Four Whitehall wrestlers advanced to this weekend’s PIAA AAA Northeast Regional tournament and will have an opportunity to join teammate Ruth Rivera at the Giant Center in Hershey for the state finals March 7-9.

At 107, Willmont Kai registered 3 pins and a technical fall on his way to a third-place finish. The lone blemish on his tournament was a semifinal loss to Emmaus’ Emilio Albanese, 7-5 in sudden victory after leading 3-0 heading into the third period.

“I feel like I can’t get to my offense as much against Albanese. There’s this barrier I have to break through. I feel like if I can get to my offense a little more, it will be a different story going into regionals and states,” explained the sophomore.

James Hopkins also reached the consolation final in his weight class, 189. A pair of major decisions in the opening round and quarterfinals set him up against Easton’s Shae Linegar in the semis. Trailing 4-2 going into the third period, he got turned and pinned to drop into consolations.

Hopkins rebounded with a 7-2 decision against Evan Gillespie of Pleasant Valley but was pinned by Bethlehem Catholic’s James DeLuise in the consolation final.

Kade Pascoe upset third-seeded Jasiah Pagan of Liberty 6-4 in sudden victory to advance to semifinals but found himself wrestling the Hurricane again in the fifth-place match Saturday afternoon with his season on the line.

Trailing 4-1 going into the third period, Pascoe scored a reversal from the defensive position then converted a takedown and 36 second rideout to send the match to sudden victory tied at 5. He wasted no time after the whistle, scoring the decisive points 10 seconds into overtime.

Pascoe said he needed a boost of confidence going into the match, “After I lost to Remy (Trach) in my consi semis, I told my coach, ‘My mindset’s not there.’ I’m not sure exactly what he did, but he got me thinking straight and I was able to place and save my season.”

The final member of the quartet of Zephyrs is Trokon Kai. Like Pascoe, Kai had a win or go home match for fifth place. Kai took a 4-2 lead into the third period of his match with Mason Thomas of Bethlehem Catholic and pinned the Golden Hawk at the 4:02 mark.

“It was a lot of pressure because I knew going into that match that if I lost I would be out for the season. But I had people in my corner like my brother and my coach and my teammates and I knew I had to make regionals. The only thing that was on my mind was advancing,” explained Kai.

For the second consecutive year, head coach Tim Cunningham was voted the District XI 3A coach of the year by his fellow coaches. The Zephyrs also won the 3A sportsmanship award.

Regionals start Friday evening at Liberty High School with the preliminaries, quarterfinals, and first consolation round. The semifinals are at 11 a.m. on Saturday with the finals and placement matches at 4 p.m. The top four places advance to Hershey.