Pirate wrestlers set sail for team state in La Crosse

The cards were falling into place for the Port Washington High School wrestling team on Saturday.

The Pirates won the coin toss against the hosts in a Division 2 sectional in Kewaskum, allowing them to get the match-ups they wanted. There was just one detail left.

“It sounds good on paper,” coach Angelo LaRosa said. “Obviously, they have to wrestle the matches.”

That the Pirates did, prevailing, 33-32, to advance to an anticlimactic sectional final against Pewaukee. Everyone in the gym knew the winner of the Port-Kewaskum match was going to team state.

Kewaskum beat Port, 50-24, during the season, but on Saturday every point mattered, making every move in every match a potential game-changer.

Some were guarantees. Port’s defending state champ Garett Kawczynski at 215 pounds and Kewaskum’s defending state champ Ethan Immel at 144 won by forfeit, canceling each other out.

The Pirates pulled out the clutch matches they had to win and kept their key losses close enough to maximize their points.

It came down to the final match, the 106-pound bout between Kewaskum’s Porter Reis (20-15) and Port’s Jaxon Prom (13-9). Port led, 33-29. Prom could lose a decision (three points) but not a major decision (four points) — LaRosa thought Kewaskum would win the tiebreaking criteria — a technical fall (five) or by pin (six).

Prom trailed, 6-1, after the first period. The deficit reached 9-1 before he cut it to 9-5. He had to lose by seven or fewer to avoid a major decision.

Prom got on his back a couple of times, but flipped back up as fans screamed at every twist and turn.

By the end of the match, Prom only lost, 13-9, preserving Port’s victory.

“He’s a tough kid. He may not look it, but he’s tough,” Kawczynski said of Prom.

Grant Melichar at 165 pounds lost a 22-3 technical fall to Bryston Scoles (29-0), avoiding a pin and saving another point.

“At the end of the match I got thrown to my back, and I did everything I could to get off of my back just to hold it to a tech fall,” Melichar said.

One of Port’s key victories came from a not-so-secret weapon: Cora Stewart. The star freshman qualified for state in the individual girls’ tournament but could still wrestle in the boys’ team competition. Girls don’t have their own team tournament until next season.

Stewart (39-4) went to the wire with Ryan Perales (17-14). The two were tied at 3 after three periods. In overtime, Stewart took down Perales for a 6-3 victory.

“It was exciting and I had big expectations to win, so I was a little nervous but it was really fun. I felt proud that I helped my team,” she said.

“I’ve grown up wrestling boys, so I just knew that if I stuck to the basics I would be able to win.”

Chase Barber at 150 beat Brayden Loehr (34-5) in a 7-4 decision.

“That guy’s really good. He’s top five at 150 pounds in the state,” LaRosa said of Loehr.

Elias Manutes at 138 pounds pinned Brayden Herrmann in 1 minute, 14 seconds, in what LaRosa said was “a huge pin.”

Carter Melichar weighed in one pound too heavy on purpose, which allowed him to bump up one more weight class — wrestlers may only move up one — to 175, where he beat Kage Weseman in a 15-0 technical fall in 2:45.

“That guy was a state qualifier last year,” LaRosa said of Weseman.

The idea to bump up two weight classes by coming in a pound heavy came from a loss long ago.

LaRosa remembers one of his friends, Nicolet wrestling coach Gus Kaufmann, using the strategy to beat Port with Parker Keickeisen, who went on to win a national title at Northern Iowa. It was a sly move that LaRosa was unfamiliar with, but he kept it up his sleeve.

“Thank you, Parker,” LaRosa said.

Port’s Ashton Steinert won a 25-13 major decision over Xane Kleinke at 190 pounds.

Graysen Koepke began the match by pinning Declan Heimerman in 46 seconds at 113.

“It was kind of like a heavyweight boxing fight,” LaRosa said.

After the big win, Port still had some work left, but Pewaukee wasn’t as formidable a challenge. The Pirates took down Pewaukee, 49-22, to qualify for state.

Manutes, Barber, Austin Knapp, Grant Melichar and Jackson Hatfield pinned their opponents.

Stewart won a 4-3 decision. Carter Melichar won a 19-3 technical fall. Kawczynski won a 19-4 technical fall.

“It was really, really an amazing experience. It was honestly more impressive that we beat Kewaskum in the semis,” Barber said.

“After we beat Kewaskum, that’s when we knew,” Koepke said. “Obviously, we had another dual. That (Kewaskum) was the harder one.”

Kawczynski was as thrilled for the team as he is to try to repeat as state champion.

“It definitely means a lot to the program. Coming here every year and just seeing the team get a little better each year. Now that everything is starting to pay off as a team is really exciting to watch,” he said.

Port had a photo of the scoreboard with the 50-24 dual loss to Kewaskum taped on two walls of its wrestling room to remind the Pirates of their goal.

“We don’t match up the best against Kewaskum so we really needed every point we could,” Kawczynski said.

“It came down to the little stuff. If anything else went wrong in that dual, we’re going home.”

“Every point mattered,” Carter Melichar said. “Good job to all those guys who stepped up.”

Hatfield said, “We really made an effort in the past few weeks on how we can beat them because that was the dual to go to team state. It’s really exciting.”

LaRosa said the referee told him after the match that it was the best meet he ever officiated.

The coach hopes the team makes this trip often.

“This is hopefully going to be the norm for the next 10 years because we have some heavy-hitters coming up,” he said.

In the quarterfinal, Port had to get by rival Grafton.

The Pirates cruised to a 51-28 win.

Manutes pinned Payton Trapman in 1:58 at 138 pounds. Barber pinned Parker Swenson in 1:29 at 150. Knapp pinned Bohdan Gartman in 1:40 at 157.

Koepke won a 16-1 technical fall over Padraig Fransee in 2:38. Carter Melichar won a 19-3 technical fall over Tom Schumacher in 2:39 at 175 pounds. Kawczynski won a 16-1 technical fall over Caleb Ernst, a fellow state qualifier, in 4:35 at 215 pounds.

For Grafton, Eli Parker won an 11-3 major decision over Connor Zinuticz at 113 pounds. Nolan Murray pinned Paladin Mallinson in 58 seconds at 126 pounds. Aiden Poore pinned Jackson Enos in 1:11 at 144.

“Our message all week was just go out there and go after them. I was pleased with what our guys did all up and down the lineup. We fought,” Grafton coach Mike Dodge said.

“Port’s a good team. We knew that. But we’re also a young team. If we put some work together in the offseason, we’re going to keep improving.”

Team state is Friday, March 6, and Saturday, March 7, in La Crosse.

Individual state is Thursday, Feb. 26, through Saturday, Feb. 28, in Madison.

Port is sending six qualifiers: Kawczynski, Koepke, Carter and Grant Melichar, Chase Barber and Ashton Steinert.

Grafton is sending Ernst and Ryan Gartman.