CARY--Green Hope wrestlers opened up their year by picking up two wins in just as many days, defeating Wakefield 44-22 at home on Thursday a day after going on the road to dismiss Middle Creek 63-16.

Opening up with two convincing wins was a relief for Falcons coach Chip Bunn, given all the off-season attrition suffered.

"We're very young. We graduated eight state performers, nine senior starters and three other starters didn't come back," Bunn said.

The Falcons' Mac Lloyd lost 4-1 to open up the match, but Arjun Aravindan took just 32 seconds to pin his man at 103-pounds to put Green Hope up 6-3.

Fourty-four seconds into the 112-pound match, Wakefield's Josh Tsujimura scored a pin of his own, and the Wolverines went back up 9-6.

It was the last lead Wakefield would see, as Green Hope took five of the next six matches, including pins by Josh Ether, Kenny Buchanan and Jared Compiano.

Joey Baird, a state qualifier for Green Hope last season, lost 9-1 in his bout with Gray Gerald, now ranked No. 4 in the state for the 152-pound class.

Despite winning nine of 14 matches against Wakefield, including five pins, Bunn said he hopes his team will continue to progress in technique as the year wears on.

"The kids, they've got to learn," Bunn said. "Basic fundamentals are so essential."

Fundamentals were lacking in the match at 215 pounds, where Wakefield's Josh Winstead resorted to football-style tackles to finally pin Green Hope's Tim Seipler.

As for some of the other higher weight classes, Green Hope had to resort to using smaller wrestlers.

Senior Richard Yount won 5-0 over Caleb Killion at 189 pounds when in reality, Yount is more suited to wrestle at 171. Bunn said after the match that he was impressed with Yount's effort.

"Once I got out there I knew I had it," Yount said.

It was a tall task to ask a team to condition and train for one the first match of the year, then turn around and do it all again the next night.

But when the result is a pair of wins, it was easier for Yount to stay upbeat after going toiling through two matches.

"You're always pumped for that first one," Richard Yount said. "I thought the team did very well."