BONNERS FERRY — The Bonners Ferry High School wrestling team kicked off its season with two tournaments, the George Wild Invitational and the Dick Griswold Memorial. Six wrestlers have finished in the top three, and two have won their respective brackets. 

There are 19 wrestlers listed on the team this year. 

“We have a pretty small team this year,” head coach Mike Puckett said. “But the ones that are here are the cream of the crop.” 

Puckett highlighted several wrestlers.

“We have Taylor Dodd, and he is returning after taking second in state last year. He placed fourth as a freshman,” Puckett said. “He is a motivator for the team. He’s been totally dominant, pinned everybody he wrestled this season, and he's a real leader. He's involved in several different activities in the community.” 

Puckett also praised junior Ethan Matthews. 

“He is just a super nice kid,” Puckett said. “He did a lot of work during the summer, and he's much improved over last year. He was good last year, so we're expecting good things out of him. He's the kind of guy that shows up early, always doing something, always looking to help somebody.” 

He also spoke about senior Gaige Johnson. 

“He's been having a really good year,” Puckett said. “He's a lot of fun to watch, very unorthodox. The fun thing about Gaige is that he's really quite the artist.” 

Aubree Graves is one of three girls on the team. 

“Aubree is one of those people who's doing all kinds of stuff,” Puckett said. “I got a phone call that Aubree was organizing a free pizza gathering to recruit more girls to come up for wrestling. She just does that kind of stuff. She also had 30 pins last year. I don't know if that's a high school record, but that's pretty dang amazing. She's awesome.” 

Puckett shared his goals for the wrestling season. 

“My goals for the year are not based on winning dual meets or tournaments,” Puckett said. “My goals are more about seeing each individual on the team become better — , a better person, a better wrestler. The team goal is for as many of us as possible to get to state. So if we could qualify five, six people, that would be fantastic.” 

“In the meantime, I'm very much a character-first coach. If we use wrestling to help develop character, then the person will end up doing the best they could have done. That's all you can ask for anybody.” 

Puckett spoke about the discipline of his wrestlers. 

“Most of the kids on my team, I get on them every once in a while, but I really don't have to,” he said. “They're a pretty motivated group.” 

“I'm not going to make them do 100 push-ups, but I might make them run one lap around the mat,” Puckett said. “It's not about making them tired or exercising. It's just a wake-up call about paying attention.” 

However, he tries to be a positive coach. 

“I follow the sandwich principle,” Puckett said. “I try to do three times as many positives as negative remarks.” 

Wrestling is a sport for people of all sizes, according to Puckett. 

“If you're a kid who weighs 100 pounds, you're too short for basketball and probably too small for football,” Puckett said. "Wrestling is actually a really good choice.” 

While wrestling is a solo sport on the mat, there is also a team element. 

“People don't understand that wrestling is a team sport because of the energy that comes from the people around you,” Puckett said. “If a couple of people in the room start to elevate, it's contagious. It's the camaraderie and the spirit of encouraging each other.” 

So far, he has seen cohesiveness among the team and hopes it continues. 

“I really like the way this team is getting along,” Puckett said. “They encourage each other and look out for each other.”