Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Panthers lost a dual meet at Arcata on Wednesday night.

By Ray Hamill — The McKinleyville Panthers are building a nice foundation for the future on the wrestling mats this year with eight freshmen on the team.

And the present isn’t too bad either, with four potential league contenders on a squad of 17.

“We’re on the right track,” head coach Virgil Moorehead said. “I’m excited about the youth and their enthusiasm.”

This year’s team features just one senior, Jace Thomson, who has been setting the tone for his younger teammates and is the favorite to win a title at 150 pounds at the upcoming H-DNL championships.

Thomson, who placed first in his weight division at last weekend’s North Coast Classic at Eureka High, is ranked No. 4 in the North Coast Section and is the defending league champ at 145.

The standout senior also placed first at last month’s Del Norte and McKinleyville tournaments.

“He’s doing good. There’s some things he’s working on,” Moorehead said. “I just want him to do the best he can.”

Juniors Brandon Hillegeist, Lucas Dickey and Leo Cosce have each also impressed for the Panthers this winter.

Hillegeist should be a league contender at 120 and placed second to Arcata’s Aidan Ayers at the Eureka tournament.

The junior has shown some improvement on the mats this year and is ranked 11th in the section in his weight class.

And Moorehead hopes to see that continue over the business end of the season.

“We’re working on some aspects of his mat strategy,” the coach said.

Dickey also has shown plenty of improvement this season, which is just his third on the mats.

The Panthers junior placed third at 165 pounds at the North Coast Classic.

“It’s only his third year wrestling and if you look at it from that aspect, he’s doing really good,” Moorehead said.

Dickey lost his weekend semifinal to Upper Lake’s Nathan Boomer, who would go on to win the bracket.

Cosce also has impressed this winter and it’s expected that the best is yet to come for the Mack junior, who has battled some illness this month but is hoping to begin to peak down the stretch of the season.

“He’s right there,” Moorehead said. “Hopefully he can break through.”

The four team leaders have been setting a good example for their younger teammates, who represent the future of the program, which appears bright.

“I like the turnout and the enthusiasm of the new ones,” Moorehead said of his team. “It’s great to see some people that played football that have come out.”

This weekend, the Panthers will send seven varsity wrestlers to the Corning tournament, while the JVs will travel instead for the Windsor tournament as they continue to build momentum and gain some valuable experience.

The Panthers will also travel next week to the Ukiah tournament, which features varsity and JV brackets.

The H-DNL Championships will take place at Eureka High on Feb. 10.