HYDE – Backyard rivals Clearfield and Curwensville treated a large crowd to an exciting, entertaining night of schoolboy wrestling in Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium Tuesday, the Bisons coming from behind with four falls and a pair of one-point decisions in the last eight bouts to celebrate Senior Night with a 40-24 victory in their home finale.
There was plenty of fast-paced action as well as drama in a match that had nine of the 14 bouts very much up for grabs after four minutes.
Two bouts were tied going into the third period. Four were one-pointers. Three were two-pointers.
The Golden Tide made it interesting by building an 18-10 lead but couldn\’t match the Bisons power in the middle and heavy weights.
\”Some of our kids, I think showed a little nerves early,\” coach Jeff Aveni said after his winningest Clearfield squad notched its 17th win in 19 matches. \”Then, as the match went on, we settled down and wrestled well.\”
Curwensville coach Duane Wriglesworth II was just as satisified with his 13-8 team\’s showing in its final dual meet of the season.
\”Overall, the kids wrestled well,\” he said. \”Clearfield\’s always a well-coached team. They\’re very disciplined. They don\’t give up. You\’re never going to come down here and expect them to give you points. So, every point we put on the board, I guarantee you we earned.
\”We put 24 points on the board. We\’re up there with some of the better teams they wrestled. We knew it would be an uphill battle. We had a couple kids out with injuries. And, when you\’re wrestling away, it\’s always tough.\”
Both coaches were delighted with the atmosphere.
\”It was good to see the crowd here,\” Aveni said. \”That was something we noticed right away. Senior Night. Clearfield-Curwensville. People were excited for it.
\”There was a lot of good wrestling. There were some high-scoring bouts and tight bouts, and then somebody goes to their back. It was a fun match to watch.\”
Wriglesworth added, \”A lot of places we go, it\’s a dead atmosphere. Back when I wrestled, it was this way all the time. It\’s good for these kids to see what it\’s like, a lot of people here cheering. It was a good experience.\”
The Golden Tide kept its large contingent of rooters screaming in the early going, even during a loss by 103-pounder Greg Koptchak in the first bout.
Bison Shane Peters (25-10) turned him twice for near falls and an 8-0 lead midway through the second period and was looking for more with a cradle when Koptchak posted his arm and caught the sophomore on his back for two-and-two. Koptchak picked up three more back points at the buzzer to make it 8-7 going to the final two minutes.
\”He made me nervous there,\” Aveni said of his sophomore bantam. \”He stood up with this look on his face, and I said, \’Shane, just wrestle the third period. You\’ll be fine.\’
\”And he makes it happen for himself. Gets the kid on his back and got a big fall.\”
Koptchak chose neutral, but Peters took him down with a three-quarter nelson and ended the match at 4:40 with a reverse half-nelson and double-leg grapevine.
Another wild bout ensued in the marquee 112 match as Golden Tide freshman standout Jake Keller (26-3) posted an 11-7 win over Kodie Lowder (26-10).
Keller worked a dump into the initial takedown but fell behind 4-2 when Lowder backed into him for a reversal and back points. A near fall in the second period gave Keller a 6-5 edge, and he added an escape and takedown in the third period before trading reversals with the Bison junior.
\”That was a big win for us there,\” Wriglesworth said. \”Keller had an outstanding match. He just keeps motoring right on. He runs a good leg series. He\’s always changing moves. He really keeps guys guessing.\”
\”It was a real good match,\” Aveni added. \”Keller\’s wrestled real solid for a freshman. We know he\’s tough, and we were gonna give him our best effort. I felt we did that. We just made a couple mistakes we couldn\’t fix.\”
Curwensville moved in front 12-6 when Derek Brothers (26-2) cradled Max VonGunden for a fall in 1:41 at 119 and Tyler Peters (22-6) avenged last year\’s 7-2 loss to Andrew Spicer (19-13) in a 13-9 thriller at 125.
Spicer countered Peters\’ initial shot for the takedown and tilted him for a 4-0 start. Peters reversed and hit an arm drag takedown in the middle period to trail 5-4. His reversal and Spicer\’s escape made it 6-6 when the Golden Tide senior executed a lateral drop for four points. After Spicer reversed with 1:06 left, Peters escaped and used a double-leg and trip for another takedown.
\”Brothers went out and got his business done, and Peters worked really good on his feet,\” Wriglesworth said.
At 130, Clearfield\’s Holden Lowe (31-5) took down former teammate Jeff Smallwood (15-6) five times and was very close to a fall at the buzzer in a 15-4 major decision.
There were some anxious moments, though, when Lowe was called for an illegal slam on a takedown attempt after he escaped for the first point early in the second period. Smallwood, who transferred to Curwensville last fall, used most of his injury time before continuing.
\”Holden was fired up for Senior Night,\” Aveni said. \”We know a little bit about Smallwood, so we knew we had to set a real good pace to make him keep up with us.\”
Brett Sutika (17-9) then gave the Golden Tide its biggest lead by pinning Troy Danver in 47 seconds at 135 with an unusual version of a stack.
\”Sutika worked a nice lazy man\’s cradle,\” Wriglesworth explained. \”I\’m sure other teams call it something different, but that\’s what we call it. You really don\’t hook the hands. You grab the toe and pull it over top of the other leg. Then, you make sure you grab the chin and the head and pull them under and stack the shoulders. It\’s one of those moves the wrestlers like to use on each other when they\’re playing around at the end of practice.\”
Aveni wasn\’t shocked that the Bisons were forced into a comeback mode.
