HERSHEY, Pa. (EYT/D9) -- Clearfield won their opening round contest last Thursday at the PIAA Class 2A Team Wrestling Championships, but then were eliminated on Friday after dropping two straight.
Brady Collins turned in a stellar three-match performance for the Bison at 152 pounds, going 3-0 with two first-period pins. In Clearfield’s final match against Warrior Run, Collins, ranked third statewide by PA Power Wrestling (PAPW), won a 5-3 decision over PAPW’s top-ranked 152-pounder, Cameron Milhem.
The Bison, 13th in the state according to PAPW, pulled a minor upset in the first round, downing the 10th ranked Burgettstown Devils, 42-27.
Clearfield evenly split the 12 contested bouts with District 7 runner-up Burgettstown, all six wins on the mat coming via fall to outpoint the Devils, 36-27. The Bison’s Carter Chamberlain received a forfeit at the contest’s final weight, 215 pounds, the match already decided in their favor.
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Burgettstown won the first two bouts, earning pins at 285 and 107 pounds, jumping out to a 12-0 lead.
Clearfield responded in kind, a first period fall by 114-pounder Dakota Shugarts and another with two seconds left in the 121-pound bout by Cash Diehl, tying the score, 12-12.
Burgettstown went ahead, 24-12, winning the next three contests – a decision, major decision, and tech fall at 127, 133, and 139 pounds, respectively.
The Bison put things away after that, winning four of the next five, staking themselves to a 36-27 lead.
Scoring pins for the Bison were Ty Aveni at 145 pounds (1:57), Collins at 152 pounds (0:34), Carter Freeland at 172 pounds (5:40), and Hunter Ressler at 189 pounds (5:40).
Clearfield’s first-round win earned them a meeting on Friday at noon with District 3 champion Bishop McDevitt, the fourth ranked team in the state per PAPW.
The Crusaders won nine of the 13 bouts, beating the Bison, who scored a decision and three falls, 35-21.
Nick Bailor got Clearfield off on the right foot, earning a pin midway through the first period (1:04), staking the Bison to a 6-0 lead.
Bishop McDevitt won tech falls at 107 and 114 pounds, as well as a decision at 121 pounds, to go ahead, 13-6.
Bryndin Chamberlain put a halt to the Crusaders three-match run with a decision at 127 pounds, making the score 13-9.
The Crusaders then reeled off victories in six of the next seven bouts, the only Bison win in that span a pin by 152-pounder Collins (0:46), to put the match away, 35-15.
In the final bout, Hunter Ressler added six points to the Bison tally with his first period pin (1:57).
Clearfield’s tournament came to an end in the first consolation round, the Bison losing 29-24 to District 4 champion Warrior Run, 29-24.
The Warrior Run Defenders, PAPW’s sixth ranked team in the state, clinched the match in the penultimate bout, a pin at 215-pounds deciding the outcome.
Clearfield won the match’s first three bouts to amass an early 12-0 lead. Xavier Lutz and Shugart earned decisions at 107 and 114 pounds, respectively, followed by a Diehl second-period pin at 121 pounds (3:29).
Warrior Run took five of the next six bouts, Collins disrupting that run with his victory over Milheim at 152 pounds, the Defenders going ahead 23-15.
Carter Chamberlain brought the Bison to within five, 23-18, with a decision at 189 pounds before the Defenders put it away with a pin at 215 pounds.
With the match out of reach, 285-pounder Bailor scored one last win for Clearfield in Hershey with a second-period fall.
District 1 champion Faith Christian, the top-ranked team in the state per PAPW, beat PAPW’s number two team, District 6 champion, Bishop McCort, for the 2A team title, 46-18.
Notre Dame-Green Pond, the District 11 champion and third-ranked team by PAPW, downed Reynolds, the District 10 champion and PAPW’s fifth-ranked team, in the consolation finals, 41-18.
