Port football puts out better effort

A few missed opportunities sent the Port Washington High School football team to its third straight loss to start the season, but the Pirates played better than the week before.

Port lost at Sheboygan Falls, 32-16, last Friday.

The Pirates had the ball inside Sheboygan Falls’ 20-yard-line five times and twice inside the five, but were unable to convert.

“We’re on the verge here of knocking down some things,” coach John Bunyan said.

The Falcons have 22 seniors to Port’s four, and the Pirates were down to three since their best offensive threat, running back Nate Kasdorf, will miss the season after tearing his ACL against Plymouth two weeks ago. Kasdorf missed much of 2019 with an injury as well.

“He was hoping to have a big year. It’s unfortunate,” Bunyan said.

Sophomore Lleyton Allen stepped up to rush 16 times for 75 yards and a score.

“He did a good job,” Bunyan said.

Allen’s score and Patrick Lippe’s extra point gave Port a 14-8 lead with 7 minutes, 38 seconds left in the second quarter. Brady Fleischmann had a two-yard run in the first quarter for the Pirates’ first score.

From there, the Falcons turned it up a notch, answering with a touchdown pass, then scoring 25 seconds before halftime on another pass on fourth down.

“They ran a no-huddle. That’s a lot of plays for our guys. It was a little hot,” Bunyan said of the unseasonably warm Friday night.

The Falcons scored on a 57-yard pass in the third quarter before Michael Bunyan tackled a Falcon in the end zone for a safety for Port’s only second-half points.

The Falcons threw a quick sideways pass to a receiver, and Bunyan bolted toward him and dove to take out his legs before he went anywhere.

A Falls’ touchdown run in the fourth quarter finished the scoring.

“I thought our kids played pretty well. We battled throughout the entire game. We improved and got better. We faced a tough team,” coach Bunyan said.

Port didn’t turn the ball over — the Falcons didn’t either — but 14 penalties hurt, Bunyan said. Seven were false starts.

Port sophomore quarterback Nate Uselding went 15-for-23 for 130 yards.

“I’m really happy with Nate’s play as a sophomore. Every game he’s getting better,” Bunyan said.

Lippe caught four balls for 60 yards. Matt Esselmann caught four for 59 yards.

Bunyan said he was happy with how his son played. In addition to the safety, Michael blocked a punt, made a couple of tackles for loss, caught three balls for 22 yards and blocked well.

Coach Bunyan credited J.D. Brahm for a good game at inside linebacker, and said Lippe, Fleischmann and his son didn’t come off the field.

“They played their hearts out,” he said.

Port was only missing one player due to contact tracing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bunyan credited the high school’s schedule of having half the students attend Mondays and Tuesdays and the other half Thursdays and Fridays.

The system, Bunyan said, limited the spread of the coronavirus after a couple of students contracted the virus when not in school.

“It’s tremendous,” Bunyan said. “It means the world for us.”

For the Falcons, Jon Matthieu rushed 23 times for 162 yards. Cayden Carpenter caught eight passes for 113 yards and a touchdown. Noah Winter went 10-for-23 passing for 133 yards and four scores.

The Pirates play at Kettle Moraine Lutheran (1-2) on Friday.