HYDE — Senior Night 2013 saw the home wrestling careers of four Bison grapplers come to a close in a losing effort to a now 14-4 Huntingdon Bearcat squad at the Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium on Thursday.
Wrestling in their last dual meet for the Clearfield Bison were Dylan Graham, Christian Stone, Nolan Barger, and Shane Billings.
Unfortunately for the Bison (7-10), they had to forfeit three weights due to illness and injury and that proved to be a big difference in the final score of 41-26.
The match started at 170 where Mike Beck kept it close until the final period where he gave up a reversal and three back points to fall 7-0 to Matt Norris.
Clearfield took the lead 6-3 after Jake Verchick, who was down 1-0 after the first period after surrendering a penalty point, clamped Hunter Rupert for a fall in 2:39.
The lead was short-lived as the Bison were forced to forfeit at 195 and 220 to fall behind 15-6.
Shane Billings at 285 was only down 2-0 at the end of the first period, but was taken down and pinned at the 3:52 mark by Tyler Wholaver.
In a battle of top freshmen at 106, Huntingdon’s Collin Glorioso had a 7-0 third period lead when he pinned Logan Gilbert in 4:11 to give Huntingdon a 27-6 bulge before the Bison made a run.
The 113 pound bout looked like a toss-up by the looks of the records of Josiah McClarren and Jacob Dubbs. The match started out that way with McClarren picking up a takedown to lead 2-0 heading into the second period. There, Dubbs turned McClarren for three points and almost picked up the fall; but McClarren fought his way out of trouble then reversed and pinned Dubbs in 3:31.
Seniors Graham and Stone got to face some quality competition in their final matches on the red and black resilite, but both held on for hard-fought 6-3 wins to pull the Bison within six at 27-21.
With another forefeit looming, the Bison needed to sweep the final three contested matches to have a chance at the win, but Huntingdon’s Jon Wagner put an end to the upset bid with a “closer than the score would indicate” 7-1 victory over Jon Sponsler at 138.
After a forfeit at 145 to Noah Brooks locked up the dual meet, Barger put in his usual workmanlike performance by dominating 19-match winner Eric Lynn 16-1 for a tech fall in 5:39.
Loagn Fisher returned the favor with a tech fall over Bison Grant Climie to set the final at 41-26.
The Bison now have just over two weeks to prepare for the grueling post season that begins with the annual trip to Clarion University for districts on February 22 and 23. Joining the usual cast of District 9 teams will be four teams from District 4, making the road to Altoona for regionals and Hershey for states just a little bit harder.
Bout by bout results and current records (Clearfield wrestler listed first):
170: Mike Beck (10-15) lbd 7-0 to Matt Norris (18-12) 0 – 3
182: Jake Verchick (12-15) wbf 2:39 over Hunter Rupert (6-21) 6 – 3
195: Forfeit to Logan Gallagher (1-10) 6 – 9
220: Forfeit to Mitchell Lauer (22-11) 6 – 15
285: Shane Billings (2-10) lbf 3:52 to Tyler Wholaver (13-12) 6 – 21
106: Logan Gilbert (20-10) lbf 4:11 to Collin Glorioso (28-3) 6 – 27
113: Josiah McClarren (12-14) wbf 3:31 over Jacob Dubbs (14-15) 12 – 27
120: Noah Cline (22-10) wbd 4-1 over Matt Wilson (21-12) 15 – 27
126: Dylan Graham (27-3) wbd 6-3 over Devon Green (22-12) 18 – 27
132: Christian Stone (28-1) wbd 6-3 over Nathan Russell (26-7) 21 – 27
138: Jon Sponsler (7-14) lbd 7-1 to Jon Wagner (19-10) 21 – 30
145: Forfeit to Noah Brooks (1-0) 21 – 36
152: Nolan Barger wbtf 16-1 5:39 over Eric Lynn (19-10) 25 – 36
160: Grant Climie (3-15) lbtf 15-0 2:27 to Logan Fisher (19-9) 25 – 41
Referee: Denny Nosker
Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/07,08 | @ Top Hat Tourney | 11th | 0 – 0 |
| 12/11 | DUBOIS | 21 – 56 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/13 | @ Bald Eagle Area | 28 – 37 | 0 – 2 |
| 12/18 | CENTRAL | 42 – 37 | 1 – 2 |
| 12/20 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | 63 – 12 | 2 – 2 |
| 01/04,05 | @ Tool City Tourney | 10th | 2 – 2 |
| 01/08 | @ Penns Valley | 31 – 42 | 2 – 3 |
| 01/19 | CLFD BISON DUALS | ||
| vs. Valley | 53 – 19 | 3 – 3 | |
| vs. Pleasant Valley | 38 – 42 | 3 – 4 | |
| vs. West Branch | 18 – 60 | 3 – 5 | |
| vs. Montoursville | 33 – 35 | 3 – 6 | |
| vs. Sharpsville | 50 – 27 | 4 – 6 | |
| 01/22 | @ Bellefonte | 30 – 41 | 4 – 7 |
| 01/25,26 | @ New Oxford Tourney | 3rd | 4 – 7 |
| 01/29 | ST.MARYS | 38 – 33 | 5 – 7 |
| 01/31 | @ Tyrone | 41 – 24 | 6 – 7 |
| 02/02 | D9 Team Wrestling Champs. | ||
| vs. St. Marys | 41 – 31 | 7 – 7 | |
| vs. DuBois | 23 – 51 | 7 – 8 | |
| 02/05 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | 34 – 45 | 7 – 9 |
| 02/07 | HUNTINGDON | 26 – 41 | 7 – 10 |
| 02/23 | Districts @ Clarion | ||
| 03/01,02 | Regionals @ Altoona | ||
| 03/07-09 | States @ Hershey |