Last year a 30-25 final bout loss against Emmaus probably cost the Whitehall wrestling team a spot in district duals. Last Wednesday, the Zephyrs extracted a measure of revenge as they traveled to Emmaus and beat the Hornets for the first time since 2018, 39-18.

Whitehall scored bonus points in 6 of their 8 match wins including 4 pins and a technical fall.

The meet started at 215 and Ryan Tran got the Zephyrs on the board with a pin in 3:10 against Ashir Choudry at heavyweight.

The two best bouts of the night occurred at the lightest weights.

Weight 107 saw two of the area’s best in that class, the Zephs’ Willmont Kai and Emmaus’ Emilio Albanese, square off for 6 intense minutes. After two scoreless periods, Albanese chose to allow a Kai escape to start the third. The strategy paid off when Albanese registered a takedown with 42 seconds left to claim a 2-1 decision. These two are likely to face each other in some big-time bouts in the individual postseason.

Kade Pascoe may have had the most crucial bout of the night at 114. With the dual meet tied at 6 after 3 matches, he wound up on his back for nearly a minute during the first period against Logan Maher. He refused to get pinned and after an escape, trailed 5-1. He rode out Maher in the second period to keep the margin at 4. Pascoe scored a reversal from the bottom position to start the third period but had to give the escape at the one-minute mark. Trailing 6-3, he hit a 5-point move with 13 seconds left in the bout to win 8-6.

“Coach always preaches that, that we fight off everything no matter what. We always have to fight and that’s what I did. ‘Winners find a way’ is my mindset. Always. Winners find a way. We preach that at Whitehall, dominate the third. Dominate the third,” declared a beaming Pascoe after the meet.

Rocco DeLucia followed up Pascoe’s heroics with a pin in 2:33 to put the Zephyrs up 15-6 and they never looked back.

Nolan Schmeckenbecher recorded a fall in 5:04, Trokon Kai scored an 8-6 decision at 139, and Seth Pascoe notched a 12-4 major at 145 to push the Whitehall advantage to 28-9.

Jack Kocher rolled his opponent up in a cradle to get the pin in 2:52 at 172 and James Hopkins dominated in a 19-4 technical fall in 4:31 to close it out at 189.

Head coach Tim Cunningham explained what has led to the most successful Zephyr dual meet season in many years, “I can describe it as ‘a lot of heart.’ They believe in each other. That’s the most important thing. When our guys are out wrestling, I expect us to cheer our team on more than any other team cheers their team on. When we beat Parkland the other day, I took a step back several times just to watch the enthusiasm of the team, which was more important to me than the win.”

The victory against Emmaus plus a 39-22 win over PM East on Saturday secured the Zephyrs’ place in the District XI 3A duals this Saturday at Freedom High School. Whitehall is currently fourth in the district power rankings, but the seeding of the eight qualifying teams is done by a committee. The seeds will be released Thursday.

There is a strong possibility that the Zephyrs will face Northampton, currently seventh by power ranking, in the quarterfinals in a 4 vs. 5 seed matchup if the Konkrete Kids are deservedly elevated above Pottsville and Liberty by the committee. The two rival squads did not meet in the regular season and this would be by far the most compelling first round contest.