ALTOONA — Clearfield Area High School junior standout Christian Stone qualified for his third PIAA state championships by virtue of his third place finish at the Northwest AAA regional wrestling championships Saturday night.
Stone (27-6) was defeated in overtime in Saturday afternoon’s semifinal by Bellefonte’s four-time state qualifer Tom Traxler (35-6). Stone had built up a 3-0 lead by the middle of the second period but Traxler picked up an escape, and then scored a reversal in the final period to knot the score at three. After a scoreless sudden victory period, Traxler was awarded a questionable escape to end the first tie-breaker period and then rode Stone for the final 30 seconds to win 4-3 and earn a trip to the finals. There he was beaten 11-6 by Brashear’s Godwin Nyama (34-2).
Stone then had to win two more bouts to secure his third place finish. He handily beat Altoona’s D.J. Hollingshead (35-5) 6-2, then needed overtime to defeat Warren’s DJ Fehlman (33-6) 6-4.
Teammate Dylan Graham (23-12) was dealt a similar fate after he also was beaten in the semifinals by a returning state qualifier in Altoona’s T.J. Brandt (29-3) 10-2. Only down 2-0 heading to the second period Graham gave up an escape then was taken down twice and turned twice for four nearfall points to put the match out of reach.
Graham then won his consolation quarterfinal match against Beau Colletta (15-8) 8-4. Colletta scored the bout’s first points with a takedown, but it was all Graham during the second period after he escaped, got a takedown and two back points for a 5-2 lead. Graham closed out the match with the final three points to set the final score. Graham was then defeated 6-4 by Mifflin County’s Lucas Besch (30-11) to finish in fourth, one spot short of qualifying for states for the first time.
Clearfield placed 16th in the team standings with 28 points, while Erie McDowell won the title with 111 points. District 9’s top team was DuBois, which placed fourth with 89 points and is sending four wrestlers to the state tourney.
District 6 had the most advance to states with 20 and had the most champs with seven. District 9 had two champions and six state qualifiers.
The complete results can be found here courtesy escape sports:
Here, also, is the link to the state championship brackets where Stone will face the South Central Regional champ, Cortlandt Schuyler (36-4) from Manheim Township.