Following two tough meets to open the Colonial League season, the Salisbury wrestling team took a break from league action over the weekend by competing in the Archbishop Wood Tournament.

A number of Falcons had solid days on the mat, including Zach Adams, who took first place at 126 pounds at the tournament. Shane Simononis (152) and Alex Nicholas (220) took third place, while Michael Murphy (106) and Isaac Rivera (170) finished fourth in Saturday's tournament.

"Zach Adams had a big win in the finals and took home first," head coach Eric Snyder said. "Alex Nicholas wrestled well in taking third. He lost on a tough call in the semifinals, and unfortunately the wrestler was unable to continue the match, causing Alex to lose. He battled back and pinned his kid for third."

Both Adams (3-1) and Nicholas (5-1) have been two of the top wrestlers all season long, each with just one loss thus far.

In the Falcons' most recent dual meet, a 54-21 defeat to Palisades, Nicholas beat Nicholas Bord by a 10-8 decision to continue his solid start to 2014. Adams, meanwhile, suffered his only loss of the season against the Pirates' Hunter Bartone by way of fall.

"Zach got caught against Palisades and was pinned when he was winning the match," Snyder said. "But he's had a good start to the season. Alex beat a quality kid against Palisades, and I think that will give him confidence going forward."

Northern Lehigh, the other league loss for Salisbury this season, is one of four Colonial League teams with unbeaten marks thus far. Palisades, along with the Bulldogs, figure to be two of the top conference squads this year.

When Salisbury was paired up with those two to open the season, the Falcons weren't given any favors.

"Northern Lehigh and Palisades are two of the better teams in the league, and we knew that going in," Snyder said. "We just wanted to improve during the week between the two matches. The coaches were pleased with the improvement between those matches. We wrestled real well against Palisades, and we are looking to build on that for the rest of the season."

There have been both ups and downs to the season so far, which isn't a complete surprise for a team that has one senior in Nico Scarcia. Injuries have also been a problem, and Scarcia is one of two Falcons who have missed time already early in the season.

If the Falcons can generate some consistency on the mat, however, Snyder believes the upcoming weeks will bode well for his squad.

"I just think as a whole we are wrestling well," Snyder said. "I wasn't necessarily happy overall with how we wrestled at the Archbishop Wood Tournament, but we had some good individual performances.

"We need consistency in how we wrestle each time we take the mat and improve with each competition. We have some winnable matches after the New Year if we can do that."

The Falcons travel to Northwestern on Tuesday for their next league dual meet at 6:30 p.m.