The 2016 wrestling season got underway last week with the Falcons placing 10th overall at the 44th Annual Jerry Benson Invitational hosted out of Buckeye Union High School.

Head coach Luke Salzman mentioned in the preseason that the Falcon wrestling roster was a bit shorter than normal this season, but that didn’t stop the Fountain Hills team from putting up some big performances after working out the kinks.

“We started out a little rusty,” Salzman said. “This was our first competition of the season and is expected.

“After the first round, the boys looked a lot better and found a way to get the job done.”

The Jerry Benson Invitational was host to 27 schools overall, with the Falcons joining the pack for two days of competition from Dec. 2-3. For comparison’s sake, the Fountain Hills squad hails from the smallest school at the event and still managed to place 10th overall, speaking to the team’s depth this season.

Leyton Kauffman and Trevor Wedding both placed sixth in the 145 and 195 weight class respectively, having a solid first tournament of the season, according to Salzman.

Daniel Butler and Kainoa Reid also had fantastic showings at this two-day event, placing third in their respective eight classes of 152 and 170.

“Butler lost a close first match to Millennium’s Donald Daly 8-6, but then wrestled back the second day of the tournament all the way to the third place match,” Salzman added. “He met Daly again and beat him with a double leg takedown in the last seconds of the match.”

As for Reid, he beat Perry High School’s Travis Calloway in a back-and-forth match to come out on top, 7-6, for the big win.

And speaking of big wins, Parker Kauffman earned first place in the heavyweight division, accomplishing this feat for the second year in a row after besting Buckeye’s Patrick Quiver by fall in five minutes.

“Kaufman starts his season at 4-0 with four pins and a gold medal in the first tournament,” Salzman said.

Overall, with several wrestlers placing in the top six for their division, Salzman said the Falcons are off to a solid start.

“We had a good tournament and now we can work to refine and improve on a lot of their technique,” Salzman added. “We head to Perry High School Friday to wrestle nine very good schools in a team dual tournament.”

That Perry tournament is set to span from Dec. 9-10. The final wrestling meet of 2016 will be next Wednesday, Dec. 14, hosted out of the Fountain Hills High School gymnasium. The local guys will only host two meets total this season, so local fans won’t want to pass up this opportunity to take in some wrestling on the home mats.