The Whitehall wrestling team hosted Cement Belt rival Northampton in their second dual meet of the season. Despite the visitors coming away with a 39-25 win, the Zephyr grapplers provided a number of exciting moments that entertained the fans regardless of the overall result.

The meet started at 106 pounds and Davyion Marshmon kicked things of with a first-period fall over the Kids’ Kody Ziegenfus in 1:55 to give the Zephs a 6-0 lead in the match.

At 113, Damond Pascoe was pinned in: 35 by Northampton’s two-time state medalist Carson Wagner.

Northampton’s Giacomo Tropeano took a 5-1 decision over Nolan Schmeckenbecher at 120.

At 126, Austin Noe pinned Whitehall’s Cory Wilson in: 39. 132 was forfeited to Northampton.

Aiden Micheli got a takedown with 1:17 left in the 138-pound bout and rode out Tyler Cunningham to win 6-4.

The Zephs Hudson Saylor got the home team back on the board by rallying from 5-4 down to take a 7-5 decision over Mason Basara at 145.

Xavier Arner used 7 takedowns to score a 15-5 major decision over the Kids’ Joey Confer at 152.

At 160, returning state medalist Dagan Condomitti pinned Whitehall’s Seth Pascoe in 1:43.

Northampton’s Rocky Cappolella won the 172-pound bout 5-0 over Chandeler Romain.

At 189, Melquan Warren took a 3-0 into the third period and pinned the Kids’ Landon Roland 14 seconds after the whistle blew.

Warren described the pin, “In practice we went over crucifixes, so we were right there in the crucifix, so I was like, ‘Let me try and run this.’ The first time I ran it, he wasn’t going. I readjusted and got into it. At first I didn’t think I was going to pin him, but then the hand hit the mat and I was surprised myself that I got the pin.”

The 215-pound bout elicited roars from both sides of the gymnasium as the Zephs’ Ryan Shepard took on Gavin Grell of Northampton. Grell was the aggressor early and got the K-Kids’ fans into the bout by emoting after an early takedown. Shepard responded in the second period by taking Grell to his back but was unable to secure the fall before the buzzer sounded. Grell got an early takedown and had Shepard in trouble, but Shepard reversed the K-Kid to his back and this time completed the pin.

Tuan Do scored first period takedown, but Northampton’s Joseph Doumat prevailed at heavyweight with a pin in 2:25.

Whitehall head coach Tim Cunningham commented on his team’s performance, “We’re raw. We’re getting there. We had pretty many guys out of the lineup and we’re trying to get healthy. We’ll get better as the year goes on. We love it (facing elite programs like Northampton). We love competition. We try to wrestle the best competition possible, that’s the only way you can gauge where you’re at and what you need to do before the end of the season.”