“Junior Brandon Hern locks up Jackson’s Lohuis Tuesday night before Lohuis withdrew from the match due to an injury.Jim Larsen / staff photoFalcon wrestlingNovember 30S. Whidbey 36, Meadowdale 36103 – Perrin (M) pinned Schorr 2:35; 112 – White (SW) tech. fall Seeley 19-4; 119 – Washington (M) pinned Thomas 1:51; 125 – D. Primacio (M) dec. Hymas 6-3; 135 – Alunni (M) pinned Rumberger 2:35; 140 – M. Primacio (M) dec. Foote 5-3; 145 – Blomgren (M) pinned Noste 5:21; 152 – Wills (SW) dec. Bruaw 12-1; 171 – Hern (SW) pinned Vidmore 1:43; 189 – McCabe (SW) pinned Hollingsworth 3:13; 275 – Hezel (SW) dec Knutsen 16-12December 5 Jackson 34, S. Whidbey 30112 – Birkenbuhl (J) dec. Thomas 14-3; 119 – Wood (J) pinned Johnson 5:01; 125 – Sparks (J) pinned Flister 3:19; 130 – Hymas (SW) pinned Eaton 1:44; 140 – Ediger (J) pinned Foote 1:51; 145 – Loya (J) dec. Noste 5-3; 152 – Wills (SW) dec. Rodriguez 8-5; 160 – Martin (SW) dec. Kummerfeldt 8-4; 171 – Hern (SW) by injury default over Lohuis; 189 – McCabe (SW) pinned Lindseth :47; 215 – Admiral (SW) pinned Hoaveher 3:14Like a football coach who has seen his team nearly pull off a second-half comeback two weeks in a row, South Whidbey wrestling coach Mike Crebbin discovered this week that his high school wrestling team needs to turn up the intensity in just a few weight classes to be a winning team.In their opening road and home matches during the past week, the Falcons tied a Meadowdale team a week ago and lost to Jackson Tuesday when the team’s lightweight wrestlers had tougher matches than they expected. The early going against Meadowdale last week was indeed rough going. Both rookie and experienced Falcon wrestlers ran into stiff competition through the 145-pound weight class. Phil Schorr, Josh Thomas, Sean Rumberger, and Sean Noste all wound up on the wrong end of a pin in their matches, while 2000 state competitor Bruce Hymas lost a 6-3 decision after losing 5 quick points on an early takedown in his 125-pound match. Conley White was the only lightweight Falcon to pull out a win, beating his Meadowdale opponent on a technical fall in a lopsided 19-4 matchup.But when the Falcons hit 152 pounds, the team’s wrestlers took control. Sophomore Andy Wills was relentless in a 12-1 win at 152, as was 171-pounder Brandon Hern, who pinned his opponent in less than two minutes. Rookie grappler Aaron McCabe proved that he could be one of the team’s best this year, scoring a pin in his first-ever high school match. The 189 pounder is a senior.Heavyweight Chris Hezel was also a winner, but in a much closer contest. He battled to a 16-12 win over Meadowdale’s Knutsen after jumping out to a 6-point lead in the first period. The win assured the Falcons of their 36-36 tie with Meadowdale.On Saturday, the Falcons traveled to Ferndale for a takedown jamboree that coach Crebbin said was little more than a glorified practice. His team placed fifth out of 18 teams and beat teams from both Mount Vernon and 4A Sehome.It’s a good thing to start the year off with, Crebbin said.The Falcons bucked back down Tuesday in their first home meet of the season. Facing 3A Jackson, South Whidbey again struggled in the lower weight classes. Bruce Hymas was the only smaller wrestler to score a match win. He moved up to 130 pounds for the meet and made quick work of Jackson’s Eaton, pinning him in 1:44.Two more lightweight Falcons did come close to winning their matches. Sean Rumberger stayed close in an 8-5 loss to 140-pounder Mike Yonkers, but did not have enough moves to make up the difference. Sophomore Kelly Foote was more than close late in his 140-pound match. He held a lead over Jackson’s Ediger in the closing seconds of the third period when Ediger flipped Foote and pinned him.It was Andy Wills who restarted the Falcon wrestling machine. The 152-pounder slammed Jackson’s Andy Rodriguez in a wild scrap that had more than its fair share of falls and reverses. Tied 3-3 at the end of 2 periods, the match went from exciting to bedlam early in the third when Rodriguez made the mistake of turning his back on Wills. Ten feet from Rodriguez at the time, Wills charged with the speed of a track sprinter and literally tackled Rodriguez, taking the two wrestlers out of bounds. Coach Crebbin said he had to get his team under control when they started cheering the aggressive move.After the near takedown, Rodriguez was never again in the match and lost to Wills 8-5.Andy’s conditioning took over, Crebbin said. He thrashed him.At 160 pounds, Chris Martin won 8-4 in what Crebbin called a good, solid match. Junior Brandon Hern won his second bout of the year at 171 pounds, chalking up an injury default victory over Jackson’s Lohuis. Aaron McCabe was even faster in his second career outing, pinning 189-pounder Dave Lindseth in just 47 seconds. Justin Admiral closed out the Falcons’ meet at 215 pounds, pinning his opponent at 3:14.Crebbin said the Falcons might have won the meet, except that heavyweight Chris Hezel had to be out of town. That forced the Falcons — who were ahead 30-28 after Admiral’s bout — to forfeit.The Falcons wrestled Thursday night and travel today to the Chief Sealth tournament. Those matches will be reported in Wednesday’s paper. “