It’s a streak that fans of Oconto Falls High School’s wrestling program might not know about.
The Panthers have had at least one wrestler compete for a state championship in each of the last 16 years.
Whether the Panthers will have more wrestlers participating in Championship Saturday at the WIAA State Individual Wrestling Championships in Madison in February remains to be seen, but coach Matt Morrissey likes what he has seen from his team of boys and girls so far.
That success includes a pair of North Eastern Conference dual meet wins Jan. 15 at Waupaca High School. The Panthers opened the three-team meet with a 62-15 win over the host Comets and followed it up with a 59-24 victory over Wrightstown.
Oconto Falls 62, Waupaca 15
Pierce Karl’s 12-7 win over Isaiah Holtz at 120 pounds gave Waupaca an early 9-5 lead and was one of two contested wins for Waupaca.
Noah Crane had the Comets’ only pin, as he took care of Brayden Weenig in 2:51 at 165.
By then, the Panthers had built a 38-9 lead. Logan Bozile picked up a 16-0 technical fall of Max Brey (113), Levi Mommaerts pinned Gabe Estrada in 1:44 (132), Ethan Zielinski picked up a 5-4 win over Ryan Frank (144), Sage Mendolla pinned Brody Pate in 37 seconds (150), and Michael Geurts pinned pinned Matt Schmidt in 2:24.
Oconto Falls’ other wins came on Trevor Fisher’s pin of Ian Johnson in 3:01 (175), Caleb Dryja’s pin of Zane Tice in 1:18 (190), and Jagger Reed’s pin of Ian Russ in 41 seconds (285).
Oconto Falls 59, Wrightstown 24
Six pins – including three in a row at one point – helped the Panthers take a 41-6 lead over the Tigers.
Those wins included Bozile’s pin of Mathias Brick in 1:03 (113), Taylor Derouin’s pin of Wyatt Heim in 1:04 (126), Mommaerts’ pin of Braeden Butcher in 4:49 (132), Jack Falkowski’s 18-0 technical fall of Ian Jack (138), Zielinski’s pin of Jordan Enderby in 3:18 (144), Mendolla’s pin of Dallas Ehnerd in 49 seconds (150) and Geurts’ pin of Lucas Hansen in 52 seconds (157).
Dryja had Oconto Falls’ final win of the match by pinning Alejandro Gonzalez in 2:43 (190).
Wrightstown’s wins came on Easton Felchin’s pin of Holtz in 48 seconds (120), Dawson Smet’s pin of Weenig in 1:37 (165) and Miguel Francisco Monzon’s pin of Jack Ermis in 43 seconds (215).
“It felt good, and the guys had a good week of practice,” Morrissey said. “Everyone wrestled really well tonight as a team.”
The Panthers compete with several quality programs in the North Eastern Conference that have produced several individual state champions in recent years, including Wrightstown, Luxemburg-Casco and Freedom.
“It’s a tough conference, but we’re wrestling well,” Morrissey said. “We’ve had some ups and downs. We got beat by Freedom and would have liked to have that one, but we’re wrestling hard.”
It also helps to have several wrestlers to fill most weight classes.
“Our numbers are up, and the interest is good,” Morrissey said. “That makes a big difference.”
The Panthers are scheduled to host Luxemburg-Casco and Marinette on Jan. 22 for a conference dual meet.
Hard work and a strong youth program have helped Oconto Falls stay relevant in the conference, according to Morrissey.
“We have a really good youth program, which leads to our middle school program,” he said. “We just keep at it.”
Current wrestlers are well aware of past Oconto Falls wrestlers, including Clayton Whiting, who won four individual state titles from 2019-22, and the Panthers’ last state champion, Taylor Whiting, who won the 107-pound girls state championship in 2023.
“Not a lot, but we do remind them of trying to get somebody down to state,” Morrissey said. “We’ve had 16 years in a row with somebody in the finals. We try to not let that die and let them know about the tradition.”
This year’s WIAA State Individual Wrestling Championships are scheduled for Feb. 26-28 at the Kohl Center in Madison. The team championships have a new location this year – the La Crosse Center in La Crosse – and will be held March 6-7.
To qualify for state, individuals and teams must make it through regional and sectional rounds.
Morrissey said there’s reason to believe that the Panthers will qualify wrestlers for state.
“They like to support each other, and it starts when they’re younger,” he said. “They stick together, and they wrestle when they’re older. It’s a love-hate relationship with wrestling. It’s a hard sport, but they work hard and support each other. If somebody’s down in practice, another guy is trying to help his spirit.”
