HYDE — The 14th Bison Duals were held on Saturday at the Clearfield Area Junior/Senior High School. This year’s duals were held in memory of 1946 Clearfield Bison PIAA state champion Paul Swales. Mr. Swales passed away this past October at the ripe old age of 94 and attended Bison wrestling matches until he was 90. Several members of the Swales family were in attendance to present the championship team plaque to the Clearfield Bison, who defended their 2022 title, and have now won three of the past four titles.
It did not come easy for the Bison, now 12-1 on the season, as they turned back two undefeated teams along the way.
Their semifinal win was a 33-31 come from behind win over Butler (18-1) that was decided in the match’s final bout when Bison freshman Colton Ryan held on for a hard fought 6-4 victory at 127 pounds.
Ironically it was a Ryan win, once again, that locked up the team title for Clearfield with his major decision in the second to last bout of the 35-31 upset of the tournament’s top seeded Benton (14-1).
Clearfield had defeated Indiana 49-20 in the challenge round, then beat Union City 72-3 and Meadville 56-12 in the 16-team bracketed tourney to reach the semifinals.
The Curwensville Golden Tide had a tough draw in the tourney as they faced two undefeated teams right from the start. They lost to Canton 60-12 in the challenge round, then lost to a then-undefeated Butler squad 69-3 to start the bracket portion of the tourney.
The Tide won their first consolation match against Saegertown 33-27. The Tide then dropped to the 11th place match after suffering a defeat at the hands of District 9 rival Port Allegany 45-27.
The Tide the finished in 11th place with their narrow 30-27 victory over Indiana.
The Tide (8-9) will have almost a week off to prepare for the Fred Bell Memorial Tournament in Grove City next weekend.
The Bison won’t have much time to rest on their laurels as they will travel to Huntingdon on Tuesday to face a 16-2 Bearcat team that sits one loss back in the Mountain League standings behind Penns Valley and Clearfield.
Complete Bison Duals results can be found on the FloArena website by clicking HERE.
A summary of the team results courtesy PA_wrestling.com:
| 8:30 AM – Round 1 |
| Montoursville 36, Saegertown 19 |
| Clearfield 49, Indiana 20 |
| Union City 48, Montoursville 18 |
| Canton 60, Curwensville 12 |
| 9:45 AM – Round 2 |
| Butler 51, Meadville 19 |
| Erie McDowell 42, DuBois 28 |
| General McLane 47, Port Allegany 23 |
| Benton 59, Titusville 6 |
| 11:00 AM – Championship Round 1 |
| Benton 66, Moshannon Valley 6 |
| Titusville 36, Erie McDowell 33 |
| General McLane 51, DuBois 24 |
| Montoursville 63, Indiana 9 |
| 12:15 PM – Championship Round 1 |
| Butler 69, Curwensville 3 |
| Canton 50, Saegertown 15 |
| Meadville 30, Port Allegany 27 |
| Clearfield 72, Union City 3 |
| 1:30 PM – Consolation Round 1 |
| Curwensville 33, Saegertown 27 |
| Moshannon Valley vs. Erie McDowell |
| DuBois vs. Indiana |
| Port Allegany vs. Union City |
| 2:45 PM – Championship Quarterfinals |
| Benton 61, Titusville 6 |
| Montoursville 35, General McLane 22 |
| Butler 43, Canton 24 |
| Clearfield 56, Meadville 12 |
| 4:00 PM – 5th Place Semifinals |
| General McLane 42, Titusville 20 |
| Canton 52, Meadville 21 |
| 4:00 PM – Championship Semifinals |
| Benton 39, Montoursville 26 |
| Clearfield 33, Butler 31 |
| 4:00 PM – Consolation Round 2 |
| Port Allegany 45, Curwensville 27 |
| 5:15 PM – 13th Place Semifinals |
| DuBois 54, Moshannon Valley 18 |
| Saegertown 39, Union City 21 |
| 6:30 PM – Placement |
| Curwensville 30, Indiana 27 11th Place |
| DuBois 36, Saegertown 33 13th Place |
| Union City 54, Moshannon Valley 18 15th Place |
| 7:45 PM – Placement |
| Clearfield 35, Benton 31 Championship Final |
| Butler 39, Montoursville 30 3rd Place |
| Canton 36, General McLane 33 5th Place |
| Meadville 37, Titusville 36 7th Place Match |