ALTOONA — The Clearfield Bison wrestling team’s downer of a season continued Friday night at the Northwest Region wrestling championships at the Altoona Area High School Fieldhouse.
The Bisons were a dismal 4-12 on the night and had all but two wrestlers eliminated from the tournament. Only the two District 9 champions, Christian Stone at 120 and Dylan Graham at 126, were able to make it through the grueling six hour session.
Stone (25-5), looking for his third trip to the PIAA state tourney, got off to a bit of a slow start against General McLane’s Deane Twitchell (25-11), but poured it on in the third period to break open a 4-0 lead into a 9-1 major decision. After getting the opening takedown in the first period and picking up a reversal in the second period, Stone added a takedown and almost recorded a fall in the third.
In Saturday’s semifinals , which begin at noon, Stone will face District 6 champion and former PIAA placewinner Tom Traxler (34-5) of Bellefonte. Traxler is also the defending regional champ.
Graham (22-10) came roaring out of the gate in his quarterfinal match with Philipsburg-Osceola’s Caleb Shively (14-12), as he nailed two takedowns and a 2-point nearfall in the first period to grab a 6-1 lead early on. Shively was only able to manage escapes in the 10-4 win for Graham.
District 6 champion, and returning regional runner-up, T.J. Brandt (27-3) of tournament host Altoona awaits Graham in the semifinal.
Only two other Bisons of the eight that made the trip to Altoona were able to pick up a win and all were eliminated in the first round of consolations.
Junior 145 pounder Nolan Barger won his preliminary bout over Mifflin County’s Joe Knarr (28-11) 7-0, almost pinning him with a cradle in the first period. Against District 10 champion Ehrin Lee (23-8) in the quarters, Barger found himself in a 4-0 first period hole after getting knocked off balance and on to his back for a two-count. Barger’s escape made it 4-1 heading to the second. There, Barger picked up an escape and a takedown to knot the score at 4-4 heading to the third. Any momentum picked up in the second was quickly squashed as Lee picked up a penalty point for locked hands and reversed Barger for a 7-4 lead. Barger again escaped and picked up a match-tying takedown with 20 seconds remaining. Neither wrestler was able to pick up a takedown in the sudden vistory period and the match headed to the tie-breaker. There, the momentum swung towards Barger agin as he rode out Lee in the fifth, the almost managed an escape in the sixth. Lee chose down for the ultimate tie-breaker and managed an escape 10 seconds in to earn the 8-7 win.
Barger couldn’t get any offense going in his consolation bout against Erie Prep’s Daniel Krysiak (19-10) and was beaten 5-1. Barger’s campaign ends with a sparkling 27-6 record.
The only other Bison to pick up a win was Devin Sinclair at 195. Sinclair pinned Carrick’s Mike Betz in 2:19 of the preliminaries, then was pinned twice himself to finish his sophomore season at 3-21.
Going “two and through” for the Bisons were freshmen 1o6 pound Noah Cline (11-16), and 138 pounder Jake Lancaster (6-10), and seniors Kody Hepfer (6-20) at 160 and Jordan Lancaster (13-18) at 285.