Saturday’s District 11 AAA Individual Wrestling Tournament provided the stage for the Zephyrs to continue their postseason aspirations.

They were battling to be the best in their respective weight classes with a chance to advance to the Regional Tournament the following weekend.

Whitehall had a number of wrestlers who were looking to take that step, and they each had varying degrees of success.

Caleb Staub started the tournament with a win at 113. He earned a major decision against William Allen’s Justin Pezoldt, 14-6, that put him into the quarterfinals versus Liberty’s Luke Werner, the No. 1 seed. He lots by fall, sending him into the consolation round.

In the consolations, Staub earned another major decision with a 16-7 win over Pocono Mountain Wests’s Kaleb Hawkes. That put him into the next round where he lost to Easton’s Casin Corallo, 11-2, ending his tournament and season.

Noah Rex lost his opening bout 4-0 to Blue Mountain’s Josh Mason, putting him into the consolation bracket. From that point, Rex earned a fall over East Stroudsburg South’s Nasir Denson in 2:26. In his next match, he faced Parkland’s Zach Ortman and lost 4-0, ending his run in the 120 class.

At 138, Nikitas Davis lost by fall to Bangor’s Edward Hay in the Round of 16. Once in the consolation round, Nikitas Davis earned a major decision over Northampton’s Brett Wandler, 14-2. That put him into then next round against Parkland’s Lee Todora where he lost by fall, ending his tourney.

Dan Mittura opened his D-11 bracket against Blue Mountain’s Trevor Peters. He won that match by fall in 2:50. Next it was Easton’s Darius Joyce. Mittura battled all the way before losing the decision, 10-7. That put him in the consolations in the 160 match versus William Allen’s Josh Bennicoff. Mittura lost that match 5-2, ending his season.

After getting pinned in the opening round by Freedom’s Ryan DeLoach, Marwan Rajha earned a major decision over Alex Zimmerman of Blue Mountain at 170. He won that consolation bout 9-1. That put him in the Round of 8 where he lost by a fall, ending his tourney.

Tyler Oswald was pinned in his opening match at 170, but he then got a pin of his own in the consolation round. He recorded the fall over Pleasant Valley’s Colby Frey in 2:09. In the Round of 8 he lost by fall, ending this tournament.

Whitehall finished 18th overall with 26.5 points. Bethlehem Catholic won the team title with 227.5 points.

While they didn’t push anybody through to the next weekend, head coach Tim Cunningham believed his young squad acquitted themselves well.

“Overall, I feel our guys wrestled extremely well this weekend with most guys wrestling better than their seeds,” said Cunningham. “We always strive to peak in the post season which most of our guys achieved, but we absolutely need to get the guys to the next level which comes in the off season workouts.”

Having success in the postseason is predicated upon the work each wrestlers puts in during the offseason, said Cunningham.

“We need to get the wrestlers to buy into off season wrestling and lifting so we are the guys that can compete for individual district titles,” said Cunningham. “As a staff we believe we have a few wrestlers that can compete next season if they continue to work this off season and set goals to be place winners next season.

“We are never happy finishing the season early as we did this year but we believe we have a few wrestlers that can change this for next season.”

He also liked the improvement he saw from the wrestlers who were up against guys they faced earlier in the season.

“We had quite a few guys lose very close matches in the tournament to guys that pinned them earlier in the season so we did see a lot of improvement from the beginning of the season,” said Cunningham. “But as a staff it’s our responsibility to not only have them improve but we need to get them to compete for district titles and place winners and nothing less.”

For seniors Dan Mittura and Tyler Oswald, it was their last match for the maroon and gold. Cunningham said that both wrestlers gave it everything they had, both in practice and in matches.

“Dan lost to a finalist from Easton 10-7 in his second match and wrestled the best he has ever wrestled because there was not a day he came to practice without the goal of getting better, and he worked hard everyday in the room,” said Cunningham. “As a staff we could not ask for more from Dan because he gave us everything he had everyday.

“Caleb and Mike Ajami were one win away from placing top six and we had five other guys make it to the second day, including Marwan Rajha, Nicky Demjan, Noah Rex, Nikitas Davis and Tyler Oswald.”

Cunningham said that getting the kids to advance in the postseason requires attention from his whole staff, everyone working together for the same goal.

“Our job to have these guys contend for district titles and top five place finishers so they can extend the season a few more weeks,” said Cunningham. “We feel the wrestlers worked extremely hard this season and are proud of each and everyone of these young men for the hard work they put in during the season, and now it is time to start the off season workouts so a few of the guys can take it to the next level and place next season.”