Clearfield Announces Entry into AA Wrestling with Authority

HYDE — On Friday night inside the Artur J. Weiss Gymnasium, the Clearfield Bison made their 2022-23 dual meet debut and announced with authority that they will be a force to reckon with in their drop to Class AA.

Their opponent was an undefeated Brookville Raider squad that is used to having it’s way with District 9 foes. The Bison turned away the 6-0 Raiders in a 45-27 bonus point generated win.

The Bison won seven of the 11 contested bouts, each team received one forfeit, and scored bonus points in all seven victories via five falls, a tech fall, and a major decision.

The match started at 127 pounds and after an Owen Fleming (6-1 record) 6-2 win over a gutsy Colton Ryan (1-3) and a forfeit to returning District 9 champion Cole Householder (6-1), the Bison found themselves down 9-0 in a hurry.

Forfeiting to Householder and bumping Adam Rougeux up to 139 didn’t look like a good idea at first as Rougeux fell behind early to the bigger Anthony Ceriani. By the middle of the second period Rougeux (2-2) made Bison head coach Jeff Aveni look like a genius as he reversed and pinned Ceriani (3-3) at the 3:30 mark to put the hosts on the board.

Brady Collins (4-1) at 145 got off to a quick start with an ankle pick about two seconds into his match with Cieleski Brecken (4-2) and dominated throughout, finally picking up a fall with 10 seconds remaining in the bout to give the Bison their first lead of the night at 12-9.

After a slow start at 152 Bison Ty Aveni (2-2) put on a near fall clinic over the final two periods and earned an 18-2 tech fall over Burke Fleming (5-2) when the final set of points were awarded after the final buzzer.

Brookville temporarily halted the Bison stampede at 160 where Coyha Brown (6-1) pinned Clearfield’s Patrick Knepp at the 3:12 mark. The win brought the Raiders within two at 17-15.

A 6-0 Kolten Griffin at 172 for the Raiders looked to give the visitors the lead when he faced off with Carter Freeland (4-2). Both strongboys wanted to go upper body, with Freeland eventually scoring the opening takedown. After an escape in the second period, Freeland landed a headlock that led to the match-ending fall in 3:18.

189 was one of the feature bouts of the night as PIAA AAA placewinner Carter Chamberlain (5-1) of Clearfield faced off with returning District 9 runner-up Easton Belfiore (2-1). Carter dominated from start to finish and rolled to a 14-0 lead after two periods. Belfiore did a nice job on his feet the entire third period to save a team point in the 14-0 final, which gave the Bison a 27-15 lead.

However, perennial state power Brookville wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

The Raiders picked up two first period falls at 215 by Jackson Zimmerman (6-0) and 285 by Baily Miller (1-0) to knot the match at 27 each as the match made the turn to the lightweights.

The Raiders had no one weighed in at 107 and had to forfeit to Cash Diehl (5-2), who will have to wait just a bit longer to make his home varsity debut.

But fellow freshman Bryndin Chamberlain (3-2) made his varsity debut at 114 a memorable one as he locked up the win with a first period fall over Christopher Carroll (2-5) in 1:14.

In another feature bout to close out the match at 121, each wrestler had the other on his back in the first period. In the end, Bison Evan Davis (4-2) had to work hard to get it, but he eventually locked up his signature cradle in the third period to pick up the match closing fall at the 4:47 mark over Jared Popson (5-2).

In the end, the Bison won what will most likely be a preview to the District 9 AA Team Dual Championship match.

The Bison (1-0) will hit the road next Tuesday, the 13th, to face off with long time rival Philipsburg-Osceola, who are opening their season at the Babbit Duals this weekend.