The Whitehall wrestling team got its first league win with a victory over Allentown Central Catholic last Saturday.

The Zephs were paired against ACC in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Championship Day wrestling event at Easton Area Middle School.

Bethlehem Catholic won the event with a 40-9 drubbing of Nazareth in the match-up of the two division winners.

Whitehall won nine bouts en route to the 51-29 victory over the Vikings.

Once again they were paced by their lightweights as Caleb Staub and Noah Rex continue to peak heading into the postseason.

Staub won 4-0 over Stephen Wroge at 113. The win marked Staub’s 10th victory of the season and his fifth in a row.

Rex was a winner by pin at 120. He got the fall in 1:14 over Dennis Lupin. Rex is now 15-6 on the season and is also riding a five-match winning streak.

John Kaintz also won by fall, decking Michael D’Agostini in 1:23.

The rest of the wins came via forfeit.

“We wrestled well but benefited from the forfeits they give every match,” said head coach Tim Cunningham. “We need to continue to try and work hard, have fun and become better competitors every time we step out on the mat.”

Prior to that match against the Vikings, the Zephyrs faced Emmaus, one of the rising teams in the EPC.

The Green Hornets were 11-6 heading into the meet and were looking to make further inroads into their postseason seeding position for the EPC event.

Bonus points were once again Whitehall’s downfall as they surrendered eight pins and a major decision to the Hornets, losing 61-12.

The Zephs got pins from Rex and Staub. Staub pinned James Bowie in 1:24, while Rex decked Jacob Hexamer in 0:19.

Those two, along with Nikitas Davis, have been putting together a strong run at the end of the regular season. Davis lost in a decision to Jackson Karrat, 7-0, but he’s won 11 bouts this season and three of his last four.

“Noah and Caleb as well as a few other guys that are working hard to improve in the room are starting to make the improvements needed for the end of the year,” said Cunningham. “We need to try and compete at this level no matter who we wrestle so when the post season comes around they are prepared.”

In the most competitive match of the evening, Jesiah Davis opened his bout against Luke Franco with a near-side cradle that he converted into a takedown.

It was a strong beginning for the junior who then rode out Kratz for the bulk of the first period. However, a late escape by Franco with about 20 seconds remaining in the period opened the door for the go-ahead takedown, giving the Hornet the 3-2 lead heading into the second.

Franco then immediately escaped and then once again was able to pull off a late takedown with time winding down in the second to take the 6-2 lead.

In the third, Jesiah Davis got a quick escape to make it 6-3, and then executed a pretty slip-around takedown to draw within a point at 6-5. He immediately let Franco loose to try for the tying takedown, but fell short as he was on the verge of another slip behind move as the whistle sounded.

Jesiah Davis showed his resiliency and kept after Franco the entire bout, but those last takedowns came back to haunt him.

Scoring at the end of the period has always been a point of emphasis for Cunningham, whether it’s getting them, or allowing them, he wants to see his wrestlers finish strong.

“Jesiah, as a few others wrestlers, gave up points toward the end of a period or close to being out of bounds where they need to fight off the take down or wrestle smarter around the edge of the mat,” said Cunningham. “One thing you can count on when Jesiah is out wrestling he always wrestles as hard as he can and goes to compete each and every match and that is what I look for from all of our wrestlers.

“The little mistakes will be corrected with time when you go out and compete the way Jesiah does when he steps on the mat.”