For a small and rebuilding team, Salisbury wrestled a lot of good matches this season and got their first dual-meet win in many years. But the Falcons saved their very best wrestling for when it mattered most.

Salisbury headed into last weekend's district tournament just hoping to compete, maybe see half of its wrestlers win a match or two and move on to the second day of the meet.

The team far exceeded that goal. Eight of the 10 Falcons won at least one match and seven moved on to the second day of last weekend's District 11 Class AA Championships.

"I'm very pleased with how we wrestled," said Falcon head coach Eric Snyder. "To bring 10 guys here was a huge step for us in just improving the numbers. Getting seven into day two is probably a little more than I expected. I was going to be happy if we got five into the second day, so seven was great.

Junior Matt Heiserman led the way at 145 pounds. After losing his first match to No. 3 seed Mason Angstadt (Bethlehem Catholic), Heiserman won two straight consolation bouts. The No. 14 seed knocked off No. 3 seed Antonio Madera (Jim Thorpe) and came one win away from reaching the medal round when he lost his third-round consolation bout to No. 7 Anthony Farano of Lehighton.

"I wrestled hard, but I think I should have beaten that last kid," said Heiserman, showing new-found confidence. "I thought I had a pigtail match, but the kid never made weight. My goal was to beat him and see what happens, maybe make it to the second day."

Heiserman came into the tournanet with a 10-16 record. After beating Madera, he raised his expectations and started thinking about placing and advancing to regionals.

"It made me think I could place and possibly move on to the next stage of the season," said Heiserman. "That's probably the best win of my career."

While a couple Falcons won pigtail matches to start their tournament, Nico Scarcia was the only member of the team to win a first-round match in the main bracket.

Scarcia, a No. 9 seed at 132, beat No. 8 Alex Clark (Mahanoy), but dropped his next two bouts.

Falcons senior Trent Stump finished his wrestling career last Saturday. He entered as a No. 9 seed and lost his opening bout to Lehighton's Tyler Cann. He came back and pinned Adam Toth (Tamaqua) in a first-round consolation, but Stump got pinned by Northern Lehigh's Nate Farber in the next round. He ends the season with a team-best 19-10 record.

"I'm content with how I did," said Stump. "I could have done better but it just wasn't in the cards.

"It's kind of upsetting that I'm leaving these guys. I'd love to have one more year. They all have a great future. They all showed that Salisbury is coming up in wrestling. I'm proud of everyone that competed in districts. I'm just proud overall."

The Falcons return most of their line up, including several sophomores that got districts wins.

"I can't be any prouder of the way these guys wrestled this weekend," said Snyder. "It's huge for our program and its huge for these guys. They all should be proud of themselves."

Snyder expects next year's team to field a full line up for the first time since well before he arrived six years ago.

It's a long way for the team to come after barely filling half a line up for the 2012-13 season.

"I figured it out with one of my friends that graduated, Anthony Dee," said Heiserman. "More kids made it to the second day (of districts) this year than signed up for our team last year. It was a big step for us."