Port puts on a show in plowing over Portage

The first class of the Port Washington Athletic Hall of Fame, players from the 1964 Braveland Conference team, a Paralympic gold medalist and youth football players were among the fans who saw the Pirates’ football team take it to Portage, 49-14, on Friday.

The Pirates scored touchdowns on four of their six first-half possessions and built a 27-6 lead by halftime.

Port forced four turnovers and scored touchdowns after three of them while committing none.

“I think it was great just to show out. We had all the fans coming back. I think it’s great to put on a performance like that in front of the old alumni,” senior Hewitt Dekker said.

Port went to 3-1 on the season.

“All through the offseason we’ve been putting in the hard work,” quarterback Cal Loose said.

“Against Pewaukee, Grafton and Lakeside Lutheran we had our good moments but we never played a good football game as a team. So this week our coaches and players made us rise up to the occasion. We played hard, we played together.”

Port took the opening kickoff and marched 86 yards on 17 plays, eating up nearly eight minutes. At least five Pirates touched the ball on the drive, capped off by Loose’s two-yard touchdown run.

“We were talking about relentless all week. We knew we were going to score on that drive,” senior Sam Pasten said.

Coach John Bunyan wanted his team to set the tone early.

“What I loved is we had a lot of guys rotating in and executing. Our offensive line absolutely set the tone,” he said.

“We knew we wanted to receive the football, and we knew we wanted to drive. It was really special to start that way.”

Garett Kawczynski, a multi-medalist in state wrestling who typically plays nose guard, saw time at running back, starting the game by plowing for 16 yards.

“The aggression was on point today. As a team, mentally this is the best we’ve been before a game. Everyone was into it. I have not seen us more aggressive all year,” Kawczynski said.

Josh Arnold, the Eastern Central Conference Wide Receiver of the Year last season, got on track with his first scores of the year. Loose found him for 34 and 41-yard bombs for touchdowns.

“We worked on all of our stuff that we needed to. Me and Cal have been working on that all season,” Arnold said.

“We made an emphasis to get better this week in terms of the little things,” Bunyan said. “Our timing was better on some comebacks, our timing on the routes.”

Loose went 10-for-16 passing for 153 yards and two scores, and he ran seven times for 34 yards and two touchdowns.

Sam Pasten ran seven times for 63 yards and two touchdowns. Mason Schwanz ran six times for 46 yards. Kiya Sullivan carried 10 times for 43 yards and a touchdown, and Kawczynski ran four times for 32 yards.

Arnold, Jayden Lathrop and Colton Struckman each made an interception, and Dekker recovered a fumble.

The Pirates’ defense limited the Panthers to 6-for-14 passing for 47 yards.

“I think we tackled amazingly and we knew our assignments. We played man on the backside and our DBs made plays,” Struckman said.

The Panthers’ hopes of a comeback were dashed early in the second half. Port forced a punt, scored a touchdown, got a turnover, scored a touchdown, got another turnover and scored another touchdown to make the score 49-6.

The Pirates regularly sent their fans into a frenzy, including a student section doused with baby powder for its whiteout theme. The stands were packed, including the middle portion that had been roped off for the past few years due to broken wood. It was fixed before the season started.

Nine players from the 1964 conference-winning team were honored for the 60th anniversary of the achievement. Port’s inaugural Athletic Hall of Fame inductees were announced at halftime, and Assistant Principal Nate Hinze was recognized for winning his third straight gold medal in wheelchair basketball at the recent Paralympics in Paris. It was also youth night.

“All of those Hall-of-Famers and the ’64 team and Nate — they need to be celebrated in front of a great crowd because those are great accomplishments,” Bunyan said.

Port, the defending ECC champ, is 2-0 in conference since Portage is a cross-over conference game with the Badger Small league.

The victory has built momentum.

“It definitely made us get more confident. We’re back in the flow of Port football. Last year we had a great season. This year, our pieces weren’t quite fitting together. Now, we finished the puzzle. Now we’ve just got to take it to the next level,” Loose said.

“It just brings up that morale,” Kawczynski said. “If we keep snowballing, having better and better games, we’re going to end up doing great things this year.”

Bunyan said, “I hope we just continue to build off of it. We’re going to take one game at a time like we said we will.”

The Pirates, 3-1 overall, head to Kettle Moraine Lutheran (1-1 ECC, 3-1 overall) on Friday.