BROCKWAY – After a slow start, the light switch turned on for the Clearfield Wrestling team, as the Bison rolled over Brockway 39-21 Thursday night.
“When it first started, I was like oh my. I don’t want to see this again. But all of a sudden, we had the light switch come on. And, from then on, we went out and said, ‘we don’t care who you are, where you’re from or what your record is. We’re going out and wrestling for six minutes, and we’ll see who comes out on top,’” said head coach Jeff Aveni.
Aveni said he had wrestlers come through for him in both winning and losing efforts.
“We had gutsy performances from Andre Buck, Andrew Spicer, Max VonGunden, Andrew Hill and Shane Harper. I’ve been waiting for that from those guys. They wrestled tough, came through and made us a better team,” he said.
Buck (215) VonGunden (119) and Hill (130) posted decision wins, while Spicer and Harper found themselves on the losing end of one and two-point matches, respectively.
The dual meet got under way at 145 pounds with Clearfield surrendering a forfeit.
But Bison Derek Danver took the mat and quickly jumped out to a 10-1 first period favor over Rover Ryan Terwilliger at 152 pounds.
Danver scored a takedown and turned Terwilliger twice for three back points each. Terwilliger managed to escape the Bison’s grasp, but Danver tacked on his second takedown of the period.
In the second, the sophomore upped his lead with a takedown and two near falls.
Electing to go with the optional start, Danver took Terwilliger down for three more near fall points and the technical fall at the 5:15 mark in the final stanza.
At 160, Brockway’s Zach Brinkley picked up the bout’s initial takedown. But Bison Wil Beauseigneur escaped and fought a pair of Rover shot attempts, keeping his battle close after one.
After swapping reversals, Beauseigneur chose to cut Brinkley loose to start the third. Neither wrestler scored, setting a 5-3 final.
Clearfield’s Shawn Hall used a takedown and two near falls for a 4-0 favor over Rover Stephen Terwilliger after one.
He went back to work in the second, adding a reversal and three back points.
Hall continued taking it to Terwilliger with a takedown clinic in third. The senior had three takedowns in the final stanza en route a 15-3 major decision.
After his team gave up a fall at 189, Bison Andre Buck found himself in a hard fought battle against Brockway’s Joel Yahner in the next bout.
Up 2-0 in the final period, Buck surrendered an escape. He was hit with his second stall call, sending the bout to overtime.
In the extra period, Buck fought off two Yahner takedowns for one of his own and the 4-2 decision.
“I think it was Buck’s match that the light switch came on. We had a good win there. We had a good win out of Derek Danver,” Aveni said.
“I wasn’t frustrated with Wil. It was a match that he should have won, but we just didn’t come out on top there.”
Aveni said that he had to compliment Brockway for its performances early on in the dual meet.
“They had a nice win at 160 pounds and kept from getting pinned at 152 and 171 pounds. And, we get pinned at 189 pounds. It was frustrating that they fought off their backs as much as they did,” he said.
Clearfield’s Sean Owen (285), Shane Peters (103) and Kodie Lowder (112) would earn forfeits and a 30-15 team advantage.
Going scoreless in the first, Bison Max VonGunden used a second period reversal for a 2-1 lead over Rover DJ Forrest at 119 pounds.
On top in the third, he tilted Forrest twice for five near fall points and the 7-1 decision.
“He was excited for himself, and it took a little time. You could see that he was coming. Finally, the lights came on in his head and the offense started coming out,” Aveni said.
“Max has done a lot of wrestling and been around a long time. He knows how to win. He knows how to wrestle. He just needed to believe in himself.”
Bison senior Andrew Spicer faced Brockway’s Ian Grecco in a re-match. The two had met earlier this season in the Big Dog Tournament finals. Grecco, then, edged Spicer by a 2-0 score.
In the first, Grecco was in on a shot attempt and had Spicer on his back. Although he hadn’t secured the takedown, the Rover was later awarded two back points once he had done so.
Trailing by four, Spicer picked up two near fall points of his own before giving up an escape in the second.
