Bison Matmen Throttle Beavers 42-23

DUBOIS – Down 13-0 after 3 bouts, the Clearfield Bison wrestlers ripped off seven wins in a row and never looked back, handily dispatching D9 rival DuBois 42-23. Clearfield got some hard-nosed performances in key bouts and seemed more aggressive than in their dual meet vs. Bald Eagle Area. “This was a team effort, top to bottom,” said a very pleased Coach Jeff Aveni. “We battled every match”.

The meet started at 160 lbs. with a rematch from Saturday’s Tool City tournament. Clearfield’s Shawn Hall was looking to avenge a 10-5 loss to DuBois’ Justin McAninch, but fell behind 5-1 and lost 9-7. “[Hall] is closing the gap,” said Aveni. “McAninch has a great shot, we struggled to stop it. We felt we outshot McAninch, we just need more QUALITY shots”.

At 171 Lee Zalno of Clearfield faced DuBois standout Eric Lundgren. Zalno was aggressive from the start, but Lundgren’s technique and countering skills won the day, 12-2. At 189, Sam Maines was then pinned in 51 seconds, putting Clearfield in an early 13-0 hole.

The tide began to turn at 215 pounds as Clearfield’s Andre Buck, after a scoreless 1^st period, reversed the Beavers’ Mike Gralla to his back and pinned him at 2:24. Buck and Gralla had both weighed in at 189 and were bumped up. “[Buck] will see a big difference at 189, he’ll be able to compete at a high level there,\” said Aveni.

Clearfield heavyweight standout Sean Owen was initially frustrated by Josh Yohe’s stalling tactics, but after taking the top position in the 2^nd period he was able to finally turn and pin Yohe at 3:04, closing the team score to 13-12. “Once I saw we were through HWT and we were only down 13-12, I knew we were in great shape,” Aveni said.

103 lbs featured another Tool City rematch, as Kodie Lowder of Clearfield faced T.J. Stanton. Lowder had pinned Stanton at Meadville, but this time Stanton was able to jump out to an early 2-0 lead. Lowder took a 3-2 lead in the 2^nd on an escape and takedown, then hit a reversal and takedown in the 3^rd after Stanton’s reversal to win the bout 8-5.

Max VonGunden continued the Bison Stampede at 112 with a very workmanlike 6-2 win. VonGunden scored 2 takedowns and 2 escapes in the match, including 1 escape late to seal the victory. “That’s key for us, we have to stay aggressive on our feet…we need to outshoot our opponents and keep them on their heels,” said Aveni.

At 119, Andrew Spicer needed only 1:55 to earn a fall. Holden Lowe followed with an impressive 15-0 technical decision at 125, boosting Clearfield’s lead to 29-13. Lowe was looking to avenge a 2-1 loss to DuBois’ David Whitaker, but when Dubois bumped Whitaker to 130 Lowe took his frustrations out on Danny Robinson with 3 takedowns, an escape, and 9 nearfall points.

DuBois temporarily stopped the bleeding at 130 as Whitaker pinned Shane Harper at 3:48. Richie Queen stopped any thoughts of a comeback, however, handily defeating Dillon Dixon 13-0 at 135. Derek Danver sealed the win for the Bison at 140 with a fall over Austin Palumbo at 3:25, giving Clearfield a 39-19 lead.

At 145, Will Beauseigneur earned his first varsity win in the most entertaining bout of the night, an 8-6 overtime triumph over Matt Zimmerman. After Zimmerman got an early takedown, Beauseigneur reversed him to his back and led 5-2 after 1 period. After a scoreless second, Zimmerman reversed Beauseigneur, gave up an escape, then took the Clearfield wrestler down and held him down to force OT. Undeterred, Beauseigneur went on the attack in the extra period and secured a takedown to win the bout. “That was a great win for Will. He opened up his game, he was relaxed and just wrestled. He made a good shot in overtime and deserved to win,” said Aveni.

DuBois won the final match at 152 as Billy Morrison won a 12-3 major decision over Kasey Casher.

With the win, Clearfield moves to 3-2 and will face State College Thursday night. It is also Alumni Night, honoring wrestlers who graduated in the ‘8’s..’38, ’48, etc. The varsity meet is set to begin at 7PM.

Records as of 01/08/08