as they hooked up with the Konkrete Kids, another perennial Lehigh Valley Conference powerhouse. While it was another loss, dropping their season record to 0-2, the team battled throughout the match, staying competitive up and down the line-up.

In that match, the Zephs won four bouts, all by decision as Alonzo Mann picked up the win at 170, edging Jarred Coleman, 5-4. Quincy Boulware kept the upper weights ringing as he upended Jake DeAngeles 12-5 at 182. Also winning was Heavyweight Edgardo Rivera, out dueling Ty Marinelli 4-1. The Zephs other win came at 160 as Matt Bonshak won a decision against Bobby Fehr, 10-7.

They also got gritty performances from Nico Kauffman who narrowly lost to Todd Trick, 2-0. Tyler Bridgwood also wrestled well, succumbing to Jason Kosher, 2-0.

Having his wrestlers maintaining a positive attitude and striving to get better, fuels the work inside the Zephs practice facility every day. Head coach Tim Cunningham understands that results are not ultimately determined by wins or losses, but what his wrestlers learned and how they got better every time they stepped in the circle.

"The Northampton match was a step in the right direction," said Cunningham. "We improved from our earlier competitions and that is all we can ask. We won a few close matches and also lost a few. We need to win all the close matches in order to beat a team like Northampton."

Cunningham said that they wanted to be the aggressors, keeping the pressure on their opponent. That goes both on their feet as they fight for control, as well as on the mat when their working on pinning combinations, or trying to break their opponent's grip while on bottom.

"We asked our wrestlers to wrestle with a more open up style of aggressive wrestling, controlling the hand fighting and inside control position, keeping heavy hands on the head and open up shots off these situations," said Cunningham. "We were definitely more aggressive on our feet this week, but we need to improve on our mat wrestling from top and bottom."

Cunningham his team can apply those lessons, improving every day as they try and peak when tournament season rolls around. He said he has a room full of hard workers, and they'll give the needed sweat and sacrifice to get where they want to be.

"We believe that our guys are learning everyday and are working hard at practice to make improvements," said Cunningham. "We will continue to work hard toward making improvements on a daily basis."

They also recently competed in the Battle at the Beach, their annual trek to Indian River High School in Delaware. They placed 16th among the 27 teams wrestling at the two-day affair that began Dec. 14. They earned 64 points, with senior Matt Bonshak earning a third-place finish at 160.

The team now takes a break and will get back to work on Jan. 12, with a match against Wyoming Valley Area High School.