Spicer started down in the third and escaped Grecco’s grasp. He used a Grecco stall point to pull within one. Spicer, however, wasn’t able to sneak out a takedown and the win in the few remaining seconds.
“Spicer wrestled well enough to win the match. But two imaginary back points were the deciding factor at the end, or he wins that match by a point,” Aveni said.
“He wrestled well. I wanted him to go out, let it fly and see what happens. You get a bad call here and there, and Spicer got one. It’s disappointing for him, but at the same time, it was a well-wrestled match.”
Up 2-1 in the second, Clearfield’s Andrew Hill racked up an escape, takedown and six near fall points on Rover Devon Shenkle at 130 pounds.
Shenkle earned a Hill penalty point for the Bison’s third caution before notching an escape and takedown to make the bout score 10-6. Hill would reverse the Rover wrestler to set the final.
Bison Holden Lowe posted a 1-0 decision win over Brockway’s Trevor Hartless at 135 pounds. Battling through two scoreless periods, Lowe escaped in the third to come out on top.
“He wrestled tough and got another solid win against a quality kid. I think a little better technique, and he would have finished a couple shots there. But that was a big 135-pounder who would probably be a 140-pounder on most teams. Holden got a good win over him,” Aveni said.
Aveni said that biggest match of the night was the final bout that pitted sophomore Shane Harper against Rover Nathan Hartless.
Getting off to a quick start, Harper took Hartless down for two. He locked in a cradle, taking Hartless to his back. No near fall points were awarded.
Hartless used an escape and takedown for a 3-2 lead after one.
In the second, the Rover scored on a reversal. Harper escaped in the second and again in the third. He looked for a quick shot off the whistle in the third but jumped the gun, surrendering a caution point to Hartless to set the final.
Aveni said that Harper wrestled well and came out on top in his book.
“If he gets the two back points that he should have had in the first period, we win that match. We gave up imaginary back points at 125 pounds, but we didn’t get them, where we have the guy in a cradle at 140 pounds,” Aveni said.
“That was our match the whole way, and that’s what I’m going to tell Shane. As far as I’m concerned, he won the match and did what he needed to do to win.”
He said that Harper wrestled a very good kid who had a 16-3 record with most of his wins coming at 145 and 152 pounds.
“Shane came out as a 135-pounder, moved up (a weight class) and wrestled that kind of caliber kid at that level. It shows you just how good he can be. That’s what we want to see come out of him at this point in the year,” Aveni said.
Overall, Aveni said that his team wrestled better than their performance on Tuesday night against St. Marys.
“We are where we need to be heading into the (Bison) duals. We need to wrestle a bunch of matches and keep it rolling,” he said.
Clearfield returns to action Saturday at home at the Bison Duals. Wrestling is set for 8:30 a.m.
Clearfield 39 Brockway 21
145 – Jaron Licatovich (B) WBFF (0-6)
152 – Derek Danver (C) WBTF Ryan Terwilliger (B), 19-3, 5:15 (5-6)
160 – Wil Beauseigneur (C) LBD Zach Brinkley (B), 3-5 (5-9)
171 – Shawn Hall (C) WBMD Stephen Terwilliger (B), (15-3) (9-9)
189 – Cliff Hill (C) LBF Colt Puhala (B), 2:59 (9-15)
215 – Andre Buck (C) WBD Joel Yahner (B), 4-2 OT (12-15)
285 – Sean Owen (C) WBFF (18-15)
103 – Shane Peters (C) WBFF (24-15)
112 – Kodie Lowder (C) WBFF (30-15)
119 – Max VonGunden (C) WBD DJ Forrest (B), 7-1 (33-15)
125 – Andrew Spicer (C) LBD Ian Grecco (B), 4-5 (33-18)
130 – Andrew Hill (C) WBD Devon Shenkle (B), 12-6 (36-18)
135 – Holden Lowe (C) WBD Trevor Hartless (B), 1-0 (39-18)
140 – Shane Harper (C) LBD Nathan Hartless (B), 4-6 (39-21)