CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield Bison Wrestling team will begin the 2019-20 season tonight, but they’ve been practicing for the past few weeks.
They will be led by Head Coach Jeff Aveni and his assistants Andy Squires, Brent Lykens, Nate Sipes and Myles Caragein. I also ran into Coach Scott McKenzie, who was putting in volunteer hours, and who Aveni expects to be very regular this year, and mention has to be given to Harlan Funk, who is coaching the middle school team and running the elementary wrestle for fun program as well. Funk will be assisted by Troy Danver and Derek Danver.
I walked into the practice with the boys all playing a game of handball to warmup Wednesday evening, and Aveni was deep in on the action at the time. That’s just the kind of coach Aveni is, though. He’s a lot of fun and likes to work directly with his team to help bring out another level of energy that you might not otherwise get. That energy becomes incredibly valuable when the going gets tough in this grueling four-month season.
Coach Aveni started off our interview by stating that he believes his team will eventually come together, but at this early stage in the game, they are transitioning from being athletes who wrestle – to wrestlers, and reiterated numerous times that his team is not as good now as they’ll be in February.
Just like last year, this is a young Bison team, consisting of only four seniors on a 23 man team. Compare that with seven juniors, nine sophomores and three freshman, and it’s easy to see this is a team that will still be growing and making names for themselves this year.
The Bison were able to begin turning the tide in January last year, starting the season 1-4, but ending it 10-7 and won the D4-9 Championship.
Clearfield will be heading to the notoriously difficult Tom Best Memorial Top Hat Tournament to kick off the season as usual, just before taking on a tough Bald Eagle Area team next Tuesday and a DuBois team that still has a number of “horses” on the team. But Aveni’s goal for the month of December is to be at least .500, and it’d be great to be undefeated.
At this point, though, many of the wrestlers are wrestling heavy until January and there a couple of holes that the team needs to fill out as well. The team just plain needs a month to look right.
“We just have to continue working on our wrestling skills and our conditioning.” Said Aveni. “I see this team coming together earlier this year than last year. The lineup won’t be it’s best until late in the year.”
This Bison Wrestling team has numerous three sport athletes, and many of them workout all year and also do a little bit of wrestling during the off-season. “The three sport guys just got to be all in and good things will happen.” said Aveni.
By the end of the season, there could be three, four, or five men working for or going on a trip to Hershey, where the PIAA AAA State Wrestling Championships are held every year. Aveni believes he can be the best team in the District 4/9 Championship, as they were last year, and that his team is all about the end of the season and it always has been.
Leadership-wise Aveni expects huge things from sophomore Oliver Billotte (15-8) to step up, coming off the football field as the starting QB this fall. Sophomore Karson Kline (26-16) works his tail off, and he expects senior’s Peyton Smay and Brett Zattoni (11-23) to be leaders in the room as well.
Aveni also believed junior Nick Domico (13-11) was going to step up and be a strong leader this year, but with him being out at this time due to injury, that changes the dynamic moving forward.
And don’t forget sophomores Nolan Barr, who was 22-14 last year, and Luke Freeland, who went 18-17, and you see a good number of solid wrestlers who should all increase their win column and decrease their losses if they build on what they were doing last year – cut out the bad, and focus more on the good.
Mark McGonigal is the sole returning state qualifier on this young team. A sophomore, McGonigal went 30-10 last year, and he looks as good as ever. McGonigal is a very technically sound wrestler, and his goal this year is to open up his offense without surrendering his great defense as he tries to get a little bit better every day and become a state placewinner.
From top to bottom in this program, Clearfield has focused for years on building a successful program from K-12. This year’s slogan is “Reigniting the Legacy.” They are looking at big things. They have kids traveling all over the country to wrestle in the off-season, coaching that is utilizing the latest technology to get the best performance out of each wrestler, and a community that wants to see Clearfield be the best name in high school wrestling again.
Clearfield currently has 41 state champions, the most out of any school, but it’s possible there could be several more names added to the practice room wall in the next few seasons, and the talent pool in the elementary and middle school program is large as well.
“This isn’t the beginning and it’s not the end.” Said Aveni. “It’s a start. We’ll go in and compete and see where we’re at.” Well, we’ll see tonight.