Head coach of the Fountain Hills High School wrestling team, Luke Salzman, knew the 2018-19 season was going to be a rebuilding year for his team. Salzman said he hopes to keep that rebuilding process going during the offseason.

The Falcons finished their regular season of dual meets with a 10-19 record and, while that record didn’t rank FHHS too high for their division, grappler Leyton Kauffman capped off a terrific personal season with a state championship.

The Fountain Hills squad had one of the smallest rosters in recent school history with a total of 12 wrestlers. Except for Kauffman, the lone senior on the team, the rest of the roster was made up of freshmen and sophomores and many of these younger wrestlers were new to the sport.

“They were very green starting out,” Salzman said. “We stressed the basics and worked on strength and coordination. We saw a lot of small victories throughout the season and the guys gaining confidence from that.”

Part of getting new team members ready and acclimated to the wrestling world was getting across the need to commit and work hard to be successful.

“Our goal as a coaching staff was to get the boys to buy into the process and understand that this sport takes a lot of time and hard work to be successful at,” Salzman added. “The kids knew that losing matches was a learning process.”

When things did start to click for the young wrestlers, though, it made for some of the best moments of the season.

“The big highlights are when you see a new wrestler win for the first time,” Salzman said. “This sport is great for that. It’s only you out there, so when you win, you know you put in all the work to get there.”

While Salzman focused a lot of his attention on the new wrestlers, he knew he could always count on his one senior to be a leader for the younger guys when they needed it.

“Leyton has always been very driven,” Salzman said. “He is the guy in the weight room by himself at night and on the weekends. As a coach, I never had to worry about him making weight or being late for the bus. This year he really stepped up his role as a team leader, helping the young guys as well as staying focused on what he needed to do to win state.”

Kauffman won the state championship for the 182 weight class after winning by a fall in the third round when he was down 4-0.

Looking toward next season Salzman said he wants to grow the wrestling team.

“I want to get a bunch of incoming freshmen to join and love the sport, as well as build with our 11 returning freshmen and sophomores,” Salzman said. “Our goal is to build the team in numbers. We need more kids interested in wrestling. So we are putting on a six-week youth wrestling program for any boy or girl in the district. It starts Tuesday, March 19.”