Grapplers land yet another league crown
Pirates remain kings of the Woodland
The Pewaukee wrestling team continued its unbeaten streak in league duals this season, and the Pirates landed a bigger prize Saturday with a sixth straight Woodland Conference tournament title. Only four wrestlers returned from last year's league-winning crew, but with 234.5 points, Pewaukee won easily, ahead of second-place Wauwatosa (197.5).
Eight of the 14 wrestlers reached the finals. Two of them, Josh Berg at 145 pounds and Brad Miller at 195, took home championships.
"By the middle of the tournament, it was clear that all of our time in tough tournaments (Raids Duals, Cheesehead, Bay Port, Zelinski Duals, DeKalb Duals) was the difference," coach Ed Kurth said. "After facing the fastest, strongest and most experienced wrestlers in the state, we were definitely ready for the Woodland at the end of the season. In addition, we also knew that Wauwatosa's schedule was quite the opposite. They had great records but weren't nearly as battle-tested. After engaging in such a close meet in December, our two teams seemed to have moved in opposite directions, even though their records were now much better than ours."
Pewaukee narrowly beat Tosa in a league dual this year, 29-24. Pewaukee has never lost a Woodland Conference event since joining the league.
Kurth said senior Tom Shafer had the match of the day, taking down Tosa's Ben Reagan in the semifinal. Reagan had a 28-4 record before the start of the day, and Shafer had previously lost to Reagan. Shafer scored an overtime takedown to win, 8-6.
"I believe this win lifted the confidence of the rest of our young team and marked the moment when we started to separate ourselves from Wauwatosa," Kurth said. "Tom had sustained a number of losses through our rigorous schedule, but he knew he wrestled well in all those difficult matches so he could win this one big match for his team."
Shafer was one of six Pirates who took second, along with freshman Jason Berg at 113, Alex Owens at 120, Jake Paget at 152, Collin Sternad at 160 and Dan Brown at 220.
Taking thirds were Isaac Lodise at 106, Trevor Greene at 132, Garrett Shibilski at 138 and Brandon Baradic at 170.
Baradic suffered a heartbreaking loss in the semis on a last-second takedown but bounced back for two wins.
It was Josh Berg's third conference championship, making him the third Pewaukee wrestler to achieve the feat. Miller broke a 2-2 tie and registered pin in the finals at 195.
Brown lost in overtime in the finals.
"It felt great to see all of my kids' sacrifice and time pay off," Kurth said. "I know it may be more fun during the season to wrestle in some easier events, but we saved the fun for when it mattered. We wrestled in all of those tough events for this day."
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