Jarrod Blunt expected to be seeded high in the District 11 Class 2A Wrestling Championships.

The freshman had won 29 matches during the regular season and came into the varsity ranks as a two-time junior high medalist.

Without knowing who else would be in his 121-pound field, Blunt was surprised when the seeds came out last week and he was at the top of bracket.

“I was expecting three or four, not one,” he said. “I was very impressed with my seeding. That was a huge confidence builder, saying ‘you can go do something now.’

“I felt really good coming into this weekend. I had a lot of confidence going in. After that first win the confidence kept going from there.”

Blunt opened the tournament with a 38-second pin of Pine Grove’s Gage Cleary in the quarterfinal round. He then beat Northwestern’s Chase Sukanick for a second time this season, using a 13-3 major decision at districts to advance to the finals.

Saucon Valley’s Matthew Santoro handed Blunt his first district loss, 9-3 in the finals.

Blunt scored the first takedown and led the bout 3-0 after the first period. Santoro used three second-period takedowns to take a six-point lead into the third period. He held off Blunt for the final two minutes to earn the win.

The silver-medal finish was an impressive showing for the Falcon in his first district tournament.

“I’m absolutely proud of how Jarrod competed this weekend,” said Salisbury assistant coach Devon Alder. “For a freshman he did amazing. He’s at the top of his tier right now and he can only go higher.”

Blunt has already exceeded his goals for the season. He was hoping to notch 25 wins in his first year at the high school level. He heads to regionals at 31-10.

“Hoping to increase that during regionals,” he said. “My expectations were pretty high for myself knowing what I can do. And I think I exceeded them.”

The fine freshman season has changed Blunt’s hopes and expectations for the future of his varsity career.

“I always dreamed about wrestling in high school districts,” he said. “My dream was to place top four. Now exceeding that and placing top two I am very impressed with myself and hoping to do it again if not take first next year.”

His long-term goal will wait until after regionals and possibly the state championships in Hershey the following week. He needs top-five finish in the PIAA Southeast Regional, which will be held Friday and Saturday at Freedom High School, to advance to the state championships March 5-8 at Hershey’s Giant Center.

Blunt will have to beat some other very good wrestlers at regionals, but coming out of District 11, one of the strongest high school wrestling areas in the nation, Salisbury’s top grappler has an excellent chance of advancing if he sticks to his game plan.

“Just take one match at a time,” he said, “improve in my technique this week at practices. It will show me what to expect from good kids. It tells me what I need to work on and how I can beat those kids eventually.”

Blunt wasn’t the only Falcon to step on the podium last weekend at Liberty High School, where finals and place matches were held after most of the first two days of Class 2A were held at Freedom.

Nathaniel Tone also earned a medal and came one place from advancing as the top four district finisher in each weight class move on.

Tone used a 22-5 technical fall to down his first opponent, DeMarcus Shaw of Executive Academy. He beat Saucon Valley’s Braden Rohn 5-0 in quarterfinals before running into former Salisbury wrestler Colby Townley, who is now at Northwestern Lehigh.

Townley scored a 16-0 technical fall over Tone in their semifinal match, sending the Falcon into the consolation bracket, where he was pinning by North Schuylkill’s Nate Sterner to fall into the fifth-place match.

Despite his chances of advancing evaporating, Tone came out fighting in the fifth-place match and beat Rohn 8-4 for fifth place.

“I’m happy for him,” said Alder. “He gave everything he could out on the mat. He left it all out there. He’s never been this far before and I’m glad he pushed it this far this time.”

Salisbury sent just seven wrestlers to regionals and had just eight on the varsity team this season. This year the team’s cooperative agreement with Central Catholic was dropped, leaving a bit smaller team that the past few seasons.

Six of the seven Falcons who competed in districts won at least one match, while two reached the podium and one will advance to regionals.

The Falcons scored 47.5 team points and finished 15th out of 20 teams competing at the event.

“For the few guys we have I am absolutely proud,.” said Alder. “It’s not easy running a room with eight kids. You have to get as many people as you can to work with them. If not, it gets stale in the room. We might not have great team success, of course not because we only have eight kids, but they all impress me individually.”

Saucon Valley (242) won the team title at districts, followed by Northwestern (189.5), Palmerton (143.5), North Schuylkill (135.5) and Lehighton (131.5).

Here’s a look at results from Salisbury High School wrestlers who competed at districts.

114 - Jacob Spinner

Spinner major dec. Chase Nagle (Pine Grove), 17-6

Leonardo Gonzalez (Executive Education) pinned Spinner in 3:04

Spinner tech. fall Jayce Perez (Catasauqua), 19-1

Blayke Lacey (Pen Argyl) dec. Spinner, 6-5

121 - Jarrod Blunt

Blunt pinned Gage Cleary (Pine Grove) in :38

Blunt major dec. Chase Sukanick (Northwestern), 13-3

Championship match

Matthew Santoro (Saucon Valley) dec. Blunt, 9-3

145 - Nate Tone

Tone tech. fall DeMarcus Shaw (Executive Education), 22-5

Tone dec. Braden Rohn (Saucon Valley), 5-0

Colby Townley (Northwestern) tech. fall Tone, 16-0

Nate Sterner (North Schuylkill) pinned Tone in 3:39

Fifth-place match

Tone dec. Rohn, 8-4

152 - Jacob Tocci-Wachter

Tocci-Wachter tech. fall Parker Hatter (Tri Valley), 19-3

Jah Bushati (Mahanoy) pinned Tocci-Wachter in 3:52

Tocci-Wachter pinned Chase Zeigenfuss (Tamaqua) in 3:29

Angelo Ziccardi (Palisades) pinned Tocci-Wachter in 2:41

160 - Colton Tone

Colin Crisswell (Williams Valley) pinned Tone in :53

Tone dec. Ryan Bonham (Wilson), 8-5

Mason Rothrock pinned Tone in 2:20

172 - Jacob Watson

Bradley Whalen (Tamaqua) tech. fall Watson, 17-4

Watson pinned Carson Lengle (Pine Grove) in 4:02

Jaden Meyer (North Schuylkill) major dec. Watson, 22-8

285 - Sam Krauss

Jackson Huber (Northwestern) pinned Krauss in 1:22

Albert Dilone (Executive Education) by forfeit over Krauss