It all came down to the final two wrestlers of the night.
The winner of the 138-pound match between Oconto Falls High School’s Noah Stary and Bay Port’s Brady Shulfer, both state ranked, would determine which team would take home the victory. Down by two points, Oconto Falls needed Stary to pull out a win.
Shulfer, however, scored a 12-1 major decision to give Bay Port a 36-30 victory in nonconference action Dec. 22.
Oconto Falls led 30-19 with four matches remaining, but Bay Port got a pin, two major decisions and a decision to tally the final 17 points of the night.
With an 11-point advantage late, Oconto Falls tri-head coach Marc Kinziger was figuring out a little math to see what his guys needed to do to earn the victory.
“We went in in our pre-match warmups and we had us winning seven and them winning seven, if we win the flip,” Kinziger said. “We lost flip, so they won eight, we won six. When we lost the flip, we’re looking, we need pins and we can’t get pinned. And bonus points is what that came right down to.
“It would have been nice to sneak a victory in one of the last two weight classes. But that was the strength of their lineup and those are a couple of our good guys. They wrestled good, but obviously we were a little outgunned in those two weight classes.”
Despite trailing by 11, Bay Port coach Brad Shefchik was confident his guys would come back.
“We just had to stick to our game plan,” Shefchik said. “We knew we had some matchups coming up at the end there, and as long as the guys did their job, which is stay in position and put points on the board and put pressure back on them.”
With his team trailing 30-19, Bay Port’s Harry Prange (30-19) beat Oconto Falls’ Bodee Woods at 120 on a 10-2 major decision. The Panthers’ regular 120 wrestler, Austin VanDenHeuvel, was out after a work accident.
The Pirates’ Jarod Maes followed with a pin of the Panthers’ Robert McDermid at 126. Oconto Falls’ Trevor Pankratz is usually in that spot, but he is going through concussion protocol.
Oconto Falls, which is 4-3 in dual meets this season, was also without another starter as Bryce Ash (145) was battling the flu.
Bay Port took the lead back, 32-30, for the third time on the night after Caleb Hale downed Oconto Falls’ Kenton Peterson at 132 by an 8-2 decision.
That set up the showdown at 138. Stary came in ranked No. 7 in Division 2 by wiwisconsin.com and Shulfer was No. 11 in Division 1.
“I felt like we had a good shot,” Kinziger said. “You put yourself into that position, you put one of your leaders to try and get a win there. Their guy stepped up.”
Bay Port, which is honorable mention as a team in D1 by wiwisconsin.com, jumped out to a 7-0 advantage after two matches, but pins by Nate Trepanier (160) and Mac Winkler (182) put Oconto Falls up 12-10.
The Pirates won the next two matchups to make it 19-12, and Oconto Falls responded with consecutive pins by Dan Ausloos (285), Collin Schindel (106) and Bryce Peterson (113).
“The guys that needed to get the pins for the most part did,” Kinziger said. “We didn’t stay off our back a couple of times when we needed to.”
It’s been a hectic schedule for Oconto Falls of late and Kinziger is hoping to get his guys get healthy and ready for a push in the final couple of months of the season.
“A week ago we went Freedom, Coleman, Battle on the Bay to a triangular in Denmark within like five days and then we come right back with this match,” Kinziger said. “We knew it was going to be a meat grinder, and it shows. We’re beat up, but we have about a week off and we head out to Merrill. We want to repeat as champions out there.”
Bay Port 36, Oconto Falls 30
145: Dylan Sundin, BP, mdec. Cliff Yuma, OF, 10-2; 152: Marshall Jeppeson, BP, dec. Connor Scray, OF, 10-4; 160: Nate Trepanier, OF, pinned Jackson Shipley, BP, 0:59; 170: Jack Rathburn, BP, dec. Brice Delzer, OF, 4-3; 182: Mac Winkler, OF, pinned Dan Glendenning, BP, 2:18; 195: Ben Kitslaar, BP, pinned Garrett Cole, OF, 0:59; 220: Jake Flisakowski, BP, dec. Kyle Wolf, OF, 6-3; 285: Dan Ausloos, OF, pinned Sam Cuny, BP, 1:44; 106: Collin Schindel, OF, pinned Chance Osmanski, BP, 1:44; 113: Bryce Peterson, OF, pinned Dimitry Tkhorik, BP, 1:29; 120: Harry Prange, BP, mdec. Bodee Woods, OF, 10-2; 126: Jarod Maes, BP, pinned Robert McDermid, OF, 0:50; 132: Caleb Hale, BP, dec. Kenton Peterson, OF, 8-2; 138: Brady Shulfer, BP, mdec. Noah Stary, OF, 12-1.
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