Port follows whopping win with wallop of Waupun

Port Washington High School football coach John Bunyan said he was concerned about a letdown after a one-point win at rival Grafton last week.

It didn’t happen.

The Pirates destroyed visiting Waupun, 53-6, in their East Central Conference opener.

Port forced five turnovers, scored touchdowns on an interception and a fumble return, and speedster Sam Pasten tackled Waupun’s quarterback for a safety twice on bootlegs in barely three minutes.

“We played well. I was excited to see our kids go,” Bunyan said.

Senior running back Lleyton Allen had 113 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. Senior quarterback Nate Uselding went 12-for-19 passing for 162 yards with four touchdowns to four different players and one interception.

“We needed to spread the ball around a little bit more. We have a lot of weapons,” Bunyan said.

Ben Fritsch had three catches for 69 yards and a score, and tight end Ryan Burmesch caught three balls for 48 yards and a touchdown. Allen and Matt Esselmann each caught a touchdown.

Dakota Kitzman returned a fumble 21 yards for a touchdown, and Judah Meeks returned an interception 52 yards for a score.

“He has incredible speed,” Bunyan said.

It was 27-0 at halftime. Pasten scored four points in a row in the third quarter on safeties. Lester Mayer, Port statistician since 2002, said he doesn’t remember anyone scoring two safeties in one game, and he noted that the defense scoring 16 points is rare.

Port built a 46-0 lead before Waupun scored on a short run.

The Pirates outgained the Warriors, 314 yards to 76.

“We didn’t play the greatest game against Grafton,” Bunyan said of the 22-21 win keyed by a long fumble return for a touchdown. “We focused on tackling and a lot of work up front to run the football.”

The blowout allowed Bunyan to empty his bench. Twenty players had at least one tackle, led by middle linebacker Brady Krueger’s six.

“Everybody got to play. I was really excited about that,” Bunyan said.

Port did commit 13 penalties, 11 of which were the five-yard varieties.

“We keep jumping offsides. Those are mental things we’ve got to clean up,” Bunyan said.

Port, 3-0, plays at Kewaskum (3-0) on Friday. The Indians beat Kettle Moraine Lutheran, 7-0, last week.

“They’re a good team. They’ll be hard nosed,” Bunyan said.

“We’re excited in the position that we’re in. We just have to focus on us and what we can do.”