Bison Wrestlers Edge Visiting Rams

HYDE — Able to field a full 14-man team proved to be the difference, as the host Clearfield Bison wrestling team defeated the Penns Valley Rams 43-32 on Tuesday night in the Arthur Weiss Gymnasium at Clearfield Area Junior/Senior High School.

Each team won six of the 12 contested bouts, with the Rams outscoring the Bison 32-31 in those matches. The two forfeits the Bison picked up set the final and raised their record to 5-2 on the year. The loss dropped the Rams to 2-7.

The back-and-forth match started at 132 where sophomore Karson Kline (12-5) got the hosts off to a quick start with a 35 second pin over Noah Fetterolf (0-2).

Classmate Luke Freeland’s (9-7) match lasted a little longer but his fall in 1:44 doubled the Bison score to 12-0.

The Rams won the next three matches to chip away at the Bison lead, finally passing them 14-12 after the 160 pound match.

At 145 Clayton Royer (18-4) tech falled senior Peyton Smay (4-10) 16-0. 152 pounder Micah Fetterolf 8-8) edged JD Graham (2-3) 3-2 on the strength of a third period escape, and Malachi Duvall (17-2) built up a 10-3 first period lead before pinning Logan Firanski (1-9).

Clearfield retook the lead at 170 when sophomore Mark McGonigal (14-2) dominated, but couldn’t turn but one time, Cole Felker (0-1) in a 9-1 major decision.

The host Bison won a key toss-up match at 182 as another sophomore, Hayden Kavolick (12-6) edged Dristen Wolfe (11-7) by a 4-2 score. Scoreless after the opening period, Kavolick escaped and took down Wolfe in the second set of two minutes to take a 3-0 lead in to the final period. Wolfe reversed in the third to narrow the gap to 3-2, but Kavolick escaped and avoided giving up a takedown and held on to give the Bison a 19-14 lead.

Andrew Sharer (1-0) at 195 made an impressive season debut by pinning Bison senior Brett Zattoni (9-9) in 1:20, giving the Rams their second lead of the match, 20-19.

A fifth Bison sophomore managed to give the Bison a lead they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the night. Oliver Billotte (15-2) at 220 had a 33 second fall over Caelob Packer (4-8) to put the Rams behind 25-20.

The Bison easily extended their 5-point lead to 11 when senior 285 pounder Jon Doran (8-7) received a forfeit.

Freshman 106 pounder Evan Davis (12-6) took Chase Fleshman (8-8) right to his back and cradled him up for a 10 second fall, extending the Bison lead to 37-20.

The Rams closed the gap to 37-26 when Justin Darlington (12-5) pinned Derrick Bender (4-10) in 1:07.

Pins in the final two matches would give the Rams a 38-37 win, but they never got the chance as they had no one to send out at 120. The forfeit to the sixth Bison sophomore to score points in the dual, Nolan Barr (10-6) sealed the deal for the hosts.

The Rams did manage a pin in the final match at 126 when Nate Long (3-5), with an 8-4 third period lead, ended the match at the 4:27 mark against Jason Plubell (2-4).

Next action for the Bison will be Saturday January 18 when they host the 12th Annual Bison Duals.

Bison Scoreboard: