Port wrestlers come up short

Saturday’s trip to the Division 2 team state wrestling tournament didn’t end the way Port Washington High School’s team would have liked, but it got to see where it wants to go.

The Pirates were steamrollered by No. 1-ranked Wrightstown, 55-11, in the semifinals. Wrightstown went on to win the state title, 38-19, over Gale-Ettrick-Tremapealeau/Melrose-Mindoro.

“They’re really good. They’re No. 1 for a reason,” Port coach Angelo LaRosa said.

The Tigers, LaRosa said, juggled their lineup but still won 12 of 14 matches.

“We’re just not good enough yet,” he said.

“We’re a really young team. It’s really nice to get here but hopefully we can get back very soon and do some damage.”

Sophomore Jacob Peacy at 195 pounds scored Port’s only pin. He beat Austin Koltz in 2 minutes, 56 seconds. Peacy led, 2-0, after the first period and finished the job nearly halfway through the second.

“I knew he (Koltz) was at 220 (pounds) coming down (to 195),” Peacy said, adding he felt good for the entire match.

LaRosa said “Peacy did a nice job” in dominating his opponent.

Senior Blake Peiffer at 138 pounds got Port’s other win with an 18-3 technical fall in the third period over Isaiah Pennenberg.

Peiffer, coming off a fourth-place finish in the individual state tourney the previous week, said he didn’t know anything about Penneberg and it felt good to win the last match of his career.

“Blake had an awesome career and left no stone unturned for four years, and he did everything we asked on and off the mat,” LaRosa said, adding Peiffer elevated the program’s academic standard and work ethic.

Just getting a taste of the state tournament was special, a couple of Pirates said.

“It was a cool experience to actually be here with the team and everyone getting a chance to see what it’s like in Madison,” junior Lucas Schumacher said.

“It was pretty amazing coming out here. The best part was how strong our team atmosphere was this entire year,” Peacy said.

Port had reached its season-long goal. In the first five minutes of the team’s first practice, Peacy said they realized, “we have some nice hard workers in this room and we’re willing to put in the work necessary to make it to team state.

“We plan to get back and make some more noise than we did this year.”