The special season didn’t end with the state 5A wrestling tournament for the Post Falls High program in Pocatello.

Not by a long shot.

In fact, they saved a little more for Memorial Day weekend, with a handful of Trojan wrestlers finishing the weekend unbeaten in the America’s Cup duals tournament at The Arena.

THE TOURNAMENT was the first in what organizers hope will be a three-year commitment to having the event in the area after it was held the first six years in Clovis, Calif.

“It’s weird,” Post Falls High sophomore Matt McLeod said. “I really didn’t expect it this year, because Post Falls is a small area and the tournament is usually held in California. It’s usually a big thing, but it’s also my first time being at this event. I think it’s cool and like the fact it’s here. It’s a lot easier to get here and it doesn’t cost as much money to get here.”

For the Idaho Black team of all-stars from around the state, McLeod, TJ Wolf, Ridge Lovett and Alius De La Rosa — all Post Falls wrestlers — finished the weekend unbeaten in five duals. Sandpoint junior Casey Randles also went a perfect 5-0, winning four matches by pin.

“I’m really kind of tired right now,” McLeod said. “I’m out of shape right now, but was really happy with the way I wrestled.”

McLeod’s older brother, Seth, wrestled at Boise State this year, but will not return due to issues with multiple concussions.

“It’s cool to have support like that, especially from my brother,” Matt said of Seth. “He’s always helping me out teaching me technique. It gets a little irritating at times, but it is nice to have that support. He’s obviously a good wrestler and really knows what he’s talking about.”

And apparently, so do those coaches from Post Falls.

“Post Falls wrestling is a really, really good organization,” McLeod said. “It all starts with the little guys with the Real Life club, and having such good coaching with Abel De La Rosa as coach, and a ton of other coaches. They’re always driving us around to other big tournaments and through middle school, they’re just really connected to what’s going on.”

ALTHOUGH HE didn’t coach them over the weekend, Post Falls coach Pete Reardon kept a close eye on the Idaho Black team as coach of the Idaho North team during the tourney.

“Coach Reardon and the high school team are often times in the (wrestling) room, even now when the offseason is going on,” McLeod said. “They (Reardon and his assistant coaches) are in there and just helping out and doing whatever they can to make sure we’re getting better. It’s really cool to have that. Once you get to high school, you’ve already became part of the program and you know what’s going on and what’s expected of you. Obviously, high school is a different story than middle school and little guy wrestling, but you know what you’re doing and it’s really nice. Our program has been built on that and continues to get better from that.”

As far as long term goals, McLeod doesn’t see Post Falls’ run of state titles stopping anytime soon. The Trojans have won the past two state titles.

“I want our high school team to (be a) four-time state champion,” McLeod said. “So far, we’re on the right track. Before my freshman year, we’d never won one and now we’ve got two. We’ve been really, really blessed to have such good coaches and a good team that has made that happen. We had a great team my freshman year (2015-16), as well as my sophomore year. And we’ve got a great chance to take it again the next two years.”

Even with early wins at the Sidney (Mont.) tournament, as well as a second-straight Tri-State Invitational title, the high school team still wasn’t sure what it was capable of.

“It was a little nerve-wracking because nobody really knew what we could do,” McLeod said. “We were losing a ton of phenomenal wrestlers and weren’t quite sure what was going to happen. We came out strong and winning that Sidney tournament really helped, because we destroyed teams there and beat some good teams. We got some confidence there.”

And from that success has come some other athletes that are starting to wrestle and be a part of the program.

“We’ve got kids that are trying out now because we’ve got a good team and they want to see what it’s like,” McLeod said. “That’s honestly what I tell them when they ask me, is that if you want to be on a good team, there’s not many opportunities where you can have this kind of success. Even if you don’t have as much success individually, it’s great to be a part of this.”

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.