Christmas break is over, and three Falcon High School varsity teams are back in action.On Jan. 4, in the first contest of the New Year, the boys’ basketball team, ranked seventh in the Pikes Peak League; took on the 10th ranked Mesa Ridge Grizzlies in Widefield. The Falcons were overpowered by Mesa Ridge. Senior Jamal Dickerson of the Grizzlies led his team with 22 points. Gabriel Jackson was Falcon’s leading scorer with 11 points, while Adam Link contributed 10 points. The final was Mesa Ridge 68, Falcon 49.On Jan. 5, the Lady Falcons met the Mesa Ridge girls’ varsity team at Falcon where they outscored Mesa Ridge 64-57 in overtime. For her efforts in scoring 24 points in this game, Amber Wilmore was named one of the Gazette’s “Players of the Week.”The Falcon varsity wrestling team traveled to the Raider Classic Tournament at Rangeview High School in Aurora on Jan. 5. Seven of the Falcon wrestlers made it to the championship round. Jon McArthur at 112 pounds, Lucas Musseau at 189 pounds and Brenden Condon in the 215-pound match brought home medals. In the third and fourth place matches, Falcon winners were Marcus Trujillo at 130 pounds, Mike Dees at 160 pounds and Jesse Brown at 171 pounds. The Falcons edged the Mountain Range team 180-171.5 to capture first place in the tournament. Sean Condon, a parent attending the match, said, “That’s really good since we were competing against some of the big Denver schools. Some of the athletes who helped the Falcons’ football team win state honors also contributed to this win.”A major change for the Falcon athletic program is the promotion of varsity wrestling coach Andy Franko to the athletic director position. Franko, a Minnesota native, has been at Falcon High School for six years. He will continue to coach wrestling for the rest of the current season. Franko is enthusiastic about the prospects for the program. “The facilities at the new school, including a new state-of-the-art weight room will bring more advances in our program,” he said. . “The wrestling team will be short-handed next year since over half its starting line-up is seniors; we’re hoping for continued success.”Our next challenge is our match against Widefield High School who has won the Metro League Championship six of the past seven years.”
