HYDE — After the Clearfield Bison and Penns Valley Rams each had disappointing finishes at their respective district team wrestling tournaments this past Saturday, no one would have blamed them if they would have came out flat in the regular season finale for both squads.
Instead, both teams desperately wanted to salvage their regular season and lay claim to the final Mountain League title, as the league will be disbanding at the end of this school year.
The visiting Rams went out to an early lead and held the advantage through eight bouts, but that’s definitely when things got interesting as the lead changed hands after each of the final five bouts – with the Bison firing the last salvo to take home the 32-29 win and the 2022-23 Mountain League title.
The dual meet started at 215, and the Rams were heavily favored as Kollin Brungart (24-5) faced off with Bison senior Eric Myers (6-18). Myers wasn’t going down without a fight on Senior Night and battled Brungart to a tight 3-1 decision that wasn’t decided until the final seconds.
At 285, sophomores Nick Bailor (7-9) from Clearfield and Landen Hess (18-11) from Penns Valley were locked in a scoreless bout after the first period. Bailor rode Hess for most of the second period and it looked like it would be 0-0 heading to the final two minutes. Instead, with less than 10 seconds to go, Hess reversed Bailor to his back and picked up the fall with three seconds left in the period to swing the momentum squarely in the Rams’ favor.
With the score 9-0 as the match turned to the lightweights, record-wise the next three out of four bouts all looked like toss-ups.
And Clearfield won all three.
At 107, Cash Diehl (23-9) was relentless in the first two periods as he built up a 12-1 lead over fellow freshman Conner Myers (20-12) on the strength of two takedowns, a reversal, and six nearfall points. Myers did a good job in the final period to not give up any more points, but the damage had been done and the Bison were finally on the scoreboard at 9-4 with the major decision.
The Rams were definitely favored on paper at 114 as returning state qualifier Jack Darlington (25-6), a junior, faced off with another Bison freshman Bryndin Chamberlain (18-13). Darlington managed the opening takedown, but gave up a penalty point for interlocking to take a 2-1 lead into the second set of two minutes. Chamberlain was close to getting out and scoring on Darlington over the last two periods, but just couldn’t finish as the match ended 4-1.
Bison senior Evan Davis (22-8) picked up the Bison’s second major decision in the past three bouts with a 12-0 whitewashing of Brayden Lisowski (22-8) at 121. The win, Davis’ 95th in a Bison uniform, made the score 12-8 in favor of the Rams.
127 pound Bison freshman Colton Ryan (18-12) gave up a late reversal to Zachary Rummel (15-12) or he would have had the third major decision for the Bison in a 9-3 victory that brought the Bison within one at 12-11.
Colten Shunk (25-5) did his job for the Rams at 133, as he built up a 7-0 lead after two periods and then pinned Colton Bumbarger (11-16) halfway through the final period to extend the Ram lead to 18-11.
Sophomore Brady Collins (29-3) also did his job for the Bison in the next match, as he literally toyed with Ram sophomore Max King (10-14) before pinning him in 1:47 to bring the Bison to within one, 18-17.
Classmate Ty Aveni (20-9) gave the home squad their first lead of the match in the ninth bout when he rode Chase Fleshman (10-17) for most of the match after giving up the opening takedown and immediately tied the score with a reversal on his way to a 4-2 win, a takedown in the second being the difference, that made the score 20-18.
Ty Watson (28-4), a sixth place finisher at states last year, got the lead right back for the Rams after 152 as he pinned Bison senior Patrick Knepp (5-19) in 3:07, giving the Rams the upper hand at 24-18.
Starting at 160, there were three bouts remaining. The Rams were favored at 172 and the Bison were favored at 189.
The toss up at 160 would most likely decide the match. And that’s where the Bison started to “out-Carter” the Rams.
Sophomore Carter Freeland (20-9) locked horns with senior David Martin (16-10) for all intents and purposes to decide the Mountain League championship.
