A team of two

When Fred Phillips and Gunnar Combs decided to go out for a sport at Pelican School, there was no question what it would be.

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At Pelican - high school enrollment four - wrestling is the only game in town.

With the Region V small-school wrestling meet this weekend and state matches the week after, Phillips and Combs - both seniors - are in the twilight of their prep athletic experience.

And with every meet, with every pin and reversal, they've had a rehearsal, of sorts, for what lies ahead.

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Pelican is a fishing community of about 115 people located about 70 miles west of Juneau. Most of the town is built on pilings above Lisianski Inlet and the adjoining tidal flats. A long boardwalk runs the length of the village, acting as the wooden spine of the community and serving as a makeshift track for the wrestling team's jogging.

Small schools in isolated villages are common in Alaska, and it is not unusual to have sports teams from the tiniest of towns. But officials at the Alaska School Activities Association said basketball is the prevalent sport in such circumstances.

In years past there was a Pelican basketball team, but nowadays the four-student high school cannot field the minimum five-player squad. So wrestling stands as the sole sport.

Ken Wolff moved to Pelican in 1992. Among other activities, he runs some fishing charters, does a little commercial fishing and is on the local school board. And for most of his time in town, Wolff has been the wrestling coach for the Pelican Bucks.

Wolff has been coaching Phillips since sixth grade, and he coached Phillips' older brothers, too. Combs joined the program his freshman year. Typically, Wolff has three or four middle and high schoolers in the program; with his entire high school team graduating, he'll have a few years of rebuilding ahead.

Rick Mills grew up in the village of Kake, competed in high school sports and has been coaching wrestling there for 15 years. Kake, though larger than Pelican, is similarly isolated - and Mills said it's a constant challenge to keep a small program intact.

"It's really difficult to maintain interest," he said. "Hats off to Kenny and the boys for staying in the ball game. It gets hard to go and stay with it every day when there's so few of you."

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Each year the Bucks travel to a handful of meets in Southeast. Weather kept them from this year's Brandon Pilot Invitational in Juneau, but they did make it to the Sitka Invitational. They'll head to Wrangell for the region meet.

"In their whole career, they have about as many matches as a kid in a bigger school would have in a season," Wolff said.

Phillips and Combs are dedicated to their sport, and they made clear that their first priority on the road is focusing on the competition at hand. But traveling affords them the chance to do things not possible in Pelican, like watching a movie in a theater, or housing out in the home of a complete stranger.

"They were just scared out of their wits," Wolff recalled of the first time his two wrestlers stayed in someone's home on the road, a common practice in Southeast sports. "Now, it's helped them become different people. If it weren't for wrestling, they probably wouldn't get out of town at all."

"It's allowed me to see new things, meet new people," Phillips said of wrestling.

Meeting new people is pretty easy to do, given the large scale of high school wrestling invites. The Sitka meet had 145 competitors - 30 more people than all of Pelican.

"It's kind of shocking," Phillips said of going to large meets. Other schools "have big teams with 20 people, and we have two. It's fun, but it's a little scary."

Phillips went 4-2 en route to a fourth-place finish in the 171-pound division at Sitka. Combs went 1-2 in the heavyweight division. Though he didn't place, Combs' one win was very significant - it was the first of his high school career.

"He knows what it takes to get to state, and this year it seems like he's really going for it," Wolff said of Combs.

Phillips and Combs are gearing up for next weekend's Region V small-schools meet in Wrangell, which will determine state berths. Last year Phillips just missed qualifying for the state meet, and Combs is hoping to build on his early-season success.

"Those wins were nice," Combs said of the Sitka results, "but we want more."

They're hoping to follow in the path of a number of previous state qualifiers from Pelican, including Phillips' brother Jordan, who made it to state as a senior last season.

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No matter what happens the rest of the way in sports, the two have goals for life after graduation. Combs will be heading to college with, at this point, an eye on law school. Phillips said he's interested in pursuing an engineering career. Both have near-4.0 GPAs - a point of pride for their coach - and a resolve to meet the goals they set.

"Once you start, you don't stop," Combs said of wrestling, and the long wait for his first win. "I said I was going to put in four years, and I've done it. ...

"Wrestling teaches you commitment, to stick with stuff going through all the ups and downs. It's changed me, and prepared me for what comes next."

• Andrew Krueger can be reached at akrueger@juneauempire.com.