By Joe Shinners Greenfield – Pewaukee wrestling coach Ed Kurth was worried sick about how the Pirates would perform at the 23rd Zelinski Memorial Duals. A long break in action that the Pirates took before the 16-team tournament was giving him fits. As it turned out, all of Kurth’s worries were unfounded. Pewaukee turned in the best area performance at the tournament and knocked off two ranked area teams in the process at finish second Saturday at Whitnall in the area’s toughest late-season dual tournament. “I didn’t know what to expect,” said Kurth. “I didn’t think we would be ready. We never have a long break like we had this year.” The Pirates, ranked No. 8 in the area, didn’t look rusty at all, finishing with a 4-1 record with a gritty performance to push their overall dual meet record to 16-2. Their only loss came in the championship bracket to Pulaski, which went on to win the tournament with a 5-0 record. Pulaski was the class of the tournament, beating Pewaukee by 39-19. Pulaski wasn’t even pushed at the tournament and won for the third time overall and first time since 2008. “Pulaski was the hammer today,” said a relieved Kurth. “But we beat Hartford and we got by West Allis Central. This was our best finish ever here. It was a good team effort.” In the second round, Pewaukee needed a 14-5 major decision from senior Mike Dusel over Hartford sophomore Mason Baumgartner in the final match at 145 pounds to pull out a 30-26 victory. That pushed Pewaukee into the championship wrestling gym. Hartford (22-3) came in ranked No. 7 in the area. In the third round, controversy surrounded the final seconds of the dual between Pewaukee and No. 3-ranked West Allis Central. As Pulaski was defeating Green Bay Preble/East, Preble/East sophomore Deavon Krings injured his neck when he was thrown and pinned in 5 minutes by Pulaski junior Shane Reinhard. Krings was knocked out and was taken out of the gym on a back board and remained motionless for 20 minutes. He suffered tissue damage in the neck, but no spinal damage and is expected to recover. When the paramedics arrived to treat Krings, West Allis Central senior West Allis Central Joe Immekus was in position to pin Pewaukee senior AJ Olivares on the opposite mat. Pewaukee held a 30-25 lead at the time. A pin would have given Central the victory; a tech fall would have forced a tie and Central would have won on the tiebreaker (most matches won in the dual). An athletic trainer rushed to tap the referee on the shoulder to try and stop the match with the crowd yelling because the paramedics couldn’t hear Krings during treatment. Olivares bridged out the final 16 seconds, as the referee kept the match going. Each team won seven matches, and Central fans were livid, believing the incident tainted the outcome. “I didn’t think he could avoid the pin, but he did,” said Kurth. Central coach Jason Stromberg would only say, “I don’t know what to say. Some odd things happened to the Bulldogs today. But we reached our goal of getting into the championship room and we came out healthy.” Central finished 3-2 on the day and improved to 24-5. Pewaukee capped its day by defeating Preble/East, 35-22, by winning two of the final three matches. “It was just a great team effort,” said Kurth. “Our guys were in tough matches and we competed with a total team effort.” Hartford rebounded from its loss to go 4-1 and win the second pool, which included No. 10 Kewaskum, Stoughton and Fond du Lac. Hartford needed some heroics of its own to get past Stoughton in the fifth round. In the deciding match at 171 pounds, Adam Vanden Pas fought off his back three times and trailed, 12-3, before turning and pinning Stoughton freshman Dillon Dewey in 5:00 to lift Hartford to a 38-27 victory. “We had to scrape to get through today,” said Hartford coach Steve Best. “(Vanden Pas) was so wrapped up in not giving up five points (a technical fall). It would have been better if he didn’t know anything at all when he went out there. But he did it.” Final results Pool 1: 1, Pulaski, 5-0; 2, Pewaukee, 4-1; 3, West Allis Central, 3-2; 4, Green Bay Preble/East, 2-3. Pool 2: 1, Hartford, 4-1; 2, Stoughton, 3-2; 3, Kewaskum, 2-3; 4, Fond du Lac, 1-4. Pool 3: 1, Whitnall, 4-1; 2, Beaver Dam, 3-2; 3, Milwaukee Marquette, 2-3; 4, Waukesha South, 1-4. Pool 4: 1, Kenosha Bradford, 3-2; 2, Middleton, 2-3; 3, Boylan Catholic, 1-4; 4, East Troy, 0-5. Scores Round 1: HAR 58 , MAR 16; PEW 54, KB 6; FOND 44, WHIT 27, WAC 51, MID 26; PUL 60, BOY 12; KEW 58, BD 18; GBPE 64 , WS 9; STO 65, ET 0. Round 2: MAR 42, KB 37; PEW 30, HAR 26; WHIT 51, MID 24; WAC 36, FOND 25; PUL 42, KEW 29; BD 46, BOY 26; GBPE 34, STO 27, WS 40, ET 30. Round 3: PEW 30, WAC 29; PUL 37, GBPE 31; HAR 42, FOND 26; STO 40, KEW 31; WHIT 44, MAR 27; BD 40, WS 28; KB 51, MID 21; BOY 36, ET 27. Round 4: KB 48, BOY 26; MID 51, ET 30; BD 39, MAR 38; WHIT 55, WS 24; STO 45, FOND 28; PUL 39, PEW 13; WAC 29, GBPE 27; HAR 41, KEW 28. Round 5: WHIT 44, BD 29; WS 42, MAR 34; HAR 38, STO 27; KB 41, ET 36; KEW 50, FOND 30; PUL 35, WAC 27; PEW 35, GBPE 27; MID 43, BOY 34. 5-0 wrestlers: BD: Ethan Piette, 160; BOY: Blaise Butler, 135; Lucas Schumacher, 145; FOND: Luke Roffers, 160. HAR:Ll Bobby Nachreiner, 103; Nick Becker; Jarid Baumgartner, 135; Weston Klink, 152. KB: Andy Flesch, 125. KEW: Brett Scoles, 103; Brad Bentz, 145; Bo Seibel, 171; Cody Seibel; 215. MAR: Dan Erato, 171; Marco DeGuire, 285. PEW: Mike Dusel, 145; Travis Decker, 171; Kent Grimscheid, 215. PUL: Jacob Syndergaard, 112. STO: Nick Urso, 112; Jackson Urso, 140; Eric Nelson, 189. WAC: Don Dargon, 103; Joe Immekus, 152. WHIT: Demetrius Wall, 112. WHIT: Zach Noel, 130; Zach Menden, 140. Go Back to the Home Page Read More Articles by Joe../../../Archive.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1