The high school wrestling squad had a standout day at last week’s sectional tournament, going on to qualify seven wrestlers for this week’s state event including section champion Josh Vaught.

The section tournament was hosted out of Mogollon High School Feb. 7, with 11 teams competing to send grapplers on to the final showdown.

State will be hosted out of Tim’s Toyota Center in Prescott Valley this Thursday and Friday, Feb. 12-13.

Matches will be hosted throughout the day on Friday with wrestlers making it to the deeper end of the brackets returning to finish things up on Saturday.

Before that, though, the Falcons had to first qualify its athletes for the big event in what head coach Luke Salzman called a successful section tournament.

“Of the 11 teams competing, the top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to [this] week’s tournament in Prescott Valley,” Salzman explained.

“We had seven of our boys place in the top four.”

That’s a good-sized flock of Falcons heading on to the state event, comprised of grapplers who have already put together impressive seasons.

Placing fourth for the Falcons in the 182-pound weight class was Chris Hernandez. Robbie Hugo also placed fourth, holding down the position in the 160-pound division.

Two Falcons managed to take third in the section event, including Wesley Smout at 113 and Tony Boulanger at 106.

A pair of Falcons also made it to the finals for their divisions, both taking second place overall. Those honors went to Max Jordan at 170 and Parker Kauffman at the heavyweight division.

Finally, the Falcons managed to produce one section champion in senior captain Josh Vaught. Vaught, wrestling at 152, managed to pin Globe’s Tanner Barrick in just 3:49.

“Josh wrestled very well and got the job done,” Salzman added.

“Vaught pinned all three of his opponents and improves his season record to 27-5.”

All seven of these boys will head to the state tournament this weekend. “The team worked very hard the past couple weeks, building up their endurance and sharpening techniques,” Salzman added.

“It showed by how well they wrestled Saturday.”