The mantra “Zephyr Tough” is ubiquitous in Whitehall sports culture.

But those words would ring hollow if the athletes that suit up in the Maroon and Gold did not demonstrate that quality.

During last weekend’s individual wrestling tournament, Johnny Colon exemplified what it means to be Zephyr Tough.

In the consolation round of 4, Colon came back from being down 5-0 in the first period to beat Kam Abboud of Liberty 14-11. Abboud had defeated Colon a couple of weeks earlier when they met during district duals.

In the consi semifinals, he was tied with PM East’s Keegan Demarest when he suffered a painful ankle injury. He tried to fight through it but was unable to continue and had to injury default, leaving his evening bout for 5th place and a chance at regionals in doubt.

Head coach Tim Cunningham described the aftermath.

“After that match we took him home to the trainers and our trainer, Morgan, did a phenomenal job. She went back to the school gave him all kinds of treatment. Without Morgan he never would have been able to wrestle for 5th place,” he said.

When the fifth-place match started, it looked like the injury would be too much to overcome. Second-seeded Dalton Monger built a 7-0 lead midway through the second period. Colon battled back to tie the bout at 8 and then hit a lateral drop for the fall in 4:04.

Colon touched on the emotions he felt.

“When I went down with my ankle, I thought, ‘Damn my season could be over.’ Then I was looking at the score down 7-0 in my last match,” he said. “Both those moments looked like I was out.”

Colon never contemplated defaulting the final bout. He said, “I knew that even if my ankle snapped, I was going to wrestle that match. It was going to be the last match of my career.”

Fellow senior Tyler Cunningham was also making his final bid to advance to the regional level after just missing out on the final spot in 2021 with a loss in sudden victory to Northampton’s Patrick Snoke, who took sixth place at states.

Cunningham beat top-seeded Marco Albanese of Emmaus 7-2 in the semifinals before falling in the final to Bethlehem Catholic’s Kollin Rath.

Cunningham expressed the feelings he had being called out for the Parade of Champions.

“It was pretty exciting,” he said, “especially for my first time as a senior. Finally getting to walk out felt great. I knew I could have done it years before, but I finally got to the place I wanted to be. I had no pressure going into that final. It was all fun for me.”

Joining Cunningham and Colon at regionals will be 189-pound junior Melquan Warren. Warren won three bouts in wrestlebacks to reach consolation final, including a tense 9-7 decision over Alex Neely of Parkland in the consolation semis. His only blemishes for the weekend were a pair of losses to James Syracuse of Pleasant Valley, one in the quarterfinals and one in the battle for third place.

The trio of Zephyrs will be in action this weekend in the PIAA AAA Northeast Regional Tournament at Liberty High School. The top four finishers in each weight class will advance to the state finals in Hershey next weekend. Tickets to regionals must be purchased through PIAA website, piaa.org.