This year, Whitehall’s wrestling team has had a handful of blemishes in their season.

Heading into this week, the Zephyrs had lost two duals meets and had respectable finishes in tournaments. It has continued to develop into a season to remember for the Zephyrs.

One of their recent losses was to nationally ranked Bethlehem Catholic in which they dropped a 49-12 decision. The Zephyrs followed that with a seventh-place showing in Delaware’s War of the Shore.

Head coach Tim Cunningham took the Becahi defeat as a steppingstone.

“Wrestling teams like Beca can only make you better,” offered Cunningham. “We learn from matches like Becahi and use it as a measuring stick to see what we need to improve on in certain situations.

“I am extremely proud of the way our team wrestled and with the effort they gave against Becahi. We also learned from the War at the Shore tournament and match situations we need to improve on to win the close matches.”

Sophomore Wilmont Kai lost for the just the second time this season (24-2) when he suffered a major decision in the 106-pound championship bought at the War at the Shore. Senior Seth Pascoe (144) and sophomore James Hopkins (190) both recorded fourth-places finishes and junior Nolan Schmeckenbecher (132) was sixth at the Delaware -based tournament.

Kai kept his same approach into the Becahi match and the Delaware tournament. He registered a pin in 3:26.

“I went into the Beca match like it was any other match,” said Kai. “I didn’t want to go into the match thinking about how they are one of the top teams. I just wanted to think they were a regular team.

“During the (Beca) match, our heavyweight set the tone with a pin, and I had to follow up with pain myself. The War at the Shore gave me a good point of where I am right now. Losing in the finals to Max Tancini was an eye opener for where I am at in the rankings. I don’t like to focus on rankings, but facing those top kids in the state helps me.”

The Zephyrs have dual meets ahead with Parkland, Emmaus, Pocono Mountain East, and Stroudsburg before districts begin the week of Feb. 23-24.

“We still have four more dual meets and are focused on our final part of the dual meet season,” said Cunningham. “We just have to keep working hard.”