The Salisbury powerlifting team put together an impressive outing at the Pennsylvania Teenage State Championships on February 23 at Palmerton High School.

Eight of the nine participants placed in the top five of their respective weight classes in helping the Falcons to a first-place finish in the small school division. The small school division is broken down into teams from Class A and AA schools, while the large school division represents Class AAA and AAAA teams.

"Our biggest thing is that our kids are competing," head coach Andy Cerco said. "And that's something that we're trying to, specifically in this offseason, focus on is competition, being competitive and being in competitive environments."

Players are categorized into junior varsity and varsity divisions, and participants receive three lifts in each event (squat, bench press and deadlift) in calculating their total weight lifted. While the competition is broken down into two divisions, and by JV and varsity, everyone is competing to earn individual and team points.

"Even though we were first place in small school, we were competing against all of the schools there," Cerco said. "Our kids were going up against kids in AAAA schools in their weight class.

In the 165-pound JV weight division, Shane Wittman captured first place, the only first-place finisher for the Falcons, with a total weight of 1,055 pounds.

Four other Falcons came in second place on the day. Luis Marquez totaled 675 pounds in the 148-pound JV weight class. Brenden Diaz lifted 900 pounds at the 181-pound JV class. Nico Scarcia totaled 1,095 pounds at the 181-pound JV weight group, and Darian Correa lifted 1,035 pounds at the 181-pound varsity weight class. Diaz and Scarcia were five pounds shy of capturing first place.

"Next year, we'll have a lot more varsity guys," Cerco said. "I think everyone except Luis Marquez was a sophomore. So all of those kids will bump up to varsity next year."

Devin Irwin came in third in the 165-pound weight class with 925 total pounds. Kyle Hartzell lifted 890 pounds and captured third at varsity's 181-pound class. Adam Miller totaled 850 pounds and a fourth-place finish at JV's 165-pound class. Carlos Santiago also participated in the event and tallied 700 pounds.

"It's a big day for our kids," Cerco said. "Football is a sport where in the offseason you can't play football. The other sports that we offer at Salisbury-basketball, baseball and those types of sports, even track and field-there is competition in the nonvarsity season.

"With football, it's difficult to find competitive situations. So our kids are training in the offseason for that ultimate goal of getting better and winning games on Friday night."

While the competition keeps the Falcons in shape during football's offseason, there are many other facets that are beneficial to Cerco and his squad throughout the spring and summer months.

"There is a lot of camaraderie that is built for those athletes that go to powerlifting competitions," Cerco said. "They've experienced something together, they've worked towards a goal together, and now they've experienced something together on a different level that other kids haven't. It brings the team closer together."

The Falcons will compete in two more powerlifting competitions in the upcoming months. They'll travel to Abington Heights on March 23 for another competition.

A month later, the Falcons will participate in the Pennsylvania State Coaches Powerlifting Association (PSCPA) State Championships at Glen Mills on April 26. A number of other participants will be on the team during the next two meets as well with winter sports concluded.