On Tuesday November 26, the Pumas hosted Basha in their first meet of the year. Despite coming away with a 38-30 loss, they managed to prove they are a force to be reckoned with. The wrestling meet was closely contested, and there was not a definitive winner until the end. While a lot of people look at the meet as a heartbreaking loss, the Pumas do not see things that way.

Head coach Darren Johnson stated, “You never want to lose, but there is something to take away from such a close competition.”

Senior wrestler Logan Arredondo also looks on the future of their season positively saying, “We lack experience but as our juniors get more mat time, we will get better as a team.”

Junior Sal Eldarwiche also proved he can carry his weight as a varsity wrestler. He won his match by pin, and when asked what it is like to come away with a win he replied, “There is no feeling like it in the world.”

As a whole the team came away with 3 pins and 3 wins by score.

The talk about the team prior to the season was whether or not they could overcome a team that had multiple state wrestlers graduate. They managed to silence a lot of critics with their contest.

The pumas returned quickly from having Thanksgiving day off to undergo a vigorous Black Friday workout. The students showed up at 8 am where they participated in yoga. Unlike the stereotype of deep breathing and stretching, the wrestlers fought to maintain a push up position for up to 8 minutes at a time. All the preparation for the tournament against Sunnyside, Chandler, and Marana on December 4th.

The Pumas struggled at the four way meet and will look to bounce back from two devastating losses. The final scores showed the struggles as they lost to Marana 51-18 and

They also host Mountain Pointe December 11th and the Puma Duals on December 13th and 14th.