Hale star Mocco set for final season
WEST ALLIS – The gratification would have to be delayed.
West Allis Hale senior Peyton Mocco was poised to hit the mat for his first match since last spring when had the rug pulled from under him. Marquette, Hale's opponent, took a pass. He won by forfeit.
It was not the glorious return to action one might hope for after missing most of the spring and summer while recovering from a knee injury, but that was the situation laid out for the Huskies’ wrestling state champion.
“I know that is going to occasionally happen,” he said, “but as long as I come prepared and ready to go, I’ll go with whatever they give me.”
Mocco, who won the Division 1 state title at 152 pounds last year, enjoyed his official return to competition Saturday when he went 5-0 at a tournament hosted by Lomira, He won each match by pin to officially close the book on an eventful yet uneventful off-season.
He spent most of that time on the mend from a lateral collateral ligament (LCL) tear in his knee. Before the injury, however, Mocco put together a string of performances that helped him net a scholarship to one of the nation’s top programs, Missouri, which produced his club coaches, Ben and Max Askren, former Arrowhead standouts.
At FloNationals, Mocco placed third at 145 pounds. In the semifinals, he gave the weight class’ eventual winner, Sammy Sasso -- the weight's No. 1 prospect for the 2018 class, a tougher match than he experienced in the final.
A month later Mocco competed at the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation freestyle state meet and finished second despite a nagging knee issue. A week later, he found out about the ligament damage, an injury that kept him from training fully until October.
By that time, however, Missouri had seen enough. His off-season work, especially the job he did at FloNationals, spoke volumes.
“What really impressed me on the mat was a match that he lost to one of the top recruits in the nation,” Missouri coach Brian Smith said on signing day. “It was just a battle, he was just competing the entire match and fell behind, came back, and almost found a way to win the match. I was like, 'this kid's going to be good.' ”
Mocco enters his senior season with three WIAA state meet appearances on his résumé. He finished fifth at 113 pounds as a freshman and qualified as a sophomore at 132, though he didn’t win a match at state. Part of the challenge that year was adjusting not only to competitors who were much heavier than he previously experienced but getting used to his growing physique.
He continued to grow between his sophomore and junior years, though Hale coach Randy Ferrell believed Mocco was more comfortable with the added weight. Mocco feels his mindset was better, too.
“The difference between junior year and sophomore year was my mindset coming into the match,” he said. “Sophomore year I was a little timid out there. I wasn’t coming out there with my game plan and junior year I just left it all out there on the mat.“
The result was a 46-3 campaign in 2016-'17 that was capped by Mocco overcoming adversity to become the school's first state champion since 1962 and the second state champion in school history. He’d dropped a 7-5 decision to Waukesha West’s Shane Gantz in the sectional final but bounced back to beat Gantz, 5-4, in the final.
This year he expects to stay at 160. “I feel good about it," he said. "I’ve grown a little since last year. I think 160 is a good stepping point to where I want to wrestle in college - I want to wrestle at 165 - so that way I can continue to get bigger this year and then continue to get bigger as I get ready to go to Missouri.”
There is a lot of work to do before then, though.
In addition to trying to win another title and help Hale win its first Greater Metro Conference championship since 2013, Mocco is ranked No. 1 in his class academically.
A second state title and the honor of being a valedictorian? Mocco's senior year could be a fantastic final act.
“That’s just as important to me as winning another state title,” he said. “Being No. 1 in my class would be a pretty big deal. I definitely want to accomplish that.”