After a stellar sophomore season, Whitehall’s Kade Pascoe is setting high expectations for his junior season in the Whitehall wrestling program.

Last year, the 114-pound Pascoe posted an overall 29-15 record with 16 falls. He finished fifth in districts and fourth in regionals.

Along with his own development, Pascoe is optimistic his teammates will grow as well. Heading into this week, Pascoe was 8-0 with seven falls in the 121-ppound bracket.

“This season, I see myself on many podiums and see myself grinding through every match,” beamed Pascoe. ‘We are growing as a team even though we lost a lot of guys from last year.

“But I think we still have a pretty tough group of guys that want to get better and want to be on the podiums come postseason.”

Head coach Tim Cunningham also expects a strong campaign for Pascoe ahead.

“Kade had a very strong district tournament, and he upset the third-seeded wrestler in districts last year,” said Cunningham. “He had a good showing in regionals, and he is off to a good start this season.

“He is very determined and focused for a big year.”

Along with Pascoe, the Zephyrs are looking to key returnees senior Trokon (5-2) and junior Wilmont (8-0) Kai, junior James Hopkins (7-1), senior Nolan Schmeckenbecher (7-1), and sophomore Rocco DeLucia (7-1) to set the pace for the rest of the season.

Juniors Mason Nomie (6-2) and Tyrell Hoff (5-2) are also off to good start this winter.

The Zephyrs began the season with a 58-12 loss to East Penn Conference power Nazareth, but they bounced back to win all six matches at the Case Flynn Duals in Pottsville. They then routed East Stroudsburg North 58-12.

They will wrestle Bethlehem Catholic Wednesday and participate in the Beast of the East tournament in Delaware over the weekend.

Cunningham is looking to make a mark in the EPC and the postseason.

“We hope to be more competitive in the league,” said Cunningham. “We just want to get better every day. We put in the work during the offseason, and we’ll be building off it toward the postseason.”