Young Nation Ford wrestling team approaches mat with optimism

A young Nation Ford wrestling team will take the mat this season with confident expectations.

The Falcons will have a mix of new talent with seven returning starters from last year’s team, along with seven new wrestlers.

“We got some new guys that can really help us out,” said head coach Dan Snell. “We are really scrappy up the middle.”

The Falcons will rely on the experience of returning wrestlers like Dylan Tindall, Joshua Paxtor and Jason Nunoo. Snell said his team will have to be scrappy and score points to make up for any missing links in the chain.

Snell said the program is going through a cycle and he’s optimistic about their youth and their middle school wrestlers as the teams continues to try to build a feeder program. Nation Ford is looking to make the playoffs and hopes to have about five wrestlers make the individual state tournament. But Snell knows one key.

“Consistency has always been a big thing,” Snell said.

Snell said his team is junior heavy this year and knows to make the playoffs, they need to pick up key wins against Clover and Northwestern.

“We have got to beat them,” he said. “And we want to compete with (state contenders) Rock Hill and Fort Mill.”

Nation Ford will open its season Dec. 3 at the Indian Land Invitational. The Falcons will spend a lot of time on the road as they only have two home duals scheduled against Northwestern Jan. 16 and against Ardrey Kell Jan. 18.

The Falcons will be competing in several tournaments throughout December and January, including the Silver Fox Invitational at Dutch Fork Dec. 8-9, Holy Angels at Bojangles Arena Dec. 28-29 and the Bearcat Classic Jan. 5-6.

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 6:10 PM with the headline "Young Nation Ford wrestling team approaches mat with optimism."