Port stars play as teammates for one last time

Fritsch leads all-star game in all-purpose yards, Arendt blocks for him

PORT WASHINGTON 2024 graduates Casey Arendt (69) and Ben Fritsch (5) competed in the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association All-Star Game on Saturday. Fritsch (right) caught a 15-yard touchdown pass on a fade pattern. Right photo by Olivia Naser
By 
MITCH MAERSCH
Ozaukee Press Staff

A pair of two-time East Central Conference Players of the Year donned their pads in the name of Port Washington High School for the final time last Saturday, and they didn’t disappoint.

Ben Fritsch and Casey Arendt played for the North Large Team in the Children’s Hospital Wisconsin Football Coaches Association All-Star Game at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

“We got one more chance to play together on the field, so it was really special for us,” Fritsch said.

“It was the best thing ever,” Arendt said. “It sucks that we aren’t going to the same school but getting one more chance to play with him again, that’s a dream come true.”

The South Large Team won the game, 48-14, but Fritsch, the ECC Offensive Player of the Year the last two seasons, led all players with 108 all-purpose yards and scored a touchdown.

“It’s a super cool stat line to have,” he said. “It was a great opportunity.”

Fritsch caught six passes for 66 yards and a score, ran twice for nine yards playing quarterback, and returned two kicks for 33 yards.

Fritsch’s touchdown came on a 15-yard fade pass near the left corner of the end zone in the second quarter. Adam Skifton, a first-team all-state quarterback from Onalaska, floated Fritsch the ball.

A defender tried to break up the pass, but Fritsch came down with the jump ball.

“I ended up going over the top and getting the ball over him,” he said.

Arendt, the ECC Offensive Lineman of the year the past two seasons, was playing left tackle on the play.

Top seniors from across the state are selected to play in the game each year. New teammates have a week to prepare for the game. The teams practiced in Stevens Point before coming to Oshkosh for the game.

“It was hard coming together as a team in just one week of practice,” Fritsch said. “At the end of the day, it’s not about the win or loss, it’s about going out there and having fun with a bunch of guys, making connections.”

Team bonding activities beyond hanging out included “jumping off a bridge” into a river, Arendt said.

Fritsch was already friends with a couple of former foes from Cedarburg who were chosen for the North squad, and Arendt became friends with them too.

“I kind of got to make friends with them off the field instead of competing with them, which was kind of fun,” Fritsch said.

“There was no rivalry anymore,” Arendt said. “We put that in the past.”

Both also got to meet future teammates. Fritsch will attend the University of Minnesota-Duluth to play wide receiver. He will be joined by Stanley Smith, a defensive end from Green Bay Notre Dame who was his teammate on Saturday.

Four players on the South squad will also join Fritsch as Bulldogs.

Arendt got to meet one of his future teammates at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Camron Mendoza, who will play tight end and fullback. Arendt also met a couple of linemen from the South squad who will be Warhawks.

“It was really nice to go against people who I’ll be seeing at the next level,” he said.

The event serves as a fundraiser for Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and garnered more than $345,000.

“I was really thankful for being able to show out for the kids and raise that money,” Arendt said.

Fritsch is working out this summer in preparation for the season. He leaves in a couple of weeks. He will study actuarial science.

Arendt is weightlifting and doing conditioning work before he leaves for school on Aug. 15. He will major in kinesiology.

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Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

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