It was a successful sojourn for the Whitehall wrestling team when they traveled to Lower Moreland for a final tournament in preparation for the postseason.

The Zephs won four matches at the Lower Moreland Invitational on Jan.17 en route to their finals showdown against Conestoga High School where they narrowly lost to the Pioneers, 39-34.

The match could have gone either way, with Whitehall winning six of the eight bouts, four of those by pins. However, they just couldn't prevail in the close matches as the Zephs dropped all three decisions to the Pioneers.

Registering falls for the Zephs were Jovany Belman who decked Eric Rodgers-Vargo in 1:44, while Noah Rex also scored six when he flattened Tyler Amendola in 1:41. Robert Tully continued his impressive season, pinning Jack Frantz in 3:48, and Joseph Gladish decked Scott Jean in 0:46.

They also got a 12-3 major decision from Brad Schuler at 170, and got their final six points at heavyweight with a forfeiture.

The tourney featured six teams with Whitehall competing along with George Washington, Lower Moreland, Perkiomen Valley and Upper Merion High Schools.

In the opening match, the Zephyrs faced Lower Moreland, winners of 14 matches heading into the tourney and were last year's District 1 AA dual meet champs, according to Zephyr head coach Tim Cunningham.

They won that match 31-26, capitalizing on a majority of the decisions. Rex, Nikitas Davis, Tyler Schaeffer, Matt Schuler and Tyler Oswald all earned decisions, helping the Zephs capture 15 crucial points that catapulted them to victory.

They also got bonus points from Brad Schuler who pinned Patrick Giordano in 1:21, and Gladish who decked Brendan Wurtzbacher in 1:39. Additionally, Tully scored a major decision, winning 13-4 over Brendan Thalheimer.

They continued their march toward the finals with wins over George Washington, Perkiomen Valley and Upper Merion throughout the afternoon.

That set up the showdown with the Pioneers, owners of a 14-2 record this season.

"We defeated a few other very competitive teams in the tournament but we just did not have enough in the last match to win in the finals," said Cunningham. "Overall we needed to wrestle a little stronger as a team in the tournament and we fell short of our goal of winning the tournament.

"The team adjusted quickly during last week knowing we had a tough week ahead of us, with the schedule including Northampton, Bethlehem Catholic along with Nazareth."

Still, a number of Zephs had a strong tournament, including Rex, Tully, Brad Schuler and Joe Gladish, with each wrestler winning all five of their matches. Gladish led the way with three pins, while Brad Schuler and Tully each recorded two at the tourney.

With the wins at Lower Moreland, the Zephs are now 16-7 and will look to close out their season with a final dual meet against Bethlehem Catholic High School which had to be rescheduled following last Wednesday's early dismissal.