The Parkland High School boys wrestling team had a tough week last week, falling in both of its Eastern Pennsylvania Conference dual matches on back-to-back nights.

The Trojans lost to rival Emmaus 34-25 at home last Wednesday, Jan. 15 and then dropped a match 40-20 on the road at Whitehall on Thursday night.

It was a close, back-and-forth match with the Hornets as Parkland won six bouts, compared to Emmaus’ seven, including two pins, one major decision and three decisions.

The Hornets won the first two bouts before Jorge Moya got his team on the scoreboard with a pin in 1:33 at 172 pounds.

Following an Emmaus pin at 189 pounds, Christopher Toth and Max Pugach recorded a major decision and a pin at 215 and 285 pounds, respectively, to cut the deficit to just 17-16. The Trojans fell behind 28-16 after two consecutive wins by the Hornets.

Parkland’s Matthew Velez earned a 3-0 decision at 121 pounds. Jared Santilli and Leo Kern tallied back-to-back decisions at 133 and 139 pounds, respectively, to pull within 31-25, but Emmaus won the last bout at 145 pounds to take the match.

The Zephyrs won nine of the 13 bouts, four of which were pins. Whitehall began the match with an 8-2 decision at 127 pounds, but the Trojans answered and took the lead on a technical fall victory for Santilli at 133 pounds.

The Zephyrs then won three in a row to stake to a 15-5 advantage. Moya and Toth combined to help their team climb back to after a technical fall and pin, respectively. But two straight pins by Whitehall put the Zephyrs back into a comfortable lead. Braden Todora won the last bout for Parkland a major decision at 107 pounds.

Parkland, which is now 3-4 overall and 2-4 in the conference, has another busy week with two conference matches on back-to-back nights as they competed at Freedom on Wednesday and host Pleasant Valley on Thursday. The regular season finale at East Stroudsburg South is set for next Wednesday night.