The Emmaus High School boys wrestling team won two of three Eastern Pennsylvania Conference dual matches last week, defeating Liberty 37-24 last Tuesday,Jan. 23.

The Hornets fell the next night 39-18 at Whitehall, but bounced back to finish off the week with a 52-18 victory over East Stroudsburg North.

In the victory over the Hurricanes, the Hornets won eight bouts to Liberty’s five, three of which were pins. Jesse Scott and Massimo Tranguch opened the match with back-to-back pins at 172 and 189 pounds, respectively, to stake their team to an early 12-0 lead.

The Hurricanes then answered with two straight pins to tie the score. The Hornets’ Logan Maher earned a 9-5 decision at 107 and Emilio Albanese recorded a 14-6 major decision at 114 to take back the lead at 19-12.

After a Hurricanes decision at 121 made the score 19-15, Emmaus rattled off three consecutive wins, two decisions by Teagan Caciolo (127) and Logan Armstrong (139) and a forfeit for Aiden Bayard (133) as the Green Hornets took a commanding 31-15 advantage. Xayden Sallit ended the match with a pin in at 160 pounds.

The roles were reversed a night later in its next match as Emmaus won five bouts, but the Zephyrs claimed eight. Logan Roth opened the match with an 11-5 decision at 215 and after a Whitehall pin at 285, Albanese tied the score up with a 2-1 decision at 107.

The Zephyrs, however, took control of the match by winning five of the next six bouts, with only Caciolo’s 6-4 decision sandwiched in between.

Sallit picked up a technical fall at 152 and Scott earned an 11-3 major decision at 160 to round out the scoring for Emmaus.

Emmaus started off fast against ES North, getting back-to-back pins to open the match by Tommy Fallstich at 133 and Armstrong at 139 to go up 12-0.

The Timberwolves picked up a decision at 145, but then once again, the Green Hornets earned two straight pins, this time by Sallit at 152 and Scott at 160, to further their advantage to 24-3.

North pulled within six points with a pin in the next bout, but Tranguch won via forfeit at 189 to get six points right back. After the Timberwolves tallied a decision and pin at 215 and 285, respectively, to trail 30-18, Albanese received a forfeit win at 107, Jackson Max tallied a pin at 114, Caciolo had a forfeit at 121 and then Bayard completed the match with a 17-4 major decision at 127.

Emmaus has two more duals during the regular season, both of them are at home. The Hornets host Pleasant Valley Wednesday and welcome rival Parkland next Tuesday.

The District 11 team tournament will be held Saturday with the top eight teams in each class competing for the title and two berths into the state team tournament.

Emmaus came short of qualifying for the district duals. The Hornets’s postseason will begin Feb. 23-24 with the individual district tournament.