ALTOONA – After three rounds of wrestling at the Altoona Area High School Field House, the Clearfield Bisons still have eight out of eleven competitors still in the running for that coveted trip to Hersey for the PIAA state championships.
Clearfield started off slowly, only winning two of six preliminary round bouts. At 103 pounds sophomore Shane Peters major decisioned Perry’s Lydell Bell 16-4. 112 pounder Kodie Lowder couldn’t sustain Peters’ momentum and was tech falled by Corry’s Austin Gillihan 15-0. At 125, sophomore Andrew Hill was bested by General McLane’s Daniel Myers 5-2. Fellow sophomore Shane Harper lost a heartbreaker in overtime to Garrett Chase of Erie Prep, 7-6. Senior Shawn Hall picked up Clearfield’s second, and final, pigtail victory at 160 by beating Dalton Lester of General McLane 6-1. Lastly Cliff Hill was tech falled 18-2 by Central Mountain’s Jacob Bachman 18-2.
The quarter final round brought out Clearfield’s five District champions along with the two winners from the preliminary round. The Bisons faired about as well as they did in the preliminary round by winning three matches and losing four.
The three Bisons that are headed to the semi finals, and one win from Hersey, when wrestling continues Saturday at noon are all seniors: 119 pounder Andrew Spicer, a 5-1 winner over Erie Prep’s John Agnello, 130 pounder Holden Lowe, who decisioned Lewistown’s Jake Shultz 3-0, and defending regional champion at heavyweight Sean Owen. Owen posted a 10-3 victory against Caleb Baker of General McLane.
All four Bisons that lost in the quarter finals stayed alive by winning their first round consolation bouts.
Shane Peters lost to District 6 champion Kaleb Loht of Indian Valley 10-1. Peters then earned a 17-2 tech fall over Aaron Smith of Conneaut Lake.
At 145 Derek Danver lost a tight match to returning regional champion Shane Alterio of Bellefonte 4-2, then beat Corry’s Jesse Preisler 8-2.
Shawn Hall was defeated by District 10 champion Jermaine Easter 13-5, before advancing in the consys with a 10-1 major decision over Conneaut Lake’s Dennis Diodati.
Fresh off his huge upset of undefeated Sean Sadosky in the district finals last week, 215 pound Andre Buck was handled by Central Mountain’s Glenn Barnes 8-1 in the quarter finals, then had little truble in the consy quarters by pinning Schenley’s Michael Elwwod in 3:49.
Joining those four in the consolation quarters will be Kodie Lowder, who beat Joey Miller of Central Mountain 5-0.
The three Bisons that saw their seasons come to an end on Friday night are all sophomores: Andrew Hill finished off his campaign with a 16-18 record after being beaten by District 9 champion Kody Young 14-1; Shane Harper saw his 14-22 season come to an end at the hands of District 10 champion Josh Keech of Meadville; while Cliff Hill’s 11-24 season also ended to a district champion, St. Marys’ Shane Krise.
The semi final match ups for the Bisons are as follows:
119 – Andrew Spicer (24-13) vs. Mitchell Port (34-2), Bellefonte
130 – Holden Lowe (35-5) vs. Kyle Miller (29-8), Indian Valley
285 – Sean Owen (37-0) vs. Stephen King (24-7), Lewistown
The consolation quarter final match ups:
103 – Shane Peters (29-9) vs. Seth Spack (28-9) a re-match that Spack won 6-2 last week at districts
112 – Kodie Lowder (29-12) vs. Wendell Myers (23-12), Altoona
145 – Derek Danver (34-7) vs. Matt Zimmerman (15-15), DuBois
160 – Shawn Hall (26-10) vs. Jacob Shevitz (15-12), Franklin
215 – Andre Buck (23-17) vs. Travis Bryant (23-20), General McLane
Clearfield sits in 7th place with 28 points. Central Mountain is running away with the team title with 63 points.
Top 10 Teams (unofficial)
1. Central Mountain – 63
2. Erie Prep – 40
3. Corry – 36
4. General McLane – 35
5. Bellefonte – 29
6. St. Marys – 29
7. Clearfield – 28
8. Meadville – 27
9. DuBois – 25
10. Punxsutawney – 25
As usual District 6 has easily out performed the other three districts by posting the most wins on the night (60) along with the highest winning percentage (73%). District 9 has 38 wins and a winning percentage of 45%. District 9 has advanced 10 wrestlers to the semi final round (DuBois – 4, Clearfield – 3, St. Marys, Punxsutawney, and Bradford each with one).