The Whitehall wrestling team is starting to reap the benefits of all their hard work, while also looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.

That hard work was the foundation which paved the way for victories in their last three dual meets. They’ve defeated league opponents Dieruff, Pocono Mountain West and East Stroudsburg North. With those three wins, the Zephyrs are now 5-6 overall and 3-4 in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference.

The Zephyrs defeated PMW 51-27, and then followed that up with a 78-0 win over ESN last week.

In the win over the Panthers, the Zephs won nine bouts. They were dominant in the light weights, getting falls from Caleb Staub at 113, Jaden Youwakim at 120, and Noah Rex at 126. Additionally, Luke Rex won by forfeit at 106.

They hit a rough patch in the middle weights as the Panthers won three consecutive bouts until Luis Arzola broke the streak at 152. Arzola pinned Mike Fittengoff in 3:12, beginning the next wave of wins for the Zephs. That was followed by John Kaintz’s gritty 3-2 decision over Matthew Turtone at 160. Jesiah Davis kept the ball rolling at 170 as he pinned Preston Green in 0:21.

In the upper weights, Whitehall got wins from Marwan Rajha at 182 and Michael Ajami at 195. Rajha pinned K-Shauna Ballard in 0:16, while Ajami decked Steven McKenna in 0:30.

In their win against the Timberwolves, they got bonus points in every weight class except 138. In that bout, Kai Clark won a hard-fought decision over Taylin Torres, 5-3.

With the success they’ve had this season, a number of their wrestlers have been popping up on area rankings. Those include Staub at 113 (9-3), Youwakin at 120 (17-5) and Noah Rex at 126 (16-5). Additionally, Jesiah Davis, Ajami and Rajha could be wrestlers to watch as well as the postseason gets underway.

Head coach Tim Cunningham said that they’ll be looking to build on their success as they face a tough Emmaus squad this week. The Green Hornets are currently 9-7 and a number of their wrestlers are among the top five in those same area rankings.

“Emmaus will be a challenge; they barely lost to Parkland last week and they had three starters out of lineup so it will be a major challenge, which we are looking forward to,” said Cunningham.

The Green Hornets lost the match by 10 points to the Trojans, while the Zephs won two bouts, losing 59-9 to the Scarlet and Grey. Cunningham believes that his squad is eager to see how much progress they’ve made to this point, and the match against Emmaus will be a good gauge.