Bison Wrestlers Beat DuBois, Earn a Year with The Pete Morelli Travel Trophy

DUBOIS — The Clearfield Bison wrestling team exacted a measure of revenge on their District 9 rivals on Tuesday night when the Bison beat the DuBois Beavers 51-20 at DuBois High School.

Last year the Bison stormed out to a big 18-point lead, only to see the Beavers pull out a 39-33 come-from-behind victory to claim the inaugural Pete Morelli Memorial Travel Trophy. This year, the Bison stampeded to a 21-point lead, and while the Beavers closed to gap to 10, the Bison won most of the toss-up matches and eventually extended their lead to a 31-point victory.

The dual started at 182 pounds, where Bison senior Levi Wisor (5-3) rode Beaver Josh Wayland (0-3) the entire third period to eke out a 2-1 win.

At 195, Bison senior Travis Ogden (7-1) reversed off of the bottom in the second period to pin Dave Henninger (3-2) in 3:19 to give the Bison a 9-0 early lead.

Bison senior Corey Shimmel made his wrestling debut against Clearfield Bison head coach Jeff Aveni’s nephew, Matt Starr, at 220. Shimmel picked up a late takedown to take a 3-2 lead in to the second period. Shimmel’s inexperience on the mat started to show though, as he gave up two interlocking points and was down 7-5 after two periods. A full-nelson and another interlocking forced a disqualification in a match that was 10-7 when it was ended by referee Dick Wood.

Nate Lash (5-4) made sure the Beavers wouldn’t get closer than a 9-6 team score, as he made short work of William Powell, taking the Beaver down and pinning him in 1:35.

When the dual turned the corner to the light weights, the Beavers may have thought they had the upper hand, but that turned out to not be the case.

In a 106 pound rematch from last year’s dual, in which DuBois’ Donny Wentz pinned Bison Matt Ryan, Ryan (7-2) showed why he is one of the most improved wrestlers in the Bison line-up by totally dominating Wenz this time around. Ryan had built up a 13-0 lead before finally decking Wenz just 18 seconds in to the final period.

Freshman 113-pounder Jude Pallo (7-3) earned the quickest pin of the night for the Bison when he took down and pinned Lance Brown in 1:05 to give the Bison a 27-6 advantage.

The Beavers cut in to the Bison 21-point lead when two of their best wrestlers took to the mat at 120 and 126. Dalton Woodrow and 2015 PIAA state-qualifier Kolby Ho each earned bonus points to bring the Beavers as close as they would get the rest of the night,  closing the margin to 10 at 27-17.

Hunter Blake, at 132, evened his record  at 3-3 on the year with a workmanlike 8-1 win over Jake Myers to squelch the Beaver momentum.

138-pound senior Josiah McClarren (4-5), like Pallo before him, left no doubt with a first period fall over Austin Fairman (2-3).

Logan Gilbert (4-6) gave, perhaps, his strongest outing of the young season with a dominating 3-0 shut out of Beaver Kyle Frantz (3-3) to seal the Bison victory with a 39-17 lead with three bouts to wrestle.

Tied 2-2 after the opening period, Beaver Carson Hanna (4-1) used a take down in each of the final two periods to defeat Tallin Norris (6-4) 7-2 and earn the final points on the night for the hosts.

Bison junior Zane Morgan (5-5) evened his record for the year with the visitor’s third first period fall of the dual meet, ending it in 1:46 over Noah Schneider.

The dual meet ended anticlimactically when the Beavers forfeited to undefeated Bison Luke McGonigal (8-0) at 172.

The undefeated Bison (4-0) will be off until after the New Year when they will host the Penns Valley Rams in Mountain League action in the Arthur J. Weiss Gymnasium on January 5.

Bout by bout results:

182 – Levi Wisor, C, decisioned Josh Wayland, D 2-1   3 – 0

195 – Travis Ogden, C, pinned Dave Henninger, D 3:19    9 – 0

220 – Matt Starr, D, won by disqualification over Corey Shimmel, C    9 – 6

285 – Nate Lash, C, pinned William Powell, D 1:35     15 – 6

106 – Matt Ryan, C, pinned Donny Wentz, D 4:18   21 – 6

113 – Jude Pallo, C pinned Lance Brown, D 1:03   27 – 6

120 – Dalton Woodrow, D pinned Cole Smay, C  :27   27 – 12

126 – Kolby Ho, D, tech falled Quentin Edwards 15-0 4:37   27 – 17

132 – Hunter Blake, C decisioned Jake Myers, D 8 – 1   30 – 17

138 – Josiah McClarren, C pinned Austin Fairman, D 1:05   36 – 17

145 – Logan Gilbert, C, decisioned Kyle Frantz, D 3-0   39 – 17

152 – Carson Hanna decisioned Tallin Norris, C 7 – 2   39 – 20

160 – Zane Morgan, C pinned Noah Schneider, D 1:46   45 – 20

172 – Luke McGonigal, C received a forfeit   51 – 20

Bison Scoreboard:

Date Opponent Score Record
12/04 & 05 Top Hat Tourney @ Williamsport 150.5 pts 4th Place
12/08 BALD EAGLE AREA 46 – 26 1 – 0
12/15 @ Central 54 – 18 2 – 0
12/17 @ Punxsutawney 69 – 9 3 – 0
12/22 @ DuBois 51 – 20 4 – 0
01/05 PENNS VALLEY
01/08 & 09 Tool City Tourney @ Meadville
01/12 @ Huntingdon
01/14 @ St. Marys
01/19 BELLEFONTE
01/23 CLEARFIELD BISON DUALS
01/26 TYRONE
01/29 & 30 @ West Branch Tourney
02/02 @ Philipsburg-Osceola
02/06 District 9 Team Duals
02/26 & 27 District 9 Champs @ Clfd HS
03/04 & 05 Northwest Regionals @ Altoona
03/10-03/12 PIAA States @ Hershey