Clearfield Bests Longtime Rival Philipsburg-Osceola 44-17 on Senior Night

Hyde — The Clearfield Bison wrestling team closed out the regular season in impressive fashion Tuesday night by beating their longtime rival Philipsburg-Osceola Mounties (P-O) 44-17 on Senior Night.

The Bisons won eight of the 11 contested bouts to send seniors Noah Cline, Grant Climie, and Brian Thorpe off with a win in their final appearances at the Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium.

The win closes out the 2014-15 dual meet campaign with a 7-9 record for Clearfield. The loss dropped P-O to 4-11, with one bout remaining against Northern Bedford.

It was only fitting that the match would begin with four-year starter Cline taking the mat and, and not being on it for long, as he only needed 31 seconds to put the Bison out in front 6-0. Cline’s 25th win of the season, against five losses, set his career record at 90-45 heading in to the post season.

P-O’s Levi Hughes would pick up a major decision for the Mounties at 138, drawing the Mounties back to 6-4, as close as they would get the rest of the night.

In the marquis match up of the night, Bison freshman Luke McGonigal (19-10) bested junior Dakota Weistosh by a 3-2 count, Weitosh’s points coming on a late reversal to avert the shut out.

At 152, Bison junior Tallin Norris (16-14) dominated Ty Laird 16-2 by picking up five takedowns and putting Laird on his back twice, while only giving up two escapes.

Climie (3-14) put his mark on Senior Night by picking up his first dual meet win of the season by earning two takedowns in the final period in his 8-5 win over Clint Rudy. The decision put the host out to a 16-4 lead.

Nick Patrick got the Mounties their second major decision of the bout with a 14-5 victory over Michael Hadden at 170.

Levi Wisor (13-15) put on a takedown clinic at 182, most of his 10 takedowns being of the double leg variety, in a 21-8 major decision over Joe Bickle.

At 195, Bison junior Travis Ogden (24-3) upped the Bison lead to 26-8 with a second period fall over Noah Quick.

A third period reversal by Philipsburg’s Micah Sidorick put a damper on the final Bison senior’s night, as he bested Brian Thorpe 4-2.

Heavyweight Nate Lash (15-12) notched a takedown in each period of his 6-0 shut out over Mountie Eddie Voyzey to give the Bison a 29-11 lead when the dual turned the corner for the lightweights.

Three of the final four bouts ended the easy way, via forfeit, as Clearfield’s Matt Ryan (11-16) at 106 and Logan Gilbert (18-11) at 126 and Philipsburg’s Matt Johnson at 113 all had hands raised by referee Randy Evans.

The only contested bout amongst the four lightest classes was at 120, where Bison junior Josiah McClarren notched his 20th win of the year with a hard fought 6-2 win over Mountie Bryce Bennett.

Clearfield will now have plenty of time to prepare for the post season, as they are off until February 21 when they make their annual trip to the Waldo S. Tippin Gymnasium on the campus of Clarion University in their quest for District 9 team and individual titles.

Bison Scoreboard: