DUBOIS — The 40-15 final score in the Clearfield-DuBois wrestling match Friday night wasn’t indicative of how one-sided the match actually was as the Bison brought home the Pete Morelli Memorial Trophy back to Clearfield with them.
The Bison won eight of nine bouts, three by fall, while the Beavers picked up a lone one-point decision and had two former district champs defeated.
Now the District 9 rivals have opposite records with the Bison 2-0 and the Beavers 0-2 on the young season.
Luke Freeland (4-2) started out the match at 145 with a 4-0 shutout of Carter Wilson, a first period takedown and second period reversal the only scoring in the bout.
At 152, Will Domico (5-3) held a slim 2-0 lead heading into the final period, but finished strong for the second match in a row by notching an escape and three takedowns over the final two minutes for a 9-3 win over Cadin Delaney.
Austin Mitchell picked up the only win on the mat for the Beavers at 160 when he had an escape and a takedown in the final period to eke out a 3-2 win over Karson Kline (2-3). The win cut the Bison lead in half to 6-3.
Any momentum the Beavers picked up with that win was quickly dashed as Mark McGonigal (6-1) at 172 and Carter Chamberlain (3-2) at 189 each had pins in under a minute to extend the Bison lead to 18-3.
Hayden Kovalick (6-1) received a forfeit at 215 before former PIAA state medalist Oliver Billotte (2-0) took to the mat for the fist time this season. Billotte was unavailable for the season opening Top Hat Tournament and received a forfeit in the Bison dual opener against Philipsburg-Osceola earlier this week. Billotte secured five takedowns on his way to an 11-3 major decision over Zach Gallagher.
The score was 28-3 in favor of the Bison when the match turned the corner to 106, where Clearfield forfeited to Aubree Donahue.
After no match at 113, Evan Davis (4-3) had a 5-2 second period lead when he pinned Gage Sonnie in the second period to set the score at 34-9.
The Beavers picked up their final points on the night with a forfeit at 126 by Gavin Rucinski.
At 132, the Beavers sent out 2020 District 9 champ and 2021 Northwest Region fourth place finisher Brandan Orr, while the Bison sent out freshman Brady Collins. Collins (6-1) showed that he’s as good as advertised by notching four takedowns and led from start to finish in a 9-3 win.
The 138 pound bout featured another Beaver District 9 champ, Davey Aughenbaugh, while the Bison put out Ty Aveni, a freshman making his varsity debut. Aveni scored the bout’s opening takedown, but was reversed in the second period and ridden out in the third to force the bout into overtime. The match eventually went to the ultimate tie-breaker with Aveni scoring a 3-2 upset win to set the final match score at 40-15.
Next up for the Bison is a trip next Tuesday to Hollidaysburg (0-1) to face the Tigers in their Mountain League opener.
| Weight | Summary | DAH | CAH | |
| 145 | Luke Freeland (Clearfield Area Hs) over Carter Wilson (Dubois Area Hs) (Dec 4-0) | 0 | 3 | |
| 152 | Will Domico (Clearfield Area Hs) over Cadin Delaney (Dubois Area Hs) (Dec 9-3) | 0 | 6 | |
| 160 | Austin Mitchell (Dubois Area Hs) over Karson Kline (Clearfield Area Hs) (Dec 3-2) | 3 | 6 | |
| 172 | Mark McGonigal (Clearfield Area Hs) over Eric Guzman (Dubois Area Hs) (Fall 0:52) | 3 | 12 | |
| 189 | Carter Chamberlain (Clearfield Area Hs) over Ian Pancake (Dubois Area Hs) (Fall 0:43) | 3 | 18 | |
| 215 | Hayden Kovalick (Clearfield Area Hs) FORFEIT | 3 | 24 | |
| 285 | Oliver Billotte (Clearfield Area Hs) over Zach Gallagher (Dubois Area Hs) (MD 11-3) | 3 | 28 | |
| 106 | Aubree Donahue (Dubois Area Hs) FORFEIT | 9 | 28 | |
| 113 | No Match | 9 | 28 | |
| 120 | Evan Davis (Clearfield Area Hs) over Gage Sonnie (Dubois Area Hs) (Fall 2:33) | 9 | 34 | |
| 126 | Gavin Rucinski (Dubois Area Hs) FORFEIT | 15 | 34 | |
| 132 | Brady Collins (Clearfield Area Hs) over Brendan Orr (Dubois Area Hs) (Dec 9-3) | 15 | 37 | |
| 138 | Ty Aveni (Clearfield Area Hs) over Davey Aughenbaugh (Dubois Area Hs) (UTB 2-2) | 15 | 40 |