As the trainers were cutting the tape off Xavier Arner’s hand following his 5th place 11-3 major decision win at last weekend’s PIAA AAA Super Regional wrestling tournament at Quakertown, they exposed a knuckle on his middle finger that had swollen to the size of a cherry tomato.

Arner has been dealing with the injury since the second round of districts.

“I did it to myself,” he said. “The kid took a shot on me and I spun back to grab his ankle and I landed right on it. It’s either dislocated really badly, or maybe it’s broken. I didn’t find out because I didn’t want to risk my season just because of a finger.”

Despite the obvious handicap of wrestling with an injured and taped finger, Arner finished as the runner-up at both the District XI and NE Regional tournaments, losing in the finals to Northampton’s Dagan Condomitti. Those performances made him the first Zephyr wrestler to advance past the regional since Matt Bonshak in 2012.

In his quarterfinal bout at the super regional, he dropped a 2-1 decision to North Penn’s William Morrow. The difference was a stalling call in the second period.

He rebounded with a solid 5-1 decision over Preston Machado of Delaware Valley to set up a blood round match with Condomitti for the coveted spot at Hershey for the state finals.

The lone score in the bout was an escape by Condomitti 14 seconds into the third period.

Arner assessed his season.

“The main goal was to place in states this year but I fell a little short. This is just motivation for next year,” he said. “Still have my senior year and hopefully I can make it to the finals.”

Coach Tim Cunningham praised Arner’s impact on Whitehall wrestling.

“It means a lot,” Cunningham said. “He’s been through our program since he’s a little kid. He’s stayed loyal. He’s stuck with the program. He works hard. He made a statement. He wanted to make sure we got the program moving in the right direction.”