Although the Emmaus wrestling team has started off the year slow, with a 3-4 record, the Hornets last two dual meets each of the past two weekends have shown just what they can do in 2015.

Coming off a team championship two weeks ago at the Trojans Wars dual meet at Chambersburg High School, Emmaus wrestled in the Zephyr Duals at Whitehall High School, along with 14 other teams last Saturday.

The Green Hornets won their first three matches before falling in the final to take runner-up, and place in their second straight dual in as many weeks. A year ago, Emmaus just missed the Zephyr Duals final.

"It's bittersweet," said head coach Jeff Arbushites of finishing second. "We had a pretty good day with a lot of exciting matches. I kind of wish this one would have worked the other way but we didn't have all our horses in the gate."

The Green Hornets started strong, going 3-0 with wins over Mahanoy Area (71-12) and a pair of Colonial League teams - Northwestern (43-18) and Northern Lehigh (42-24).

In the championship bout, however, Emmaus fell just short, while also being without key starters in sophomore Jared Skibinski (152) and senior Austin Flaugh (170), who were both held out with injuries.

Gabriel Schray opened up the match with a 2-1 decision over Darren Schum in the 106 pound weight class, but the Green Hornets lost the next two, and found themselves down 9-3.

With two straight pins by Daniel Oberle (182) and Thomas Alcaro (195), Emmaus went back up 33-29. But the Rams got a pair of pins in the last two bouts by Dylan and Dawson Otis at 220 and 285 pounds respectively.

"I thought this was a tournament we needed to win," said Arbushites. "With the way our schedule falls, this was one we needed to win, but we fell a little bit short of it. Some things were out of our control. All in all, we wrestled well against some good teams."

There were some positives to take away from the tournament along with the second-place finish.

Juniors Lucas Schaf (132) and Oberle, sophomore Justis Walton (126), and the senior Alcaro all went undefeated on the day with 4-0 records. Not far behind, the freshman Schray (106) and two sophomores Tyler Corpora (120) and Jake Alcaro (138) each finished 3-1.

Tom Alcaro also recorded his 100th career win in the matchup against Mahanoy earlier on Saturday.

Emmaus next will return to East Penn Conference action with a match at Stroudsburg on Wednesday night.