CLARION – Clearfield took home the AAA District IX team title Saturday and won three individual titles. Kasey Casher, Shawn Hall, and Sean Owen are the district titlists for this year\’s Bison squad. Clearfield had a total of ten wrestlers in the finals, but lost several close decisions early on in the finals round.
At 103 pounds, top seed Kodie Lowde received a bye to the finals where he faced Dubois\’ TJ Stanton for a third time. Stanton lost the first two meetings but finally broke through with a 3-2 win over Lowder.
At 112 Andrew Hill placed 4th, losing to top seed and undefeated Kody Young by fall and then dropping a very hard-fought 4-3 decision to Nick Bogacki of Dubois.
119-pounder Andrew Spicer looked very impressive at districts, earning a berth in the finals with a dominant 10-0 win over Ty Albright. Spicer faced top seed Zach Hoy in the finals, and Spicer wrestled a very tough match before finally losing 2-0. Hoy ran his record to 29-3.
Clearfield dropped another heartbreaking decision at 125, as Dubois\’ David Whitaker defeated Holden Lowe for the third time this season, 3-1. Lowe reached the finals with a 9-1 win over St. Mary\’s Butch Yetzer.
Shane Harper finished 4th for the Bison at 130. Harper dropped an 8-3 decision to Brent Cousins and a 4-1 decision to Dillin Dixon. Harper showed much improvement, however, as both matches were close until the final stages.
Senior Richie Queen was looking to go out with a bang as a district champ at 135, but it was not to be. After a very close 6-4 win over Zach Smith in the semis, Punxsy\’s Derek Burkett was all over Queen in the finals, notching a 7-2 win.
The frustration continued for Clearfield at 140 in the finals, as Pat Mahan defeated Derek Danver 7-4. Danver earned a fall over Jake McMurtrie to get to the finals.
Kasey Casher finally got Clearfield rolling in the finals with a 12-8 win over Kody Shipe of St. Mary\’s. Casher notched four takedowns and two reversals. The takedowns were the first Clearfield takedowns in the championship round. On the night Clearfield wrestlers went 3-0 when they scored a takedown, 0-7 when they did not.
At 152 Will Beauseigneur faced arguably the toughest bracket in the tournament, with the top three seeds all scoring 25 wins or more. Beauseigneur won his prelim match against Easton Renwick 11-9 but then lost by fall to Mark Havers and 14-0 to Shane Claar to finish fourth.
Shawn Hall provided the most exciting match of the night in the championship round, coming from behind to defeat Justin McAninch 5-3 in OT. McAninch hit an escape and a takedown in the second period to lead 3-0 after two. Hall struggled throughout the thrid to get off the bottom but finally scored an escape with 20 seconds remaining, then was able to hit a takedown at the final buzzer to extend the match to overtime. In OT, Hall again was the aggressor and scored another takedown to claim his first district title.
Senior Lee Zalno earned a trip to regionals at 171 with a third-place fall over Kevin Hoy. Eric Lundgren had beaten Zalno 19-7 in the semis.
At 189, Andre Buck scored the biggest upset of the semifinals with an 8-7 win over Luke Bennet. Trailing 4-1 after the first period, Buck hit a reversal and received four back points after Bennett complained of injury while on his back, then earned an escape in the third to seal the victory. In the finals Shane Krise got the better of Buck for the third time this season, 9-3.
At 215, Mike Hill earned a strong second place finish via an 11-2 defeat of Tyler Burkett in the semis. Sean Sadosky ran his record to 29-3 by pinning Hill in the finals.
Sean Owen capped the night for the Bison with a fall over Aaron Geis in 3:42, giving Clearfield the team scoring title. Owen pinned Chad Rumgay in 34 seconds in the semis to earn his finals berth.
All ten finaists plus third-place Lee Zalno earned a trip to regionlas next weekend at Altoona High School. Wrestling prelims start Friday, with action continuing through Saturday night. The top-3 placewinners at regionals advance to the state championships March 6-8 at Hershey.
Team Totals
Clearfield 164 points 10 finalists 3 champs
St. Mary\’s 155 points 7 finalists 3 champs
Punxsutawney 128 points 5 finalists 5 champs
Dubois 122 points 5 finalists 2 champs
Bradford 60 points 1 finalist 1 champ
The complete results courtesy the District 9 wrestling website:
http://www.leaguelineup.com/d9w/files/2008%20District%20IX%20Class%20AAA%20final.pdf
http://www.leaguelineup.com/d9w/files/2008%20District%20IX%20Class%20AAA%20final.pdf
Clearfield results
Preliminary Round
Beauseigneur dec. Renwick 11-9
Beauseigneur dec. Renwick 11-9
Semifinals
Young WBF A. Hill 2:36
Spicer maj. Albright 10-0
Lowe maj. Yetzer 9-1
Cousins dec. Harper 8-3
Queen dec. Smith 6-4 (1 team pt deducted from Clearfield)
Danver WBF McCurtrie 3:34
Casher WBF Reams :57
Havers WBF Beauseigneur :47
Hall maj Brem 14-3
Lundgren maj Zalno 19-7
Buck dec. Bennett 8-7
M. Hill maj. Burkett 13-2
Owen WBF Rumgay :34
Consolation Finals
Bogacki dec. A. Hill 4-3 OT RO
Dixon dec. Harper 3-1
Claar maj. Beauseigneur 14-0
Zalno WBF K. Hoy 2:29
FINALS
Stanton dec. Lowder 3-2
Hoy dec. Spicer 2-0
Whitaker dec. Lowe 3-2
Burkett dec. Queen 7-2
Mahan dec. Danver 7-4
Casher dec. Shipe 12-8
Hall dec. McAninch 5-3 OT
Krise dec. Buck 9-3
Sadosky WBF Hill 4:47
Owen WBF Geis 3:42