ALTOONA — The Clearfield Bison sent 10 wrestlers to the North West AAA Regional Tournament at the Altoona Area High School Field House Friday night.
A four win/nine loss night ravaged the squad and left only 285 pounder Oliver Billotte in the championship bracket and Saturday afternoon’s semifinals.
Billotte (33-3), one of six Bison sophomores competing in Altoona for the Bison, is the second seed at 285 and received a first round bye in to the quarterfinals. Billotte took down Erie Cathedral Prep’s John Campbell (20-10) in each period and only gave up two meaningless escapes in an 8-2 win that moves him one win away from a date in Hershey for the PIAA AAA State Championship.
A match-up of district titlists awaits the District 9 champ Billotte in the semis as he faces the District 6 champion Blaine Davis (30-6) of Mifflin County.
Three other Bison sophomores had first round wins, but fell short in their semifinal bouts.
Luke Freeland (24-13) had a pin in his 138 pound opener, but was defeated 13-6 by the District 6 champion Kyler Everly (29-10) of Miflin County.
At 152, Mark McGonigal (29-7) also had a pin in the preliminary round, but then suffered an overtime loss 4-2 to another Mifflin County District 6 champion, Anson Wagner (25-10).
Hayden Kavolaick (25-13) eked out a 2-0 win in the prelims, but was handed a 15-0 tech fall loss to State College’s Cole Urbas (32-4) in the quarterfinals.
Those three quarterfinal losers will be joined in the second round of consolations by freshman Evan Davis (25-14) at 106 and sophomore Nolan Barr (24-12) at 126, each of whom lost preliminary bouts, but received first round byes in the wrestlebacks.
The remaining four Bison would have to run off five wins, as opposed to four wins for the other five Bison listed above in the second round of consolations, to place third and qualify for the state tourney.
They are junior Derrick Bender (8-21) at 113, sophomore Karson Kline (23-16) at 145, senior Brett Zattoni (20-18) at 182, and junior Matt Bailor (4-10) at 195.
First round consolations begin at 10:00 am Saturday, with the second round to immediately follow.
The semifinals and consolation quarterfinals are slated for 12;30 pm, followed by the consolation semis.
The Parade of Champions is scheduled for 6:00 pm, followed by the consolation and championship finals.
Mifflin County currently leads a tight team race with 52 points. They are closely followed by Bellefonte with 46 and Erie Cathedral Prep with 43.5. The top District 9 team is DuBois with 39 points siting in fifth. Clearfield is tied with Shikellamy for 13th place with 14 points.
Complete results courtesy PA-Wrestling.com can be found by clicking here.