Kaukauna, Marshfield will meet in WIAA Division 1 state team wrestling championship match

MADISON − One win. That's all that separates the Kaukauna wrestling team from a third consecutive state championship.

Kaukauna reached the WIAA Division 1 state title match after a 72-4 pummeling of Muskego in a semifinal Friday night at the UW Field House. The Ghosts had advanced to the semifinal with a 67-6 victory over Waukesha West in the quarterfinal earlier in the night.

Kaukauna (13-0) takes on Marshfield (18-4) for the championship at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Tigers defeated Bay Port 43-25 in the other semifinal to advance.

"We're definitely ready," Kaukauna senior Connor Smith said. "And we're definitely not underestimating Marshfield. They're here to wrestle and we're ready for (Saturday)."

Kaukauna blitzed Muskego, winning six of the first seven matches by pin, highlighted by a 19-second fall by Peyton Lee over Ryker Morgan at 160 pounds. Drew Wendzicki also had a quick pin of Zach Current in the 195 match (36 seconds) with Connor Smith (152), Judah Hammen (182), Jordan Loose (220) and Ben Krueger (285) also winning by fall in the first half of the match.

Lucas Peters (126), Bryan Winans (138) and Greyson Clark (145) also won by pin for the Ghosts.

"We came out with all barrels loaded," Kaukauna coach Jeff Matczak said. "Our coaches saw where the other teams had some matchups on us at, and we felt comfortable with the duals. Everybody up and down the lineup really wrestled well."

Kaukauna's experience on the big stage also helped, according to Matczak.

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"There's some confidence there," he said. "We return pretty much our entire team that won (last year). And they’re definitely not satisfied with that. This was a year where we kind of snuck up on people and now they’re coming in here and expecting to do it and so is Marshfield."

Hammen said the Ghosts are ready for Saturday's final.

"I think we’re in a good mental state," he said. "And I think we’ve been wrestling good all day (Friday). And I think we’ll do really good (Saturday)."

Smith agreed.

"Everything is coming together at the end and everybody is ready to wrestle and everybody is making sure they can be here," he said. "It’s great teamwork."

Marshfield breaks through to finals

Marshfield has had plenty of experience reaching the state semifinals the past few years. The Tigers now get their opportunity at the next step in their championship journey.

Marshfield held off Bay Port 45-23 in a semifinal to advance to Saturday's final against Kaukauna. The Tigers had defeated Mukwonago 47-14 in the quarterfinal to advance.

"We're getting over the hump," Marshfield coach Cody See said. "I've coached this team five years now and we lost three times (in the semifinals). It feels really good to get into the finals and we’re going to be ready to go against Kaukauna."

The Tigers raced to an 18-0 lead on the strength of pins from Hoyt Blaskowski (152), Caleb Dennee (160) and Garrett Willuweit (170).

Bay Port pulled to within 31-13 behind a pin from Alois Schlumpf at 113 and a major decision from Owen Wathke at 120. The Tigers closed out the match with a pin from Easton Ledden at 126 and another from Brett Franklin at 138.

See said his team handled the pressure this season a lot better than last season's semifinal loss to Holmen.

"I think three years in a row being down here, it’s getting to be more of a routine and the guys felt less pressure than last year," he said. "Some guys were a little nervous last year against Holmen, so we just saw a lot more mature performances out of the guys (Friday)."

See added that every match will be "super important" against the Ghosts.

"They’re the team to beat," he said. "Two-time returning champs, we’re going to have to give it a fight just like today and we’re going to be in good position. I’m excited for it.”

Bay Port falls in semifinals

Bay Port's goal was to reach the D1 final and the Pirates put themselves in position with a 40-33 victory over Reedsburg in the quarterfinal.

And though the Pirates dropped the semifinal match to Marshfield, head coach Brad Shefchik said his team is ready to get back to work on next year's goals.

"It’s a long, long season," he said. "Three-and-a-half months ... there’s lots of exciting moments along the way and hopefully the kids have a lot of memories to take from this. We made a run at it. Our goal was to make it down here and make the finals. We ended up a little short against a really good team today that outwrestled us. And now it’s rest up and enjoy a couple of weeks and get back to the drawing board."

Bay Port was making its first state appearance since 2014.

"It's been awhile," Shefchik said. "Success breeds success and if you don’t know what winning looks like at this level, then it’s hard to really push for that and set it as a goal. So hopefully we have some kids here today and some of our middle school kids watching and the next step is to get back down here and move into that finals again."

