Facing off with some new faces

There’s a few good reasons that the area high school wrestling programs were in contention for trophies on the final day of the state wrestling tournaments in February at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

To be the best, you’ve got to face the best.

And for the second straight year, they got the chance to beat up on someone other than themselves.

IN CASE you missed it between your Memorial Day weekend plans, Post Falls High became a hub for high school wrestling for the second straight year as it hosted the America’s Cup duals tournament on Saturday and Sunday.

“It was a great success,” said Lakeland High coach Rob Edelblute, who coached a group of area wrestlers dubbed Team Metro. “IDAWAY (Idaho Amateur Wrestling Association for Youth) did a great job of organizing it and promoting it. The caliber of wrestlers that came this year was up.”

Each team wrestled eight duals. California, Michigan and Oregon were the lone states to travel for the event, and a team from Moscow also participated.

“Every kid was a stud and every match was a battle,” Edelblute said.

Unlike in 2016, when Post Falls fielded a full squad, with wrestlers from Coeur d’Alene, Lakeland and Sandpoint filling in some spots, other regional schools got involved. Idaho Black, an all-star team that had Post Falls wrestlers Ridge Lovett, TJ Wolf, Alius De La Rosa and then-Sandpoint standout Casey Randles, won the team title in the six-team tournament in 2016.

“Instead of sending our northern elite kids to the Team Idaho, we kept them on our own team,” Edelblute said. “Post Falls/Real Life Ministries hosted a team, and Coeur d’Alene/Lakeland fielded Team Metro.”

Edelblute’s team — comprised of wrestlers from Lewiston, Sandpoint, Potlatch, Lakeland, Timberlake and Coeur d’Alene — finished fourth out of nine teams.

“It was great working with coach (Jeff) Moffat and these other athletes,” Edelblute said. “The personalities each kid brought to the table was a great experience.”

IN THE final round, a group of California All-Stars beat Idaho Gold, a team comprised of wrestlers from the Boise area, 34-28 to win the championship.

“The response to this event has been very positive,” said Post Falls coach Pete Reardon, who coached the Post Falls ‘A’ team. “Visiting teams have really enjoyed coming to the area.”

Post Falls, which came up short of a three-peat as state 5A wrestling champion in February in Nampa, finished seventh over the weekend.

“Since this event features all-star teams from all over, it’s a great chance for our kids to see top-notch competition,” Reardon said. “Typically, we would have to travel somewhere else to see this quality of competition. So it’s nice to have it come to us.”

The tournament will be held over Memorial Day weekend in Reno in 2018.

“They’re trying to grow the number of states who attend and believe that more teams nationally will be willing to fly to Reno,” Reardon said. “Overall, hosting this event has been a great experience.”

And with the success of the area programs as far as the high school season went, it could turn out to another great winter on the wrestling mats.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.