HYDE — The Bison Wrestling team came up short , falling 34-30 in a barn burner with Brookville last night at Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium.
“Well, in a lot of areas, we’ve established some fight and some go,” said head wrestling coach Jeff Aveni of his team’s performance. “We wrestled some tough matches, won some tough matches and lost some tough matches. We finally got some falls tonight, which is a big thing, but we gave up a fall in a dogfight.”
The match started at 145-pounds where Brookville won the first three bouts to jump ahead 9-0.
The Raiders got decision wins from Shane Ross (145), Tyler Ferry (152) and Noah Johnson (160).
Clearfield fell by one in two of three bouts, which. according to Aveni, was a deciding factor in the match.
However, he was still impressed with the performances by Queen and Zalno when he said, “We’re closer. That match Lee Zalno lost by a point and he lost 10-1 to that same kid at Big Dog” … “Richie Queen wrestled a great match. He lost by one point, but wrestled real well.”
The Bisons got on the board at 171 pounds when Jake Riglin pinned Kalvin Gilhousen in 2:32.
At 189, Joe Shields answered with a fall in 54 seconds to extend the Brookville lead to 15-6.
Clearfield got six of those points back with 215-pounder Nick Redden winning by forfeit.
The heavyweight bout featured a re-match between Sean Owen and state runner-up Eli Morres.
The two met in December at the Brockway Big Dog Tournament where Morres defeated Owen by a 5-1 score.
Only two opponents have scored on Morres this season — Owen and Tyler Lanciotti of Greenville.
Morres used a takedown, reversal and a set of near fall points to win by a 6-0 decision.
There wasn’t a 103-pound bout, while 112-pounder Andrew Spicer won by forfeit
At 119, Cody Billotte pinned Brendan Beyer in 1:28.
Billotte’s fall put the Bisons on top 24-18, but Brookville evened the score after Brandon Sansom won by forfeit at 125 pounds.
Bison, 130-pounder Anthony Schultz took down Jesse Wayne, before the two swapped reversals and near fall points.
The bout was tied at seven a piece at the end of one.
Schultz and Wayne exchanged reversals again to start the second period, before Wayne picked up back points and the fall.
Down by six, Shawn Hall went to work in his 135-pound bout with Nick Bishop.
Hall took a 4-3 lead into the second where he added an escape, takedown and three near fall points.
Up 10-3, Hall went for the bonus, pinning Bishop in 4:43.
“Shawn Hall has been wrestling real well, Jake Riglin has been wrestling real well and Lee Zalno has stepped it up lately. He’s been wrestling tough” … “We had some great performances there and we’ve started to establish some leadership with the team. Hopefully, that will start to carry us through.”
The team score was dead even at 30 with one bout remaining.
Unfortunately for the Bisons, Justin Moore earned a 13-2 major decision to give Brookville a 34-30 victory.
“We’re closing the gap,” said Aveni. “We’re getting better, but we’re just not quite there yet.”
Clearfield is back in action Wednesday night when the Bisons travel to Altoona. The meet is set for 6 p.m.
“It’s going to take a gutsy performance [at Altoona],” said Aveni, “We’re going to have to wrestle, scrap and fight for every bout and every point. We’re giving up two forfeits, so we’ll have to make up for that.”’
Although the team is giving up two forfeits, Aveni still believes his team can win.
“It’s starting to bring some guys together. If we come together as a team and put 12 guys out there, who want to win and give it everything they got, you can win matches with just 12 guys.”
Clearfield 30 Brookville 34
145 – Richie Queen (C) LBD Shane Ross (BKV), 3-4, 0-3
152 – Doug Gisewhite (C) LBD Tyler Ferry (BKV), 2-5, 0-6
160 – Lee Zalno (C) LBD Noah Johnson (BKV), 3-4, 0-9
171 – Jacob Riglin (C) WBF Kalvin Gilhousen (BKV), 2:32, 6-9
189 – Justin Barbieri (C) LBF Joe Shields (BKV), :54, 6-15
215 – Nick Redden (C) WBFF
285 – Sean Owen (C) LBD Eli Morres (BKV), 0-6, 12-18
103- No Match, 12-18
112 – Andrew Spicer (C) WBFF, 18-18
119 – Cody Billotte (C) WBF Brendan Beyer (BKV), 1:28, 24-18
125 – Brandon Sansom (BKV) WBFF, 24-24
130 – Anthony Schultz (C) LBF Jesse Wayne, 3:44, 24-30
135 – Shawn Hall (C) WBF Nick Bishop, 4:43, 30-30
140 – Anthony Moore (C) LBMD Justin Moore, 2-13, 30-34
