MEADVILLE – The Clearfield Bison Wrestling Team put forth a tremendous effort Friday night, putting four wrestlers in Saturday morning’s semi-finals.
Freshman 106 pounder Evan Davis (9-3), and the sophomore trio of Mark McGonigal (9-2) at 160, Hayden Kovalick (9-3) at 170 and Oliver Billotte (10-1) at 220 made a large dent in the upper weights. Every match won led to bonus points for the Bison as they combined for seven pins and a major decision to boot.
Perhaps the most intense match of the night came when Kovalick wrestled Erie McDowell’s Noah Bielak in the quarter finals. After securing a first period takedown, Kovalick would use blood time on a few occasions while Noah Bielak mounted a comeback.
Bielak used two escapes, a takedown, and a set of back points to lead 6-3 in the third period. Then Kovalick got an escape, and about a minute later took Bielak down to his back for a late fall, launching him into the semi-finals.
Six wrestlers remain alive in the consolation wrestle-backs. Sophomores Nolan Barr at 120, Karson Kline at 132, and Luke Freeland at 138, junior Derrick Bender at 113, and seniors Brett Zattoni at 182 and Jon Doran at 285 will still be in the hunt to bring home medals.
The team effort currently has them in third place overall with 86 points, trailing behind General McLane and North Allegheny who have 110.5 and 107.5 points, respectively.
Full results, courtesy of FloWrestling, can be found here.
