Eighteen years.

A literal lifetime for a high school student. That is how long it had been since Whitehall beat Parkland in a wrestling dual meet. That streak came to end in dramatic fashion last Wednesday as the Zephyrs beat the Trojans 29-26 when Trokon Kai won the final bout of the night to snap the 26-all tie.

The moment was not lost on Kai. He described the moment, “It was like winning a state title for me. We haven’t beat them in so long and for me to be the winning match it felt good. It felt great.

“I felt a lot of pressure. But my coach tells us in the room overtime, double overtime, triple overtime whatever, stay in good position, try to keep the pace up and when I went out there I knew I was prepared. I was ready for it.”

The bout itself was tight. Kai scored a pair of early takedowns but gave one up later in the first period and led 5-4 after one. Another takedown in the second period sent the match to the third at 7-5. Kai stayed aggressive while fighting off his opponent’s attacks and ultimately prevailed 12-7.

“That’s why we love duals,” said Zephyr head coach Tim Cunningham. “A lot of wrestling is going toward tournaments. Dual meets make the sport. This is what it’s all about.”

While Kai’s final bout was the climax of the evening, there were contributions up and down the Whitehall lineup that led to the team victory.

Seth Pascoe got the night off to a perfect start with a second period pin against Liam Spang in 3:00 in the 145-pound bout.

At 160, Preston Saylor ground out a tough 6-4 decision against Christopher Toth.

Strategically, Cunningham opted to insert Elijah Brito into the lineup at 172 and Brito delivered a 7-3 decision over Xander DeSelm.

With Brito at 172, Jack Kocher and James Hopkins bumped a weight class each. Kocher held Jorge Moya to a 9-4 decision. Hopkins attacked Gavin Edwards’ right leg like a pit bull going after a steak and he rang up enough takedowns to secure a 22-6 tech fall in 5:56.

At heavyweight, Ryan Tran limited Parkland’s best wrestler, Michael Gavrilesku, to a major decision.

Back around at 107, Willmont Kai was up 16-4, but earned the Zephyrs the full 6 team points when he pinned Luis Moya in 5:41.

Parkland bumped up their heralded lightweight Matthew Velez to 114 to avoid Kai, but Kade Pascoe came within a whisker of pinning Velez in the first and scored an 8-2 decision against one of the Trojans’ best.

With a 15-2 dual meet record as of Tuesday before Wednesday’s Emmaus dual meet, Whitehall is making a strong case to be included in the eight-team field when district duals take place on February 3. They have two more matches against quality opposition to close out the regular season. On Saturday, they travel to Pocono Mountain East. The Cardinals are 12-4 with wins over Emmaus and Parkland.

Then on Wednesday at home for Senior Night, the Zephyrs face off against Stroudsburg. The Mountaineers are 12-3 and are also in the mix for a district bid.