Pitman High’s wrestling team is out to a good start to the 2012 season. With two returning Masters qualifiers, the Pride took first place in Saturday’s Hilmar Irwin-Stevenson Lions Invitational, finishing undefeated as a team. Head coach Adam Vasconcellos believes Saturday’s dual performance is the first in what will be a shockingly productive season.

“Our team’s solid,” Vasconcellos said. “Our kids are definitely going to overachieve.”

The Pride lineup is a young one this year with 10 of the starting spots projected to be filled by sophomores. One of those sophomores is Hayden Mattox, although young he brings a wealth of experience and is one of Pitman’s returning Masters qualifiers alongside junior Logan Wolfley. Both have moved up in weight, landing at 120 pounds and 170 pounds, respectively, and are leading the charge on the mat.

“He put in tons and tons of work this summer so he’s improved leaps and bounds,” Vasconcellos said of Mattox

Wolfley has yet to compete in a match due to lingering injuries from football season but he isn’t expected to sit out for long.

“If we needed him to wrestle this weekend he could,” Vasconcellos said.

In addition to Mattox and Wolfley, junior Nick Roditis is back at 220 pounds for the Pride and is already making waves on the mat. Newcomers Nick and Gilbert Valadez and Kyle Ohsbar have also offered significant contributions to the team so far.

“We’re a hungry team who wants to wrestle so I think we’re going to have a pretty good season,” Vasconcellos said.

Pitman will travel to George Washington High on Saturday to compete in the Golden Gate Invitational.