HYDE – The 11th Annual Bison Duals were held this past Saturday, and the Clearfield Bison came up big to win their third championship. Clearfield went 5-0 on the day, winning their championship against Port Allegany 37-33 in the finals. The Bison Duals hosted 12 teams this year, and after two rounds of pool play a championship bracket was formed.
Clearfield beat Benton, Union City, Montoursville, and West Branch en route to their championship finals match.
Bison wrestlers going undefeated on the day were Johnathan Thomas, Jude Pallo, and Mark McGonigal. McGonigal picked up two falls, two forfeits and a major decision. Thomas’ wins included a 15 second fall, a major decision, two decisions and a forfeit, and Pallo picked up two falls, a major decision and two decisions.
Three more wrestlers went 4-1: Caleb Freeland, Cole Smay, and Oliver Billotte.
Head Coach Jeff Aveni felt that “Every round we got better. We wrestled with more emotion. We wrestled with more heart. That showed up today, and I’m very, very proud of those kids.”
When asked what the biggest improvement for the Bison was, Coach Aveni said, “We quit looking at who people were and just went out and wrestled. We wrestled the man in the circle.”
For full results of the morning pool play, Click Here.
With this championship weekend in the books, the Clearfield Bison Wrestling Team has finally improved their record to a winning season, ending the year with a 10-7 record. On the way to this record, they faced injuries, forfeited multiple weight classes, and grew as a young team filled with underclassmen. They accrued 202 wins and forfeits, picking up 79 falls, 30 major decisions and tech falls. Three of their wrestlers now have 20 plus wins this year: Mark McGonigal, Caleb Freeland and Karson Kline.
The Thundering Herd will now have 14 days to prepare for the individual post-season which will also begin at the Clearfield Area High School with the PIAA AAA District 4-9 Tournament. Coach Aveni is focusing on continuing to have fun, working hard, getting his team’s conditioning up and going into the tournament with high spirits. Though Clearfield lost in the semi-finals of the team district tournament earlier this season, they were forfeiting a weight class, and they may actually be the underdog favorites to take the individual championship in 2019.
For Complete Bout by Bout Clearfield Bison results, Click Here
