REDMOND — Not many wrestling aficionados saw the Redmond boys team coming last winter. Even some of the wrestlers on the squad never envisioned being the state’s highest-scoring team.

The Panthers went into last season’s Class 5A state tournament with modest, yet high, goals. After all, they had not won the Intermountain Conference team title the previous week.

“We weren’t going into the state tournament expecting to win,” said Redmond junior Billy Jackson, who finished second at the state tournament a year ago. “We were expecting to finish fourth, maybe third. We just went in and wrestled as tough as we could.”

After two days of wrestling, Redmond walked away with its first team title in 64 years.

“Our kids just peaked at the right time,” said Redmond coach Kris Davis. “They did a good job of understanding the assignment that we put in front of them. They knew how to win at big tournaments because they competed in big tournaments. It was the perfect storm.”

And perhaps the tempered expectations were a strength for the Panthers back in late February at Memorial Coliseum. Despite Ansen Widing being the lone wrestler to make it through the tournament without a loss for Redmond, eight other wrestlers landed on the six-person podium.

Several teams had more wrestlers win individual titles and reach the championship round than Redmond.

But those eight showed their resolve and rebounded from early losses and continued to win and score points in the consolation rounds to help the Panthers claim their first state wrestling title since 1959.

“I lost a match that really got to me,” said Joseph Downing, who finished fifth in the 145-pound weight class last year. “But the whole team was behind me reminding me that we still have a tournament to wrestle and that we were still in this.

“They helped me regain my confidence and get pins on the backside (of the bracket), and that is how we all wrestled. Us staying as a unified team and getting back on our feet after those tough losses, that is what helped us get the win.”

The Panthers might not be the underdogs they were 10 months ago when they claimed the state title.

Of the nine Redmond placers from last year’s state tournament, seven return this season: Jackson, Downing, Ryder Lee, Jared Ake, Deandre McDonald, William Witcraft and Ashton Fields. And the Panthers boast even more talent in the 60-person wrestling room.

“We might be stronger than last year,” Downing said. “And last year we ended with a state title.”

Thus far this season, the Panthers have had solid showings at tournaments. They won the Tyrone S. Woods Memorial Tournament in Oregon City and had a pair of second-place finishes at the North Bend Coast Classic and the Northwest Duals in Albany.

“I like where we are at,” Davis said. “We are scoring well at tournaments, we are doing the little things needed to get better and we are working hard in the wrestling room. Our kids are focused on what the expectation is.”

The Panthers still have some challenging tournaments ahead of them, starting this weekend at the Rollie Lane Invitational in Nampa, Idaho. After that comes the Oregon Wrestling Classic at the Redmond fairgrounds and the Reser’s Tournament of Champions in Hillsboro, all in the month of January before the IMC championships and the state tournament in February.

“Kids have high expectations of themselves, and I want that,” Davis said. “But we know where we are at in the season, we aren’t at the state tournament yet. We are still getting better, still learning and still getting ourselves in shape to where we need to be.”