WARDSVILLE, Mo. - The season might get off to a slow start for the Blair Oaks wrestling team, but the Falcons aren't worried about being good in December. It's February that's got their full attention.
"We put expectations on them, and that's part of it," Blair Oaks head coach Tim Karsten said. "They know it, but that's Blair Oaks. Everybody in the community expects you to win, whether you're playing football, basketball, jacks, whatever.
"We have a tough enough schedule that the guys will step up. Last year, they had their hard knocks to take, now they're ready to give a few of those out."
To that end, the entirety of the schedule will be about getting the Falcons ready for the district and state tournaments.
"I've been here for 15 years and from the start we said you don't celebrate getting to state. You celebrate doing something there," Karsten said. "We've had 69 state qualifiers and only eight of those guys have not won a match at state. And those guys redeemed themselves the next year.
"They know (state is) their time to step up and it's not a fun trip up there. It's a business trip."
A rugged regular-season schedule should prepare the Falcons for a rugged district.
"We're looking forward to districts, even though it's a long way down (to Seneca)," Karsten said. "We're used to going to Seneca (for their tournament). Some of these other teams will be like, "Why the heck do we have to go there?' But we have a routine down there and we're looking forward to it.
"It's probably the toughest district in the state with Versailles and Seneca and Warsaw and Knob Noster and Centralia. They're tough, tough teams. The fourth-place guy could end up doing well at state. I expect it to be a tough district and we'll be in the mix."
The Falcons have a good mix of experience and youth this season.
"We've got four returning state qualifiers, including two medalists, so that's nothing to complain about," Karsten said. "We had a lot of sophomores last year that were on the verge of going, and this their year to step up and get there and do some damage at state."
Leading the charge for those returning state qualifiers is Frankie Falotico, a three-time state medalist. He was fifth at 120 pounds in 2013, second at 126 in 2014 and second at 132 last season. The senior is weighing his options of wrestling at 138 or 145 this time around.
"If Frankie decides he wants to be at 38, he's going to be at 38 and one of those other guys are going to have to move," Karsten said with a laugh. "We're looking for Frankie to be in the finals and get his state championship this year. So we'll look at 138 and 145 and decide where is his best shot at winning it."
Falotico is one of two Falcons to appear in the preseason rankings of MissouriWrestling.com, as he is No. 2 at 132. The other Falcon to be ranked is Chance Cumpton, who is No. 1 at 285.
"He did a great job last year and he had to gain weight to get up to 285," Karsten said of Cumpton, who finished sixth at last year's state meet. "He won't have to eat and also drink three Gatorades before he goes to weigh-ins this year. He's over 200 pounds and we're happy he's that. He's not a big heavyweight, but he is a strong one."
The other returning state qualifiers are London Gaydos at 126, who was sixth at 120 in 2014 and fell one match short of medaling again last season, and Tanner Lueckenhoff at 220.
Lueckenhoff and Cumpton are part of a solid group in the upper weights that includes Levi Dial and Riley Boeckman at 182 and Scott Farley and Logan Moore at 195.
"At 182, 195 and 220 we've got guys with experience and good backups," Karsten said. "It's sad to say we're going to have a couple good wrestlers sitting the bench come district time. But we will wrestle them all throughout the year and see how it goes."
Part of the reason the season might start slowly is the Falcons may be without some wrestlers until they can get down to the weight classes they will occupy.
"We'll be ready to go in a couple weeks - we'll have a full lineup and then we'll start improving," Karsten said. "I like the look of the team."
The projected wrestlers at each weight includes Jayce Griggs at 106, Zach Wieberg at 113 and Joey Conway at 120.
Then comes two brothers, Bo and Ben Thomas, who could be at 132, 138 or 145 depending on where Falotico lands.
"I've had brothers wrestling before, but not quite this close (in weight)," Karsten said. "With Bo and Ben, it's like watching twins wrestle."
The rest of the squad includes Clayton Roling at 152, Sam Dudenhoeffer at 160 and Paul Karsten at 170.
After kicking off the season today at the Knob Noster Tournament, the Falcons will then wrestle Thursday at Hallsville against the host school and Versailles.
"Hopefully for the Hallsville/Versailles match we can patch together a whole lineup," Tim Karsten said. "We won't be down to exactly where we want to be, business weight, but we'll have every weight class filled, and that's important.
" ... We've only got two guys who have never wrestled a varsity match for us, and those two are looking pretty sharp right now. So we may be a little slow out of the gate, but we will gradually improve and be ready at state."
But for fans of the Falcons to track that improvement, they'll have to hit the road to see it. Blair Oaks has just two home dates this season - a tri-dual with Warsaw and Marceline on Dec. 21 and a dual match with Priory on Jan. 6.
"We're going to have a good season next year for home matches," Karsten said with a laugh, adding all the road trips could have a benefit. "... The kids actually enjoy riding on the bus. I've had enough bus rides in my lifetime, but a lot of team bonding does happen there."