NEW OXFORD — The Clearfield Bison wrestling team headed east over the weekend for the 30-team New Oxford Invitational at New Oxford High School.
The Bison placed a very respectable fifth with 120 team points. Blue Mountain claimed the team title with 143.5 points.
The Bison had five wrestlers on the podium at the end of the two day tourney.
Leading the charge was 132-pound senior Noah Cline who, after 87 wins over four years, won his first varsity tournament. Cline, who won by regular decision in his first two matches, turned it up a notch for day two.
After a third period fall in the semifinals, Cline posted an 11-1 major decision over Philipsburg-Osceola’s Levi Hughes in the championship finals. The win raises Cline’s record to a team-leading 22-4.
The next highest finisher for the Bison was 195-pound junior Travis Ogden. Ogden had two first period falls on the first day of the tourney, but was major decisioned in the semis 16-8 and was pinned in the third place bout to finish in fourth place. Ogden’s two losses during the tourney were one more than he had all season leading up to the tourney, and is now 20-3 overall.
Placing fifth for the Bison was junior Logan Gilbert at 126. Gilbert was pinned by eventual tourney champ Dalton Revels of Troy High School in the semis and then went 1-1 in the consolation bracket to place fifth and raise his record to 16-9 on the year.
In sixth place for the Bison was 120-pound junior Josiah McClarren. McClarren was beaten 16-4 in the first round, after earning a tech fall in the preliminaries, then ran off four straight wins to reach the consy semis. Once there, he was beaten by the same kid, Dylan Nuttall of Harry S Truman High School, that had beaten him the night before, but this time by an 8-4 final. Si’s record stands at 17-10 after the five wins at New Oxford.
Placing eighth for the Bison was freshman Luke McGonigal at 145. McGonigal was also beaten in the first round after picking up a fall in the prelims, but ran off three consy wins in a row to make it to the medal round. He was beaten 3-2 in his final match and now has a season record of 16-9.
In a team effort, there were four other Bison who had two wins at the tournament.
Freshman Matt Ryan raised his record at 106 pounds to 10-14 with his 2-2 performance.
At 152, junior Tallin Noris won his first two bouts via tech fall and fall to reach the quarterfinals, but then lost two in a row to see his record reach 14-12.
Senior Brian Thorpe at 220 came in to the tourney with three wins on the year and was pinned in the prelims, only to earn two falls, and valuable team points, in the consolation bracket to raise his record to 5-16.
Nate Lash kept his record above .500 at 12-11 with two pins and a 2-2 tourney to his credit.
Chance Timko also picked up a fall for the Bison in the early going at 113.
There was a junior varsity component to the meet as well. All five Bison that entered placed as the JV team brought home a third place. The champion was, once again, Blue Mountain.
Hunter Blake was second at 120, Zane Morgam was third at 138, Jacob Carter was second and Jaret McCracken was third, both at 145, and Steven Sawyer was fifth at 152.
The Bison (5-8) will be back in dual meet action on Tuesday when they travel to Tyrone for a Mountain League match up.
The complete brackets can be found here, courtesy Triple J Boutmaster LLC website.
Bison Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/05&06 | Top Hat Tourney @ Williamsport | 10th | 0 – 0 |
| 12/09 | DUBOIS | 33 – 39 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/11 | @ Bald Eagle Area | ppd. | 0 – 1 |
| 12/12 | @ Bald Eagle Area | 21 – 46 | 0 – 2 |
| 12/16 | CENTRAL | 24 – 43 | 0 – 3 |
| 12/18 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | 47 – 19 | 1 – 3 |
| 01/02&03 | Tool City Tourney @ Meadville | 5th | 1 – 3 |
| 01/06 | @ Penns Valley | 36 – 33 | 2 – 3 |
| 01/13 | HUNTINGDON | 37 – 36 | 3 – 3 |
| 01/15 | ST. MARYS | 16 – 52 | 3 – 4 |
| 01/17 | CLEARFIELD BISON DUALS | ||
| 01/17 | vs. GAR Memorial | 64 – 15 | 4 – 4 |
| 01/17 | vs. West Branch | 33 – 47 | 4 – 5 |
| 01/17 | vs. Greenville | 27 – 41 | 4 – 6 |
| 01/17 | vs. Coughlin | 40 – 26 | 5 – 6 |
| 01/17 | vs. West Branch | 36 – 39 | 5 – 7 |
| 01/20 | @ Bellefonte | 18 – 34 | 5 – 8 |
| 01/23&24 | @ New Oxford Tourney | 5th | 5 – 8 |
| 01/27 | @ Tyrone | ||
| 01/31 | D9 Team Duals @ DuBois | ||
| 01/31 | vs. St. Marys | ||
| 02/03 | PHILIPSBURG-OSCEOLA | ||
| 02/20&21 | District 9 Champs @ Clarion | ||
| 02/27&28 | Northwest Regionals @ Altoona | ||
| 03/05-07 | PIAA States @ Hershey |