HERSHEY — After two rounds of wrestling at the PIAA Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey two Clearfield Bison wrestlers, Christian Stone and Andre Buck, are still in the medal hunt.
Both need just one more win in Friday’s 1:00 PM quarterfinal and consolation second round session to assure themselvelves of placing in the top eight.
At 103 pounds Stone (34-8) was the first Bison to hit the mat as the preliminary round got underway.
It took eight minutes of wrestling with Cedar Cliff’s Chris Vassar (38-9) to determine the outcome in a 1-0 tie-breaker loss. Scoreless after six minutes of regulation neither wrestler was able to secure the “sudden victory” in the match’s seventh minute either.
Stone, then, couldn’t hold Vassar down for his thirty second rideout and found himself down 1-0 heading into essentially the sixth and final period. Vassar was able to ride Stone for his thirty seconds to move on to the quarterfinal round.
Bison head coach Jeff Aveni stated the obvious after the match, “Christian just didn’t have enough motion off of the bottom in that first match to score. He was wrestling another freshman and they both just wrestled too defensively for their coach’s liking.”
What Stone lacked in scoring in his first match, he certainly made up for in his consolation bout. With his rookie campaign in jeopardy of ending Stone redeemed himself with a 10-0 whitewashing of senior Mike McCall (35-7) of Northeast Catholic.
Stone had McCall in a cradle as the second period ended, just missing a fall. Aveni noted that, “Christian was more relaxed and ready for his second bout. Now he’s only one win away from securing a medal as a freshman.”
Stone will wrestle the loser of the Jordan Conaway (39-1 from New Oxford) versus Conner Schram (39-4 from Canon McMillan) quarterfinal matchup.
Senior 285 pounder Andre Buck (28-8) was the lone Bison to win his preliminary bout, an 11-4 decision over Pottstown’s William Carter (27-9).
Despite being outweighed by around 60 pounds and finding himself down 2-0 after giving up the opening takedown, Buck never stopped battling and put Carter on his back twice for near-fall points during the match.
Buck started the second period in the down position and was able to reverse Carter to take a 3-2 lead and never look back. Carter’s attempt at a roll for his own reversal only succeeded in getting himself put on his back.
Buck will now face off with sophomore Averee Robinson (35-2) from Susquehanna Township with a berth in the semifinals on the line.
Clearfield’s third entrant into the championships was Stone’s fellow freshman Nolan Barger at 125.
Barger was pinned in 5:02 of the preliminary round by PIAA veteran Matt Rappo (40-6) of Council Rock South. Forced into the consy bracket, Barger was met with the same fate by being pinned in 2:24 by Williamsport’s Leroy Harman (27-6).
Barger finished his rookie season with a 33-10 record. The fact that Nolan made it to Hershey wasn’t lost on head coach Aveni, “Just getting here was a big accomplishment for Nolan. Not everyone thought he would get here, but he did. There should be no disappointment in his season at all.”
The two Bison westlers still alive heading into the second day of action at Hershey is more than the rest of District 9 combined, as the only other survivor was 215 pound District and Region champion Sean Sadosky of St. Marys. Even returning PIAA silver medalist Mark Havers of Bradford had a “two and through” day.
AAA lost one returning state champion in 215 pounder Nate Gaffney of Connellsville. Gaffney was beaten 6-2 in the preliminary round by Methacton’s Brandon Clark and then forfeited his consolation match.
District 6 power Central Mountain has the early lead in the team race with 16.5 points. They are followed closely by Blue Mountain (14.0) and Council Rock South (13.0).
Check out the completed brackets courtesy the NHSCA Sports Network here: http://liveevents.nhscasportsnetwork.com/pdfs/2010_PIAA_State_AAA_Brackets.pdf