TYRONE — The 2-2 Clearfield Bison wrestling team faced of with 2-2 Tyrone at the Golden Eagles’ nest Tuesday night and came away with a come-from-behind 37-29 victory when JD Graham evened his record at 2-2 on the year with a third period fall with the match hanging in the balance.
That’s the third dual meet out of five this season for the Bison that has come down to the final match. The Bison are now 2-1 in those duals.
The exciting dual started out at 160 where Bison sophomore Mark McGonigal (12-2) got the visitors off to a quick start with a takedown and 46 second fall over Tyrone’s Dean Grassi.
The hosts won two high scoring affairs at 170 and 182, Alex Weaver over Hayden Kavolick 14-8 and Zack Lash over Brett Zattoni 9-7, to even the dual at 6-6.
Golden Eagle Jason Barr at 195 built up a 6-0 lead after two periods and then pinned Matt Bailor, wrestling his first varsity match, in the third period to give Tyrone a 12-6 lead.
That lead was short lived as 220 pounder Oliver Billotte (13-2) and heavyweight Jon Doran both dominated their opponents and recorded first period falls to give the Bison an 18-12 lead as the dual turned the corner to the lightweights.
Evan Davis (10-7), the hero of the Huntingdon match when he won the final bout, was tech falled 15-0 here though by Korry Walls as Tyrone closed the gap to 18-17.
Hunter Walk of Tyrone at 113 did Walls one better by building up an 11-0 lead over Derrick Bender, and then pinned him to put the hosts back in front, 23-18.
A tight match at 120 went Tyrone’s way as well when Ashton Sipes’ third period takedown was the difference in his 3-2 win over Nolan Barr (9-6), extending the Tyrone lead to 26-18.
Jason Plubell pulled the Bison close when he received a forfeit at 126.
Karson Kline (10-5) then put the Bison back out in front 27-26 with his 5-2 win, on the strength of two takedowns, over Mason Walls.
At 138 Bison senior Peyton Smay broke up a tight 3-0 match with an 8-point third period to earn a major decision 11-2 over Gavin Frazell, which gave the Bison a 31-26 lead with two matches to go.
Dominick Maloney built up an 8-2 first period lead over Bison Luke Freeland at 145 and held on for an 11-6 win to make the dual 31-29 in favor of the Bison, setting up Graham’s final bout heroics at 152.
Graham gave up the opening takedown, but escaped to a 2-1 deficit after one period. Taking bottom to start the second, Graham got another escape to knot the score at 2-2. Tyrone’s Jermaine Myers picked up his second takedown to go up 4-2, only to have Graham reverse and send the bout in to the final period 4-4.
The winner of the final period of the final match of the night would send his team home a winner.
Myers, off the strength of his two takedowns, took neutral to start the third. It appeared as though his strategy would work as he picked up his another takedown and a 6-4 lead. That’s when Graham turned hero by reversing Myers and used a half Nelson to finish him off and seal the deal for the Bison, upping their record to 3-2 on the season.
The Bison will now travel to St. Marys on Thursday evening to face the 4-1 Flying Dutch in a key District 9 match up.
