CLEARFIELD – Although the performance didn’t live up to the Alumni Night expectations, the Bison Wrestling team still stuck a 43-16 defeat to the visiting Brookville Raiders Thursday night at Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium.
“We had a pretty good crowd of alumni and some state champions. Art was here, and that was nice. But there wasn’t much atmosphere. At one point, I thought that we were playing chess,” head coach Jeff Aveni said.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of emotion or anything, and that kind of showed up the whole way along the line. We took care of business and did what we needed to do.”
Aveni said that if he looked at the dual meet overall, he would have to say his team wrestled pretty well. He said that he could only think of one bout that should have turned out in his team’s favor but did not.
The dual meet started at 140 pounds, and Bison Shane Harper met Derek Shattenberg in a re-match.
With the score 3-2 in Brookville’s favor, Shattenberg notched a reversal and three back points. He used Harper’s third and fourth cautions for a pair of penalty points and the 10-2 major decision.
“We probably should and could have won that bout but didn’t. We pinned that guy twice up at Big Dog. It was a bout that I thought we were winning coming in,” Aveni said.
But Clearfield’s Derek Danver and Wil Beauseigneur would get their team on track, taking care of business at 145 and 152 pounds, respectively.
Danver quickly racked up a 10-0 advantage over Raider Brendon Beyer. After the initial takedown, he tilted Beyer for two sets of three back points before adding two more prior to the first period buzzer.
Starting from the top in the second period, the Bison sophomore went back to work, taking Beyer to his back twice for six more near fall points and the 16-0 tech fall at the 2:57 mark.
At 152, Beauseigneur posted two takedowns and an escape for a 5-0 lead after two over Tyler Dombrowski. Going with the optional start in the final period, he picked up a takedown to set the 7-1 final.
Brookville got back on the board in the next bout, as Aaron Kornhauser scored a 10-1 major decision over Bison Logan Shadeck, who just recently returned to the mat.
Kornhauser picked up two takedowns and three back points to go up by seven after two. He added an escape and his third takedown of the bout for the win.
“Shadeck is getting better every match. You can see him coming. He needs more time in the room and is (right now) getting mostly wrestling time. He’s been in the room about a week and has been wrestling every other day or two ever since. He’ll improve more as the season goes on,” Aveni said.
Clearfield’s Shawn Hall went for the fall right off the bat in his bout with Jacob Cieleski at 171 pounds. He hit a cement mixer for a takedown and two back points.
Hall surrendered an escape and nearly took down the Raider again with time winding down in the first.
In the second, the Bison senior escaped for a takedown and two more near fall points. He added a takedown in the final stanza for the 11-2 major decision.
After giving up a fall at 189 pounds, Clearfield earned two falls of its own from Andre Buck and Sean Owen at 215 and 285 pounds, respectively for a 24-13 lead.
Buck took down Luke Geer three times before pinning him in 35 seconds.
“He looked pretty sharp (out there). He went out and shot. When Andre shoots, he looks good, and that’s what we’ve been telling him all year,” Aveni said.
“. . . He’s not a very good dancing bear. But he can wrestle if he can get guys to wrestle him.”
Owen only needed 13 seconds to dispose of Brookville’s Logan Stout at heavyweight.
Up 2-1, Bison Shane Peters notched an escape and takedown in the second to increase his favor over Trey Constable at 103 pounds.
Constable managed a reversal in the third and tried to turn the Bison. Peters, however, hung on for the 5-3 decision.
“It wasn’t our best performance. He had beaten that kid worse earlier. Shane’s just got to quit taking rests on the bottom, and once he does that he’ll be alright,” Aveni said.
Clearfield’s Kodie Lowder took it to Raider Brett Smith, who entered the dual meet with a 22-6 record, in the next bout.
Lowder used a first period takedown and a reversal in the second for a 4-1 advantage after two periods.
Following a Smith escape, the Bison went back to work for another takedown and three back points. Smith managed a reversal to set the 9-4 final.
“That was a great win for Kodie Lowder. That was a real quality kid there. Kodie is a scrambler, and you better be in for a scrap. That was a real good win for him,” Aveni said.
Bison Max VonGunden picked up a forfeit win at 119, extending his team’s lead to 36-13, while Andrew Spicer scored three takedowns to tack on a 7-2 win over Ronald Clark in the next bout.
At 125, Brookville’s Dylan Zimmerman would pick up the Raiders’ last win of the night. He took down Clearfield’s Andrew Hill in each period for the 7-1 decision.
Despite the loss, Aveni said that his sophomore wrestled a pretty good match, noting Zimmerman was a real good kid. He said Hill made a couple of mistakes and abandoned his game plan.
“His game plan was to stay in good stance, move and time shots. But he tied up, and every time he tied up he got taken down,” he said.
“If he executes his game plan for six minutes, I don’t know that he gives up a takedown. And, he might have even gotten one himself.”
In the final bout of the night at 135 pounds, Bison Holden Lowe took down Dustin Dombrowski twice for a 4-1 favor at the end of the first period. Starting from the down position, he escaped and tacked on two more takedowns. He added another in the third for the 11-3 major decision.
Aveni said that his team is wrestling well but said they wrestle even better when they do so with emotion. He said that he expects them to at Saturday’s District 9 team duals.
“I think they’ll wrestle with a lot of emotion. There is a lot on the line. I think they are excited for it and ready. And, they may have already looked toward it,” he said.
Clearfield 43 Brookville 16
140 – Shane Harper LBMD Derek Shattenberg, 2-10 (0-4)
145 – Derek Danver WBTF Branden Beyer, 16-0, 2:57 (5-4)
152 – Wil Beauseigneur WBD Tyler Dombrowski, 7-1 (8-4)
160 – Logan Shadeck LBMD Aaron Kornhauser, 1-10 (8-8)
171 – Shawn Hall WBMD Jacob Cieleski, 11-2 (12-8)
189 – Cliff Hill LBTF Jacob Shields, 1-17, 5:02 (12-13)
215 – Andre Buck WBF Luke Geer, 0:35 (18-13)
285 – Sean Owen WBF Logan Stout, 0:13 (24-13)
103 – Shane Peters WBD Trey Constable, 5-3 (27-13)
112 – Kodie Lowder WBD Brett Smith, 9-4 (30-13)
119 – Max VonGunden WBFF (36-13)
125 – Andrew Spicer WBD Ronald Clark, 7-2 (39-13)
130 – Andrew Hill LBD Dylan Zimmerman, 7-1 (39-16)
135 – Holden Lowe WBMD Dustin Dombrowski, 11-3 (43-16)