During the District XI wrestling tournament, the starting weight for the finals bouts is set up so that the most appealing matchup occurs in the last contest of the night.

Saturday night saw a battle of two returning state champions and Division 1 college commits in the spotlight as Whitehall’s Willmont Kai (Nebraska) took on 3-time state champion Keanu Dillard (Lehigh) of Bethlehem Catholic for the 133-pound title.

The clash had plenty of tension, but not much scoring, as a third period escape by Dillard was sole scoring in the match as he won his fourth district title, 1-0.

Kai was in deep on a single leg with 41 seconds left in the match. The two wrestlers battled on the edge for over 20 seconds before Dillard was able to force a restart.

Head coach Tim Cunningham gave his thoughts on the bout, “He (Dillard)’s a three-time state champ. You can’t take that away from him. He was prepared. He wrestled a smart match. Hopefully, we get to see him the next two weeks at regionals and states. I can tell you this – Willmont will learn from it. And as a coaching staff, we’re going to learn from it and get him prepared a little better.”

Kai’s three wins during the tournament vaulted him into second place on the Zephyrs’ all-time career wins list. His 142 wins trail only Christian Franco’s 147.

Two more members of the Whitehall 100 wins club also punched their tickets to regionals this weekend.

James Hopkins, 116 wins and counting, took fourth place at 172 pounds. He had a wild 19-16 loss in the semifinals to top seed and eventual district champion Brock Frable of Southern Lehigh.

Hopkins led 12-3 midway through the second period, but Frable outscored him 16-1 over the next two minutes. “It was kind of like a panic situation. One or two things didn’t go his way and that kid (Frable) capitalized. He’s a smart tough wrestler,” explained Cunningham.

Hopkins dropped a 4-2 decision to Xayden Sallit of Emmaus in the third-place match. The senior will be looking to earn his first trip to states this weekend in a wide-open weight class at regionals.

Kade Pascoe is a two-time state qualifier already but was wrestling to extend his Whitehall career after dropping a 3-2 decision to Teagan Caciolo of Emmaus in the semifinals and a 9-4 decision to Cole Schwartz of NDGP in the consolation semis.

He took care of business in the fifth-place match, earning career win 105 with a 13-5 major decision over Tony Bothwell of PM West to claim the last berth at 121 pounds.

Mason Hopkins won three consolation matches at 152 to give the Zephyrs a quartet of competitors this weekend. He scored a takedown with 3 seconds left to knock off Aiden Bayard of Emmaus in consi round 3 before losing 11-10 to Jared Gonzalez of NDGP in the consolation semis. Another last second takedown for the freshman was good enough for a 4-1 win over Riyell Wann of Dieruff and fifth place.

Cunningham was named District XI AAA coach of the year. The Zephyrs finished eighth in the team standings. Notre Dame won the team title by 11.5 points over Nazareth.