CLARION – What a way to win! Bison Head Coach Jeff Aveni, always the master strategist, forfeited the final two bouts of the night against the Hempfield Spartans to assure his team a victory.
Whatever happened to win it on the mat? Well, the Bisons did win it on the mat; but they needed rulebook knowledge to do so. Clinging to a 33-21 lead with two bouts left, Clearfield handed Hempfield the final 12 points via forfeits to win the match on criteria (tie-breaker) H – most takedowns in the match. Still tied after the first seven tie-breakers, Clearfield’s 10-8 advantage in takedowns on the night proved to be the difference. The final score goes in the record book as 34-33 Clearfield.
As a result, the Bisons earned their first ever PIAA Team Wrestling Championships victory. They advance to Hershey to wrestle Blue Mountain in second round action on Friday at 10:00 a.m. District 11 runner-up Blue Mountain (11-1 record) beat Lower Dauphin 38-30 in first round action Tuesday night.
How did the Bisons, now 16-0 on the season, get past Hempfield?
The match started at 215 – a great spot for Clearfield to get early momentum, as they would be favored in the first few bouts.
Andre Buck scored a 5-0 victory via two takedowns and an escape to give Clearfield the early 3-0 lead that they would never relinquish.
At heavyweight, state champion Sean Owen didn’t waste any time disposing of Spartan Doug Knight, pinning him in 58 seconds to up Clearfield’s lead to 9-0.
As the bout “turned the corner”, and the lightweights stepped to the forefront, not even Coach Aveni and his staff could have dreamed of the lift that 103 pounder Shane Peters and 112 pounder Kodie Lowder would give to their team.
On paper, these matches must have been considered “toss-ups” as all four wrestlers had 20+ wins on the season. Fortunately the matches are wrestled on resilite, not on paper.
Shane Peters worked hard for the opening takedown on Vinnie Vitolo, then clamped him in a tight cradle for the fall at 1:26.
Kodie Lowder was taken down after a scramble, then wasted no time in the down position by reversing Paul Bewak and pressing him to his back with a half-nelson in just 54 seconds. The Bison bench erupted as the scoreboard clicked to 21-0.
Bison 119 pounder Andrew Spicer had a rough go of it as the favorite over Jake Vitolo, but managed to squeak out a 3-2 decision to up the score to 24-0 after five bouts.
Garrett Swarm and Jesse Riley finally put Hempfield in the scoring column with a 5-2 regular decision and a second period fall respectively.
Up 24-9, Clearfield sent out senior standout Holden Lowe to “stop the bleeding” and get the Bisons back on track. Lowe was up 9-0 early in the third period when he finally was able to apply the half and garner the fall at the 4:27 mark.
In another “toss up” match at 140, Bison Shane Harper was unable to get any offense going and was defeated 6-2 to set the team score at 30-12.
At this point both coaching staffs were breaking out their calculators and rule books as Hempfield would be favored in at least four out of the final five bouts.
At 145 Hempfield sent out PIAA placewinner Jack Bachman, while Clearfield sent out sophomore Curtis Owens, who was seeing his first action in weeks after suffering a broken hand. Bachman wasted no time by pinning the outmanned Owens in 1:04 to set the score at 30-18, giving Hempfield a glimmer of hope.
Bison sophomore Derek Danver took on Spartan junior Domenic Testa in a critical match at 152. Danver was too much for Testa, as Danver built up a 5-0 lead early in the third period and held on for the 6-2 victory to give Clearfield just enough breathing room at 33-18.
Clearfield sent out Shawn Hall at 160, knowing that Hall would give them their only shot at a win the rest of the way. Hall gave Craig Chelednik all he could handle, but couldn’t quite turn him in the final period and fell short 3-0.
With the team score at 33-21 Clearfield, the Bisons forfeited to returning state champion Jake Kemerer at 171 and the heavily favored Jonathan Uncapher at 189 to set the scoreboard at 33-33.
After some backroom double-checking by the referees and official scorers, it was determined that Clearfield had won the dual on criteria. The celebration was on before District 9 representative Randy Cathcart could even give the official announcement.
Sending out the final two wrestlers for Clearfield would certainly have swung the criteria over to Hempfield’s favor.
Clearfield -34, Hempfield – 33
285 Owen, C fall Knight, H :58 (9-0)
112 Lowder, C fall Bewak, H :54 (21-0)
119 Spicer, C dec. J. Vitolo, H 3-2 (24-0)
125 Swarm, H dec. A. Hill, C 5-2 (24-3)
130 Riley, H fall Von Gunden, C 3:44 (24-9)
135 Lowe, C fall Howard, H 4:27 (30-9)
140 Cameron, H dec. Harper, C 6-2 (30-12)
145 Bachman, H fall Owens, C 1:04 (30-18)
152 Danver, C dec. Testa, H 6-2 (33-18)
160 Chelednik, H dec. Hall, C 3-0 (33-21)
171 Kemerer, H forfeit (33-27)
189 Uncapher, H forfeit (33-33)
Clearfield Wins on Criteria H (most takedowns, 10 – 8)