HERSHEY — After a near historic first day at the PIAA AAA State wrestling Championships, in which the Bison sent four wrestlers to the quarterfinals and one into the second round of consolations, the second didn’t start so well.
As a matter of fact, the Bison lost their first seven matches, eliminating three of their wrestlers, before the last two wrestlers of the day rallied with wins to finish out the day.
First up was Evan Davis in the 113 pound second round of consolations. Davis was major decisioned 8-0 by Carson Wagner (28-8) of Northampton. Wagner had two takedowns, a reversal, and two nearfall points in the shut out. He went on to win his next match as well, so he will be bringing home a medal. Davis finished his junior season with a 3012 record, including 21 pins. He’ll have a shot to join the Century Club next year as his career mark is now 73-36, with 53 pins.
Clearfield’s four quarterfinalists all ran into buzzsaws, resulting in an 0-4 round.
At 126 pounds, freshman Brady Collins was defeated 8-0 by the Southwest Region champ Ethan Lebin (32-7). Lebin was up 5-0 in the first period and then cruised to the victory.
172 pound senior Mark McGonigal was taken down eight times by Dom D’Agostino (42-2), the Southeast Region champ from Interboro, in a 16-7 loss.
Sophomore Carter Chamberlain at 189 pounds suffered a similar fate being taken down six times in a 16-5 loss to the Northeast Regional champ, Sonny Sasso (44-0), a junior from Nazareth.
Oliver Billotte at 285 also ran into an undefeated wrestler in William McChesney (36-0), the Southwest Region champ from Greensburg Salem. A familiar foe, McChesney defeated Billotte for the fourth time in state competition, this time 3-1 with the winning takedown coming with just 27 seconds remaining in the match.
All four quarterfinalist losers then entered what is known amongst the wrestlers as the “blood round” – win and earn a medal or lose and go home.
Collins lost a heartbreaker to Hempfield sophomore Seamus Mack (32-13). Mack was up 2-0 just 20 seconds into the match, but Collins evened the bout with under a minute to go, sending the blood round match to overtime. It eventually went to the ultimate tie-breaker with Mack riding Collins out in a 3-2 win. Collins ends his first year with a 35-6 record, in what is believed to be a Clearfield record for wins by a freshman.
Next up again was McGonigal. Unfortunately for McGonigal his stellar Bison career ended just short of earning a state medal as Cole Bartram (32-6) from Northern York got the better of McGonigal in a 7-2 win. McGonigal ended his senior season with a record of 30-11, and his career with a mark of 114-35, top-10 on the career win list for Clearfield.
Finally, Chamberlain (30-9) ended the seven-match losing streak. Senior Owen Koch (31-6) of Phoenixville was the victim of a fall in 2:09, assuring Chamberlain a medal in his first appearance in the state tourney. Scoreless after the first period, Chamberlain turned Koch and pinned him a minute into the second period. Next up for Chamberlain in consolation round four at 9:00 AM Saturday will be fellow sophomore Juliano Marion (36-8) of Franklin Regional.
And Billotte (31-4) made it a winning streak as he bested Jacob Pomykata (30-9), a senior from Butler, 8-4. Billotte will meet Noah Tustin (42-14), a senior from Waynesburg Central. Tustin lost his first match and now is on a three match pin streak through the wrestlebacks.
The 2-7 day faded the Bison from third place in the team standings to 10th.
Complete AAA results can be found by clicking HERE, courtesy PA-Wrestling.com