\”A lot of those kids from Curwensville I can claim as my own, because I\’ve been watching them since they were little,\” he said. \”We\’re friends and we\’ve wrestled together. So, I know how good they are.
\”I knew it was going to be a bunch of toss-ups up to about 145 pounds. But then, we would be in the driver\’s seat. That\’s kind of what happened. We did our job and won some of those toss-ups. And they took some.\”
Back-to-back falls by sophomores Shane Harper at 140 and Derek Danver (30-6) at 145 wiped out the Golden Tide.
Harper\’s win was pivotal, for he was tied 2-2 with Wes McGarry when he clamped him in a headlock for a stunning finish 42 seconds into the third period, stopping the Golden Tide momentum cold.
Danver led Jeremy Bloom 5-0 when he barred Bloom\’s arm and pressed his shoulders to the mat at the 1:56 mark to put the Bisons ahead for keeps, 22-18.
Curwensville bumped up Jeff Thomas (24-3) to 152, and he responded with a hard-earned 10-4 decision over Wil Beauseigneur. Thomas registered a takedown late in the first period, traded reversals in the middle period and, yielding a takedown with 1:18 left, hit a Peterson Roll for a reversal and added a late near fall.
\”We were trying to get more points on the board,\” Wriglesworth explained moving Thomas, who edged Danver 4-2 last year. \”It\’s as simple as that. I wasn\’t sure what we could do with Beauseigneur if I put out Bloom there. I felt Jeff would give us more points. I wanted him to get some bonus points, but it didn\’t happen.\”
Clearfield swept the next three bouts to clinch the outcome.
Logan Shadeck took down Justin Smith with a minute left for a 3-2 squeaker at 160, Shawn Hall (22-8) moved up to 171 and ran an arm barto pin Matt Schultz in 1:18 and Cliff Hill, on the short end of a 6-4 score heading the third period, cradled Jonathan Michaels for a near fall with 13 seconds to pull out a thrilling 7-6 victory.
Aveni credited Clearfield\’s schedule as a key factor in the third-period efforts by Harper, Shadeck and Hill.
\”If you look at what we\’ve been through in the last month, these kids are seasoned,\” he pointed out. \”They\’ve been through a lot, and they know to stay in the matches and take their opportunity when it comes. A lot of times, when you\’re wrestling tough, and the other guy is wrestling tough, that opportunity comes in the third period. And when they got their opportunity, they seized it.\”
In another much-anticipated bout, Golden Tide 215-pounder Nathan Russell (24-6) used a second-period takedown and third-period escape to nip Andre Buck 3-2. Russell won 6-3 in last year\’s meet.
\”We knew that was gonna be a tough match,\” Wriglesworth said. \”Buck has a lot of strength. I told Nathan he had to get a takedown. What we were trying to do was work an underhook and throw-by, but he had trouble getting past Buck\’s hands to score.\”
Unbeaten Bison heavyweight Sean Owen (33-0) worked a cement mixer to pin Walter Koontz in nine seconds for a milestone 125th career win that ties Brad Pataky for third place on Clearfield\’s all-time win list.
The defending PIAA Class AAA champion has won 71 matches in a row, which is a Bison record.
\”I knew we were gonna be outgunned up high, especially when they have Hall and, of course, Owen,\” Wriglesworth said.
\”Like any Triple-A team you wrestle, they\’ve got depth. It\’s tough to overcome that, especially at this time of the season when you\’re fighting injuries and stuff. But the kids wrestled well.
\”It was a good season for us, and we\’re very happy. Our goal was to have a winning season, and we accomplished that. Now we\’re going to focus on districts\”
Curwensville will compete in the District 9 Class AA Tournament Feb. 20-21 at Clarion University.
Clearfield closes its dual meet schedule at Ridgway Thursday in a battle between the champions of the District 9 Team Duals. The Elkers (18-3) reigned in Class AA.
Clearfield 40, Curwensville 24
103 – Shane Peters, Cl, pinned Greg Koptchak, 4:40. (6-0)
112 – Jake Keller, Cur, dec. Kodie Lowder, 11-7. (6-3)
119 – Derek Brothers, Cur, pinned Max VonGunden, 1:41. (6-9)
125 – Tyler Peters, Cur, dec. Andrew Spicer, 13-9. (6-12)
130 – Holden Lowe, Cl, major dec. Jeff Smallwood, 15-4. (10-12)
135 – Brett Sutika, Cur, pinned Troy Danver, :47. (10-18)
140 – Shane Harper, Cl, pinned Wes McGarry, 4:42. (16-18)
145 – Derek Danver, Cl, pinned Jeremy Bloom, 1:56. (22-18)
152 – Jeff Thomas, Cur, dec. Wil Beauseigneur, 10-4. (22-21)
160 – Logan Shadeck, Cl, dec. Justin Smith, 3-2. (25-21)
171 – Shawn Hall, Cl, pinned Matt Schultz, 1:18. (31-21)
189 – Cliff Hill, Cl, dec. Jonathan Michaels, 7-6. (34-21)
215 – Nathan Russell, Cur, dec. Andre Buck, 3-2. (34-24)
285 – Sean Owen, Cl, pinned Walter Koontz, :09. (40-24)
Referee – Noah Gustkey.
