Parkland had an opportunity to hand Whitehall its first loss since the Zephyrs dropped their opening match of the season to Nazareth.

After winning three of the first four bouts during last Wednesday’s East Penn Conference dual meet, the Trojans seemed on their way to victory.

The momentum shifted quickly to Whitehall when it won four consecutive bouts, giving the Zephyrs back a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. The Zephyrs (3-1 in EPC) won seven of the 13 contested bouts to secure the 32-28 victory at Parkland High School.

Parkland (2-3 in EPC) opened the match with a quick 9-0 lead after Luis Moya won by major decision at 107 pounds, and Braden Todora earned a technical fall at 114. Two matches later, Ricardo Rivera picked up a 6-3 decision over Josiah Wright to increase the Trojans’ lead to 12-5.

But that’s where Whitehall flipped the script, picking up wins at 133, 139, 145 and 152 pounds. Two of those victories were by way of fall, flipping a 12-5 Parkland lead to a 24-12 advantage for Whitehall.

Jorge Moya was able to stop the nosebleed at 160 pounds, picking up a 17-7 major decision win over Mason Hopkins to get Parkland within 24-16. And while Parkland was able to pick up pins from Max Pugach and Myles Lysek at 215 and 285 pounds, respectively, it was too much of hole to dig out of.

Parkland competed in the Mid-Winter Mayhem at Indian University of Pennsylvania this past weekend. The Trojans placed 13th as a team out of the 57 schools that competed, with two wrestlers placing fourth.

Luis Moya went 5-2 at the tournament at 107 pounds, with two of his wins coming via fall in the opening two rounds. Moya took down

Butler’s Ben Kinney’s in 1:49 in the opening round, followed that with a pin over Bradford’s Owen Jeter in 1:01 in the second round of the championship bracket.

Moya then picked up back-to-back wins by decision to advance to the semifinals before suffering his first loss of the tournament.

After rebounding in the consolation semifinals round with an 8-1 decision over Benton’s Korben Collae, Moya fell in a tight 4-3 match against Trinity’s Leonidas Murillo for third place.

Braden Todora went 6-2 at 114 pounds during the trip to Pittsburgh and won his first three matches. He opened with a 10-5 decision over North Allegheny’s Dalton Stragand, followed that up with a technical fall (19-4 in 1:23) over Greenville’s Matthew Bouch, and then secured a 13-3 major decision over Quakertown’s Cole Borzio.

After a loss in the quarterfinals, Todora got back on track with three consecutive decision wins to advance back to the championship round. He first outlasted Landon Krupka of Hollidaysburg with a 12-10 win, then took down Abington Heights Dakota Sandy with a 6-2 decision, and finally topped Trinity’s Camron Smith, 5-2, in the consolation semifinals round.

Todora’s run came to an end in the third-place match against Thomas Jefferson’s Zach Rehak via a 5-3 decision.

Results from Wednesday’s match against Freedom were not available at time of press. The Trojans will next travel to Pleasant Valley next Wednesday for another EPC showdown set for 7 p.m.