In recent years, the main concern surrounding the Salisbury wrestling team has been the number of wrestlers coming out for the team each season.

Last season, the trend of an increased turnout of wrestlers from the previous year was again evident. However, the Falcons were mathematically eliminated prior to the nearly each meet's start due to their lack of wrestlers. As a result, the Falcons went 0-8 in the Colonial League.

But this year under head coach Eric Snyder, the Falcons have taken another step forward. They'll have 13 wrestlers to begin the 2014 season, the team's highest total since Snyder took over the program.

While some of the kids may overlap in weight classes, the Falcons won't be automatically counted out prior to matches.

"We probably won't have a full lineup because some of the kids are at the same weights, and it's difficult to get them all at different weights," Snyder said. "But most dual meets, we'll probably have 10 weights filled, which for us is pretty good.

"We're excited for this year. It's a little bit different for us. We're not going to be forfeiting seven or eight weights every match. We're still forfeiting four, but we're definitely moving in the right direction."

The Falcons will be without their leader from a season ago as Anthony Dee (a third-place finisher at 126 pounds in the District 11 Class AA championships) has graduated.

With Dee's absence, a number of key returnees from last season's team will have to step up to fill the void. Sophomore Zach Adams (11-18) at 108 pounds, junior Nico Scarcia (10-17) at 132, junior Matt Heiserman (10-17) at 138/145, and junior Wes Maron (1-15) at 160/170 are the only returning wrestlers that saw varsity time last year.

"We have kids with experience," Snyder said. "I only have four guys this year that wrestled high school matches for me last year. The guys are talented. They definitely have the ability to win matches. That's what we're looking forward to, and to build on the success that they had last year."

A number of other wrestlers, including senior Trent Stump (152/160 lbs.), junior Teddy Denver (170/182 lbs.) and sophomore Alex Nicholas (182/195 lbs.), all wrestled for the program in previous seasons, but were injured for the entire 2013 season. Their return should help a Falcon team that will have just one senior when the season begins.

Snyder has seen solid effort from his wrestlers throughout practice, particularly a number of wrestlers that missed time last year.

"This is only [Nicholas'] second year, but you would never know that it was his second year," Snyder said. "We definitely think that he has the ability to win a lot of matches for us this year, and especially in years to come.

"If he [Stump] can translate onto the mat how he wrestles in the room, he'll win a lot of matches too.

The Falcons will also suit up two underclassmen in freshman Shane Simononis (10-7) at 126 pounds and Christopher Trenge (8-10) at 160/170. Both had plenty of success at the junior high level last year. Four newcomers to the team (sophomore Antonio Alvarado at 126/132, sophomore Jaden Ziner at 145, sophomore Isaac Rivera at 160/170 and junior Athan Hatzis at 132) will also provide depth at a number of weight classes for the Falcons.

The team will open up its season at Jim Thorpe on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. The Falcons host Catasauqua on Wednesday, December 11, for their first league dual meet.