Robert Tully's performance at the District XI AAA Team Duals in many ways mirrored Whitehall's appearance at the district event which brings together the best teams from the area in a quest to become the top squad in the state.

Whitehall, who entered the tourney as the 12th seed, met Bangor in the opening round at Zephyr Gymnasium on Jan. 29. The Zephs were familiar with the Slaters, who came in as the 5th seed, having seen them at the Jim Thorpe Christmas Tournament right before the new year.

Likewise, Tully (24-2) was familiar with his opponent, Charlie Sell, who has been consistently ranked among the top two wrestlers at 152 in local polls. Tully met Sell, a former District XI champ at 145, in the Jim Thorpe tourney, losing 15-3 to the Lehigh University-bound senior.

As the two teams prepared for the match, Whitehall knew it would be a tough match-up since the Slaters were owners of a 16-5 record, and one of the most dominant teams in the Colonial League. They also won the Jim Thorpe Tournament, with Whitehall finishing third in that same field.

They started out slow with Bangor jumping out to a 22-3 lead, with Matt Schuler getting the lone win at 138 with a 7-5 win over Gaelen Happel.

That set the stage for Tully's match with the undefeated Sell, the most anticipated bout of the night. Sell got on the board first with a takedown, but Tully's reversal nearly shifted the trajectory of the match as he appeared to have Sell in deep trouble once he gained control on the mat. Sell avoided any near fall points and managed to escape, taking a 3-2 lead into the final period. An escape by Sell gave the Slater a 4-2 lead, forcing Tully to try for a take down before time expired.

The possibility of Tully sending the match into overtime had the entire Whitehall team exhorting him on, but in the end Tully couldn't get Sell down and the match concluded 4-2.

That loss didn't deter the Zephs. They rallied late, with their upper weights capturing 24 consecutive points, highlighted by pins at 195 and heavyweight. That made the final score 46-27.

While Tully was clearly the underdog, he gave Sell all he could handle in their bout. That was similar to the way the whole team responded to the challenge of facing the fifth-seeded Slaters.

"We knew they were a good team coming in, but we also felt like we had the ability to pull off an upset," said head coach Tim Cunningham. "We thought we had some weapons to go against them. Unfortunately, we just gave up too many pins."

The Zephs surrendered bonus points in six of their matches.

Cunningham said that their line-up featured some kids who never wrestled before, and that was going to play to Bangor's favor.

"When you run out of experienced guys, you're going to give up some points and that's what happened tonight," said Cunningham.

Noah Rex was another wrestler who seemed poised to win. He held a 2-0 lead after a takedown and then allowed an escape to Robbie Shoemaker, cutting his lead to 2-1. That was followed by a Shoemaker takedown, with the Slater taking a 3-2 lead into the final period. With Rex's escape in the final period tying the score, the two grapplers needed overtime to decide a winner. Shoemaker went deep on a double leg and eventually gained control in the extra session to win 5-3.

It was a bout that Rex can learn from and apply those lessons to similar situations moving forward. Cunningham said it's something they work on in practice, fighting off leg attacks that could decide the outcome of a match.

As for Tully, he didn't let that earlier major decision affect his style or approach. He was aggressive throughout the match.

"It was a nail biter; it could have gone either way," Cunningham said,

With some time before their next match against Bethlehem Catholic, the Zephs will regroup and get ready for perhaps the best team in the state.

"We'll go back in the room and work on little things," said Cunningham. "The coaches will look at the video tonight, edit it tonight, and then set it up for the kids tomorrow. Then we'll work on the things we need to work on, but not go hard every day, and try to mix it up a little since it will probably be a week before we wrestle again."