The Whitehall wrestling team ended their regular season on a strong note, edging Palmerton High School for their second consecutive win.

They defeated the Blue Bombers in a close match, 39-34, to nail down their sixth dual meet victory of the season. It comes on the heels of their win against Allentown Central Catholic in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Championship Day wrestling event and gives them some momentum heading into the postseason.

It’s been a long journey for this year’s squad who began the season battling Freedom High School which resulted in a 54-24 loss. Every step of the way became a learning experience and they’ve steadily made strides, culminating in these last two wins.

“It was nice to win our last two matches of the season,” said head coach Tim Cunningham. “The guys showed improvement throughout the season, but we need to make more improvements the next three weeks before districts.”

In their match against the Blue Bombers, every victory was crucial. They managed to win eight of the 14 bouts and needed a win at 152 to secure the victory. Cunningham said it came to the last bout of the evening and they got a yeoman’s effort from Luis Arzola who responded with a 9-2 victory over Jacob Kupillas.

They also got a lift from Tyler Oswald who returned after suffering an injury against Northampton on Dec. 17. The senior got a late fall over Palmerton’s John Iles at 195. He got the pin at 5:11, helping to set the stage for their eventual win.

Noah Rex continued his torrid streak at season’s end, notching a 4-1 decision over Chase Faulstick at 126. Rex has extended his consecutive win streak to six matches.

Josh Grol earned another decision for the Zephs. He defeated Devin Rivera 7-1 at 120.

The Zephs were helped by pins at 138 and 145. Nikita Davis decked Damien Fink in 3:41, while John Kaintz flattened Nate Sterner in 3:08.

Nikitas Davis has now won four out of his last five matches and has also been helped by some late rest as the Zephyrs head into the postseason.

Finally, Caleb Staub and Thomas Klotz each won by forfeit.

The Zephyrs have stayed positive in the face of adversity throughout the season and that outlook helped them prevail in their final match of the season.

With the win, they finished the season 6-13 overall and 1-8 in the EPC.

“The match against Palmerton was a very exciting match and it was total team effort,” said Cunningham. “Having Tyler back in the lineup definitely helped the last two matches.

“We also had to throw out Luis Arzola who wrestles JV for the last match of the night and whoever won that match won the overall team match. Luis wrestled well and came up with a big win for the team.”