It was a busy and successful week for the high school wrestling team, with the Falcons going undefeated through four matches hosted out of San Tan Foothills before going on to take part in a two-day tournament in Coolidge, with four local grapplers managing to earn places on the awards podium.

Local fans will want to make sure to drop by the high school gym this afternoon, as the Falcons will host their final home competition of the season beginning at 3 p.m.

Over the weekend, the Falcons will head to Payson to take part in yet another two-day tournament, running from Jan. 23-24.

San Tan

The Falcons began their week of competition Jan. 14 with a trip to San Tan Foothills. The local squad took part in four competitions throughout the afternoon, coming out victorious in all of them.

“We beat American Leadership Academy 54-18, Chandler Prep Academy 66-0, Maricopa High School 42-23 and San Tan Foothills 56-23,” explained head coach Luke Salzman.

“The boys really cranked it up and wrestled tough.”

Looking back over the stats, Salzman said that the Falcons managed to earn 18 pins across the four competitions while only giving up three.

Five Falcons also managed to go 4-0 throughout the day, too, including Tony Boulanger at 113, Nico Smout at 140, Josh Vaught at 152, Tyler Wedding at 160 and Parker Kauffman at heavyweight.

Coolidge

The Falcons spent much of the weekend in Coolidge, with Friday and Saturday being dedicated to the 19th Annual Coolidge Lions Club Invitational.

“Last year we placed second in the 16-team dual tournament, so we were very excited to get back and compete,” Salzman said.

“Illness to many wrestlers on Thursday night before we left curbed us from having a full line-up, and we had to make some quick adjustments, moving certain guys around.”

The Falcons managed a 4-3 standing during the team dual portion of the event, which was a two-day round robin event.

According to Salzman, the illnesses hurt the Falcons, but that didn’t stop the local boys from giving it their all.

“We were just shy of making the fifth place match, but we were giving up a lot of forfeits,” he added.

“I was impressed with how the kids stepped it up.”

Salzman added that the Falcons were minus three of their top grapplers throughout the tournament, but several athletes still managed to shine at the event and “win a lot of good matches.”

Daniel Butler, Nico Smout, Ka’inoa Reid, Robbie Hugo and Max Jordan all managed to go 6-1 in their weight classes to qualify for the individual tournament.

“After some great matches, Robbie Hugo made it the farthest, placing second,” Salzman said.

“Nico Smout grabbed third place, followed by Reid and Jordan taking fourth and Daniel Butler taking fifth in a tough weight class.”