Following a regular season in which the Emmaus wrestling team lost just one match, the Hornets found themselves in unfamiliar territory on Saturday.

Whitehall, the No. 7 seed in the District 11 Class 3A team tournament, won seven of 13 bouts against second-seeded Emmaus to secure a 33-29 victory in the first round of this past weekend’s tournament at Freedom High School. It was the Hornets’ first loss since their 29-25 loss to unbeaten Nazareth, the top seed and eventual champion of the 3A Duals.

Emmaus held a 23-15 lead through seven matches in large part due to wins by pins from Emilio Albanese (127 pounds), Jackson Max (139) and Xyler Sallit (160).

Albanese wasted little time in securing his first-round pin over Josiah Wright. Two matches later, Max pinned Omar Omar in 3:27 for a 12-6 Hornet advantage.

After back-to-back losses at 145 and 152 pounds, respectively, Sallit pinned Rocco Fonzone in 4:49 to regain the lead for Emmaus. Xayden Sallit then picked up a technical fall over Jacob Figueroa, 19-3, to push that advantage to 23-15.

But Whitehall responded, closing out the match in convincing fashion by winning the next two bouts and four of the final six. James Hopkins pinned Logan Armstrong at 189 pounds in 4:37 to get Whitehall within 23-21. In the next bout, Aiden Hannis (215) picked up a major decision, 11-2, over Chase DeCesare to put Whitehall in front 25-23.

Logan Roth picked up a 4-0 decision at heavyweight over Yousef Khalfaoui to push the Hornets back in front, 26-25, but that lead was short-lived.

Semaj Weatherspoon won by technical fall over Andrew Gerken, 19-3, at 107 pounds to go back in front 30-26. Then, Dionte Wheeler put the Hornets out of reach with a 6-5 decision over Levi Max.

Teagan Caciolo closed out the match with a 3-2 ultimate tiebreaker decision over Kade Pascoe at 121 pounds.

Emmaus will return to the mat when it competes in the individual District 11 Class 3A Championships on February 20 and 21 at Liberty High School.