Clarion — With all six of their number one seeds earning individual titles and seven others earning top three finishes, the Clearfield Bison wrestling squad eked out a narrow District 9 team title over their rival DuBois Beavers, 180.5 to 174.
Like an old-fashioned dual meet, the title came down to heavyweight where Clearfield senior Andre Buck was able to pin DuBois senior Jon Sunealitis (20-12) in 5:32 to set off the celebration. After a scoreless first period things may have been too close for comfort for the Clearfield contingent, but Buck (24-7) was able to win his second district title in dramatic fashion with the fall.
Also winning individual titles were Christian Stone, Kodie Lowder, Nolan Barger, Derek Danver, and Cliff Hill. Joining their champion teammates in Altoona March 5 and 6 for the Northwest Regional tournament will be runners-up Andrew Hill and Logan Shadeck, and bronze medalists Shane Peters, Cody Lansberry, Shane Harper, Wil Beauseigneur, and Jordan Lancaster.
At 103, freshman Stone (30-7) needed over-time to defeat DuBois senior Nick Bogacki (20-9). Bogacki secured the opening takedown in the first period, but Stone escaped and took Bogacki down to end the opening period up 3-2. To start the second, Stone took down and escaped to up his lead to 4-2. Once again Bogacki got a takedown to knot the score at 4-4. Stone escaped to take a 5-4 lead into the final two minutes. Looking better on his feet, Bogacki chose neutral to start the third. That decision looked to be a wise choice, as Bogacki took Stone down for the third time to regain the lead at 6-5. Stone’s final escape tied the score at 6-6. During a flurry at the buzzer Bogacki appeared to get the winning takedown, but it was waved off and the match headed to OT. There Bogacki again was closing in a takedown, but Stone somehow came out on top of a mad scramble to win his first of potentially four district titles.
Senior Kodie Lowder (25-10) won a hard fought 3-1 decision over DuBois freshman Garrett Brown (16-12) to win his first district title. After a scoreless first period Lowder’s escape was the only point heading into the third period. Brown returned the favor with an escape to tie the score at 1-1. Lowder scored a takedown with 50 seconds left and rode Brown the rest of the way to reach the top of the podium.
The second half of Clearfield’s dynamic freshman duo, Nolan Barger at 125, was also in a tight match in the finals. Barger (29-7) and Punxsutawney sophomore Neko Capella (24-10) went to the second period scoreless where Barger rode the entire two minutes for a 0-0 match heading to the final period. There Capella gave Barger an escape only to be taken down by Barger 14 short seconds later. Once again Barger used a strong ride for 1:46 to seal the 3-0 victory.
At 145 Derek Danver (30-5) dismantled Punxsutawney’s Duell Thompson (12-19) 16-1 by using a series of tilts to break open a 2-1 match when it headed to the second period. Danver’s win was his second district title and puts him within reach of the 100 career win mark early next season.
Junior Cliff Hill (26-8) continued his great turnaround season at 189 with a harder than expected 5-1 win over familiar foe John Rivera (17-12) of DuBois. That’s the third time Hill has beaten Rivera this year, with Rivera closing the gap each time.
Clearfield went 6-2 in the finals while DuBois went 2-8 with the finale at heavyweight clinching the come from behind victory for the Bisons.
At 130, Junior Andrew Hill (16-19) ran into Punxutawney’s best wrestler in Kody Young (32-2). Young had amassed a 10-1 lead before pinning a game Hill in 2:55.
Clearfield’s other silver medalist Logan Shadeck (25-9) lost a controversial heart-breaker to top seed Zach Smith (30-5). It appeared as though Shadeck’s first period takedown was going to be enough to hold off Smith, 2-0. Shadeck was ridden for two minutes in the second period and almost two minutes in the third. At a restart with just 11 seconds remaining in the match, Shadeck stood while Smith hit a standing cradle and was awarded three points at the buzzer. There was some question as to whether Shadeck could have been in the near fall position to have three points awarded to Smith, but the decision stood and Smith won 3-2.
Other District 9 AAA champions were DuBois’ Geno Morelli (25-6), who earned his second title as a sophomore, at 140 and Matt Zimmerman (24-12) at 152, Bradford’s Zach Britton (33-2) at 135, returning state runner-up Mark Havers (26-1) at 160, Punxsuatwney’s Seth Spack (26-8) at 112, and St. Marys’ undefeated Sean Sadosky (30-0) at 215.
Spack won the Kata Award as the outstanding wrestler after his 4-3 upset win of DuBois’ TJ Stanton (26-5), while Coach Cosper of Bradford won Coach of the Year Honors.
The completed brackets courtesy Escape Sports: http://test.escapesports.com/Results/2010/2010_District_9_AAA.html