SEMIFINALS

Kaukauna 72, Muskego 4

152: Connor Smith K pinned Mason Duerwachter 4:32. 160: Peyton Lee K pinned Ryker Morgan 0:19. 170: Liam Crook K tech fall over Colin Foley 17-1. 182: Judah Hammen K pinned Matt Kinzel 4:21. 195: Drew Wendzicki K pinned Zach Current 0:36. 220: Jordan Loose K pinned Adam Dzievit 3:15. 285: Ben Krueger pinned Doiminic Schnier 1:05. 106: Nick Jenkins K major dec. Thomas Mattsen 11-2. 113: Michael Posorski K dec. Tim Madia 6-5. 120: Perry Baehr K won by forfeit. 126: Lucas Peters K pinned Nathan Schanen 0:57. 132: JT Brandstatter M major dec. Mason Hansen 13-5. 138: Bryan Winans K pinned Mason Drout 1:08. 145: Greyson Clark K pinned Cole Reid 1:13.

Marshfield 43, Bay Port 25

152: Hoyt Blaskowski M pinned Colton Zipp 2:35. 160: Caleb Dennee M pinned Will Nast 4:51. 170: Garrett Willuweit M pinned Calix Klimek 3:24. 182: Owen Griesbach M major dec. Ethan Farley 13-5. 195: Ayden Bruckner BP dec. Mason Seidl SV-1 9-7. 220: James Clements M dec. Alex Warden 5-3. 285: Adrian Kruger M dec. Tevyn Montgomery 7-2. 106: Jon Sternweis M dec. Landen Heim 6-3. 113: Alois Schlumpf BP pinned Ava Gardner 2:46. 120: Owen Wathke BP major dec. Jace Kelnhofer 13-0. 126: Easton Ledden M pinned Peyton Garcia 3:44. 132: Owen Noel BP pinned Keenen Landwehr :49. 138: Brett Franklin M pinned Nicholas Schomaker 1:59. 145: Jacob Ward BP pinned Tristan Merchant 1:36.

QUARTERFINALS

Kaukauna 67, Waukesha West 6

145: Greyson Clark K major dec. Xavier Guerrero 16-4. 152: Connor Smith K pinned Isaiah Guerrero 3:02. 160: Liam Crook K major dec. Xander Kuokkanen 12-0. 170: Judah Hammen K pinned Jaxon Lawrence 1:50. 182: Drew Wendzicki K pinned Brady Grisar 1:45. 195: Cole Tomchek K dec. Nelson Luecke 5-3. 220: Jordan Loose K pinned Gavin Brown :43. 285: Ben Krueger K pinned Gunnar Hanson :55. 106: Nick Jenkins K pinned Elliott Mulloy 1:53. 113: Michael Posorski K major dec. Bryan Rivera 16-6. 120: Trevor Moss WW pinned Moses Hammen 3:08. 126: Lucas Peters K tech. fall Tyr Colque 18-2. 132: Kolin DeGroot K pinned Jonas Siebert 4:17. 138: Bryan Winans K tech. fall Alex Ounkham 16-1.

Marshfield 47, Mukwonago 14

145: Hoyt Blaskowski MAR pinned Thomas Jungwirth 1:34. 152: Caleb Dennee MAR pinned Seth Krause 1:46. 160: Grayden Rode MAR major dec. Wyatt Newman 19-10. 170: Garrett Willuweit MAR pinned Charles Vento 2:45. 182: Owen Griesbach MAR dec. Hayden Chitwood 13-7. 195: Mason Seidl MAR pinned Wade Kippers 5:10. 220: Ryan Mazer MUK dec. James Clements 6-0. 285: Adrian Kruger MAR dec. Grant Stromberg 5-4. 106: Jon Sternweis MAR major dec. Colton Katzfey 12-1. 113: Josephine Stachowski MUK dec. Ava Gardner 5-0. 120: Brian Whipple MUK major dec. Jace Kelnhofer 17-6. 126: Easton Ledden MAR dec. Alex Needham 5-0. 132: Adam Whittier MUK major dec. Keenen Landwehr 15-1. 138: Brett Franklin MAR pinned Blake Roberts 3:52.

Bay Port 40, Reedsburg 33

145: Trevor Finger BP pinned Aidan Hackney 2:14. 152: Jacob Ward BP pinned Drew Purifoy 1:34. 160: Peyton Fry R pinned Colton Zipp 1:39. 170: Devin Judd R pinned Ethan Farley 3:43. 182: Ayden Bruckner BP dec. Bennett Rhodes 6-2. 195: Treyton Schinker R pinned Jacques Knight 1:41. 220: Jesus Gonzalez R pinned Tevyn Montgomery 1:33. 285: Alex Warden BP pinned Isaac Henke 2:58. 106: Treynor Curtin R dec. Landen Heim 5-1. 113: Alois Schlumpf BP pinned Boe Severson :42. 120: Owen Wathke BP major dec. Kade Parrish 9-0. 126: Trenton Curtin R pinned Peyton Garcia 2:29. 132: Owen Noel BP pinned Brogan Mittlesteadt 4:00. 138: Nicholas Schomaker BP dec. Colton Herritz 19-12.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Kaukauna, Marshfield set for Division 1 wrestling showdown