WARDSVILLE -- The Blair Oaks boys wrestling team won’t be at full strength when it begin its season tonight at the Pleasant Hill Tournament.
The Falcons likely won’t be at full strength next weekend during the Missouri Duals at Helias either.
With seven wrestlers still playing with the Blair Oaks football team and a few more wrestlers suffering preseason injuries, the Falcons will be a little short-handed as they get their season underway.
“The guys that have been here and are healthy are working hard,” Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia said. “They’ve gotten a lot better since last year.”
Blair Oaks is playing Lamar for the Class 2 football state championship this afternoon in Columbia. Those seven players will join the team next week, but it will take some time to get ready to begin their wrestling seasons.
Since the football team has played into December three times in the past five seasons, this is nothing new to DeMilia. In fact, it’s one of the reasons the Falcons only have seven competition dates in December.
“We’re glad the football team is having success, and we hope that they finish it off,” DeMilia said. “But our goal is for the end of the season. We get rid of any expectations at the beginning of the season.
“But when we get to the middle of January and into February, hopefully this team will come together and be able to accomplish a lot of big things.”
Blair Oaks returns four 2022 state qualifiers this season -- including a pair of state medalists -- and four more wrestlers who competed in the district tournament.
“I’m really, really excited about the guys we have coming back,” DeMilia said.
One of the returning state medalists is senior Zach Rackers, who took sixth place at 152 pounds in Class 2 last season. Rackers has been busy recently on the wrestling mat, as he qualified for the Super 32 Challenge in October in North Carolina.
Last season was Rackers’ first full season after suffering multiple injuries as a freshman and sophomore.
“Last year, he had an unbelievable year,” DeMilia said. “I thought 152 was the toughest weight class in Class 2 last year, and he finished sixth behind five seniors.
“I look for him to be at the top of the podium.”
Junior Easton DeMilia also earned his first state medal last season with a fourth-place finish at 113. He is a two-time state qualifier.
“He’s only wrestled the two middle school seasons and then high school,” Mike DeMilia said. “He’s still inexperienced, but I think that’s what has made him good. He gets better and better.”
Blair Oaks’ other returning state qualifiers are junior Whit Nichols and sophomore Nolan Laughlin.
“Once they become a state qualifier, the light bulb goes on and the confidence raises,” DeMilia said. “Both of those guys took some lumps at times last year, but they both got better as the year went on and faced a lot of really tough competition.”
DeMilia said he expects strong seasons from juniors Brady Kerperin and Doug Blaha, both of whom are football players like Laughlin. Kerperin was a state qualifier in 2020.
“Doug Blaha and Brady Kerperin, they’re going to be really good,” DeMilia said. “… We feel both of those guys have a chance to be medalists this year if they put it all together.”
Other wrestlers who are still with the football team are junior Cole Peters and sophomores Nate Casey, Jackson Finke and Carson Rustemeyer.
“I love kids playing multiple sports,” DeMilia said. “You can wrestle all year long, you can play football all year long, you can have success and get better. But to me, those kids that play multiple sports, competitively, are so much better in a lot of ways.”
Junior Hayden Steadman will wrestle again at heavyweight for the Falcons.
“He did a lot of camps over the summer and he went to a lot of tournaments,” DeMilia said. “He has improved a ton.”
Also returning for the Falcons are seniors Dylan Peate and Quinten Denney, juniors Brooks Nichols and Bradyn Huhn and sophomore Carter Kempker. Freshmen Nolan DeMilia, Jacob Canaday and Kaiden Caudle could also work their way into the varsity lineup.
Blair Oaks’ first home duals will be Dec. 13 against Fatima, Knob Noster and Palmyra, one of four home competitions this season.
New to the schedule is the Tri-County Conference Tournament on Jan. 6 at Eldon. The individual tournament will determine the conference champion instead of head-to-head duals.
“I think it’s a good thing for the conference, where every school gets together in one spot and we all wrestle each other,” said DeMilia, whose Falcons are the reigning conference champions.
Blair Oaks is back in Class 2 District 3. The one change is Helias -- last year’s Class 2 state runner-up -- bumped up to Class 3 due to MSHSAA’s championship factor. New to the district is Pleasant Hill, last year’s Class 2 state champion.
“When you get stuck in one of the tough districts, you just have to make the best of it,” DeMilia said.