By Joe Shinners Madison – As soon as the pins started piling up against the Pewaukee Pirates wrestling team, Ed Kurth knew he and his team were in for an uphill battle. The Pirates came close to evening the match, but couldn’t overcome the much deeper Oconto Falls Panthers in the Division 2 championship Saturday night at the state team wrestling tournament Saturday at the UW-Fieldhouse. The finals in all three divisions began at 160 pounds. Oconto Falls won eight of 14 matches and used four pins – three in the first six matches – and went on to a 38-23 victory to win the schools first Division 2 state title in its second appearance a the tournament. Pewaukee, ranked No. 5 in the state, pulled within a point of the Panthers at 21-20 after sophomore Josh Berg tech falled Panthers sophomore Jarek Pawlak, 19-4, in 6 minutes at 125 pounds. But Oconto Falls went on to win four of the next five matches and close out any hope Pewaukee had of winning the title. It was Pewaukee’s first appearance in the final in three tournament appearances the past three years. “We went to our backs too many times,” said Kurth after his team finished the year with a record of 20-3. “We had a couple of guys who could not get off their backs. We gave up too many pins.” Oconto Falls (19-2), ranked No. 2 in D2, took advantage of Pewaukee’s mistakes and won two key matches in the lightweights to seal the state title. “We got the early pins and right away we knew we had some flexibility later in the match,” said Oconto Falls coach Mark Kinziger. “This is awesome. We had about the whole town down here.” Oconto Falls sophomore Matthew Damp defeated Pewaukee freshman Alex Owens by a 9-2 decision at 103 and Oconto Falls junior Brock Gagnon defeated Pewaukee junior Gill Saya-ang by a 9-5 decision at 130 in two matches Pewaukee had to win. “We had to win everything from 103 to 130,” said Kurth. “Still, this is a big move for Pewaukee wrestling, that’s for sure. It gets the monkey off our backs.” The Pirates reached the final in D2 by defeating Lodi, 35-20, in the afternoon semifinals. Pewaukee trailed, 12-9, after giving up two early pins but then won five consecutive matches to take a 25-15 lead with four matches to go. Lodi finished 22-5. Pewaukee had to win two of the final four matches to preserve the victory and responded to the pressure by winning three of the final four matches. There weren’t a lot of bonus points for the Pirates as they posted only one pin and two major decisions in the match. Instead they ground out each individual victory by decision. Oconto Falls advanced to the final by beating Ellsworth, 33-26, in the semifinals. Oconto Falls senior Cullan Morrissey pinned Ellsworth junior DJ Yarwood in 3:23 at 135 to seal Oconto Falls’ victory. Ellsworth finished 15-6. Wisconsin Rapids 52, Milton 17: You could predict this outcome after Rapids went 2-6 in the medal round and saw all of its finalists lose a week ago at the state individual tournament. Rapids won 10 of 14 matches in third meeting between the two schools in the D1 final. Wisconsin Rapids, the No. 1-ranked team in D1 and the top overall team in the state, won its 19th overall team title and 14th since the inception of the dual meet format. Rapids, as it has all season, was led by its talented sophomore class as it held off a determined effort from Milton in a physical dual. Rapids sophomores Rylan Lubeck (140), Zak Benitz (145) and Devin Peterson (171) all won against Milton after finishing second in their respective weight classes at the state tournament a week ago. “We didn’t take any gold medals home from the state tournament last week,” said Rapids coach Scott Benitz. “We wanted to take home 22 gold medals today.” Milton actually led the dual, 17-12, but Rapids ripped off eight consecutive victories, posted six pins in the match and added two technical falls in its second victory over Milton this year. “We knew with where the match started we just had to be patient,” said Benitz. “We wrestled really well and picked up big bonus points along the way.” Milton’s 46-16 victory over West Allis Central in the morning semifinals set up rematches of the 1995 and 2002 D1 championships. Milton, ranked No. 3 in the state, won 10 of the 14 matches against Central, posted five pins and a major decision as the Red Hawks advanced to the final for the first time since they beat Rapids by a 25-21 margin for the D1 title in 2002. That was the last time Milton advanced to the final or won a match at the state team tournament. Rapids was equally as impressive in defeating No. 2-ranked Kaukauna, 40-17, in the semifinals. The teams had not met this year prior to the semifinal showdown. Rapids won nine of the 14 matches and received big bonus points with three pins, two major decisions and one technical fall. Rapids defeated Milton, 51-10, earlier this year. In the 1995 D1 final, Rapids beat Milton, 37-12. Coleman 41, Mineral Point 19: No. 1-ranked Coleman (13-1) routed the three-time defending champions and won its first D3 state title since 2000. Coleman has two titles now in the dual competition and five other team titles. Mineral Point (23-6) was trying to win four consecutive titles and match the feat it accomplished from 1980-‘83. Coleman never let Mineral Point into the dual. Coleman won eight of the first 10 matches, had four pins and added two major decisions before Mineral Point won the final three matches to close the gap on the scoreboard. “I didn’t expect a blowout, although this team has accomplished great things all year,” said Coleman coach Kevin Casper. “They just wrestled out of their minds today.” Coleman advanced to the final by defeating Boyceville, 44-15. Mineral Point advanced by beating Oostburg, 45-18. Mineral Point fell behind Oostburg in the semifinals by an 18-0 margin after Oostburg opened up by winning the first five with classes. Mineral Point responded by winning the final nine weight classes and posing five pins to close Oostburg’s season at 17-4. Coleman won 10 of 14 matches against Boyceville in the semifinals to run away with a 44-15 victory in the semifinals and give the Green Bay area two team state champions out of three, joining Oconto Falls. Go Back to the Home Page Read More Articles by Joe../2/24_Other_wrestlers_to_watch.html../../../../Joeshinners.com.html../../../08-09_Articles.htmlshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1shapeimage_3_link_2