It wasn't the type of effort that Brandon Hall had hoped for from Freedom Monday night, but the Pates got the job done in their home bout against Delaware Valley.

Freedom won eight of 14 bouts with the Warriors, as falls by Jake Young (170), Cordell Cotto (HWT) and Dylan Brown (120) helped pave the way to a 36-27 victory, continuing their undefeated start at 11-0.

"It wasn't a great dual meet from top to bottom and we certainly could have wrestled better," said Hall. "I certainly think we can put a better effort throughout, but maybe we had a little hangover from not wrestling since the Bethlehem Holiday Classic.

"We can't use that as an excuse. This is now January and this is where the meat of the season is going to lie and we got to keep pushing ourselves."

Young, Cotto and Brown each recorded first period falls, while Jonah Zych (126) highlighted one of the better bouts of the night by scoring a takedown with 15 seconds left in the third to register a 4-3 win over Kyle Stoll to solidify the victory heading into the final bout.

John Callahan (195) suffered a 2-1 defeat to Matt Wagner in what could be a regional preview, as Wagner took third at regionals last year.

"I told John that if he wants to win a regional title, that's probably the kid he's going to have to beat," said Hall of Wagner. "That kid is one of the best in the state, so he knows what he has to do now."

Monday was Cotto's first crack at the lineup since his freshman year, as the junior came back to the team earlier this season. He got off to a quick start by pinning John McCarthy in 31 seconds and his depth and potential at heavyweight should pay off heading into next month.

"He joined the team two weeks in and has been practicing since and we felt that he needed to get a few weeks practice time," Hall said of Cotto. "He's certainly going to be an asset to the team."

Freedom takes on Pocono Mountain East tonight and then head off to the Virginia Duals on Thursday, where they'll compete in the American Division and look to come away with their first crown at the tournament since 2001.

"Obviously, our goal is to win that and that's something we've set our eyes on since the beginning of the year," said Hall. "We can't look ahead and that starts with Pocono Mountain East on Wednesday."