Freeland scored the opening takedown with his often used bear hug and took a 2-0 lead into the second period. Freeland took down to start the second period and was turned to his back twice to fall behind 5-2 heading into the final period. It took Carter a minute from the top, but he finally bulled the senior over and picked up a fall to give the Bison just their second lead of the match, 26-24.
Ethan Fetterholf (12-6) did his job for the Rams at 172 by notching the lone tech fall of the match, 19-2, over the Bison’s Hunter Ressler (8-9), who valiantly fought off of his back on five different occasions to save a team point.
Down 29-26, the Bison sent out their second Carter in the last three matches and junior Carter Chamberlain (29-4) only needed 1:34 to sew up the match with a fall over Brandon Corl (14-13).
The Bison closed out their regular season with a 15-2 overall record and ended up undefeated in the Mountain League with a 7-0 record to win their second consecutive league title. The Rams finished 13-3 overall and 7-1 in the league.
The Bison are now off until the individual post season begins on February 24 at Clarion University when they participate in their first District 9 AA Championship.
| Weight | Summary | CAH | PVAH | |
| 215 | Kollin Brungart (Penns Valley) over Eric Myers (Clearfield) (Dec 3-1) | 0 | 3 | |
| 285 | Landen Hess (Penns Valley) over Nick Bailor (Clearfield) (Fall 3:57) | 0 | 9 | |
| 107 | Cash Diehl (Clearfield) over Conner Myers (Penns Valley) (MD 12-1) | 4 | 9 | |
| 114 | Jack Darlington (Penns Valley) over Bryndin Chamberlain (Clearfield) (Dec 4-1) | 4 | 12 | |
| 121 | Evan Davis (Clearfield) over Brayden Lisowski (Penns Valley) (MD 12-0) | 8 | 12 | |
| 127 | Colton Ryan (Clearfield) over Zachary Rummel (Penns Valley) (Dec 9-3) | 11 | 12 | |
| 133 | Colten Shunk (Penns Valley) over Colton Bumbarger (Clearfield) (Fall 4:56) | 11 | 18 | |
| 139 | Brady Collins (Clearfield) over Max King (Penns Valley) (Fall 1:47) | 17 | 18 | |
| 145 | Ty Aveni (Clearfield) over Chase Fleshman (Penns Valley) (Dec 4-2) | 20 | 18 | |
| 152 | Ty Watson (Penns Valley) over Patrick Knepp (Clearfield) (Fall 3:07) | 20 | 24 | |
| 160 | Carter Freeland (Clearfield) over David Martin (Penns Valley) (Fall 5:08) | 26 | 24 | |
| 172 | Ethan Fetterolf (Penns Valley) over Hunter Ressler (Clearfield) (TF 19-2 3:27) | 26 | 29 | |
| 189 | Carter Chamberlain (Clearfield) over Brandon Corl (Penns Valley) (Fall 1:34) | 32 | 29 |
Bison Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/02 & 03 Top Hat Tourney (@ Williamsport) 113.5 pts 9th Place
12/09 BROOKVILLE 45 – 27 1 – 0
12/13 @ Philipsburg-Osceola 47 – 17 2 – 0
12/16 DUBOIS 48 – 24 3 – 0
12/20 HOLLIDAYSBURG 76 – 0 4 – 0
12/22 @ St. Marys ppd. 4 – 0
01/03 @ Bald Eagle Area 36 – 31 5 – 0
01/10 TYRONE 42 – 24 6 – 0 01/11 @ St. Marys 24 – 39 6 – 1
01/13 & 14 @ IUP Winter Mayhem 84 pts. 18th place
01/18 @ Bellefonte 39 – 24 7 – 1 01/21 BISON DUALS
01/21 vs. Indiana 49 – 20 8 – 1
01/21 vs. Union City 72 – 3 9 – 1
01/21 vs. Meadville 56 – 12 10 – 1
01/21 vs. Butler 33 – 31 11 – 1
01/21 vs. Benton 35 – 31 12 – 1
01/24 @ Huntingdon 39 – 24 13 – 1
01/27 & 28 @ Bedford Tourney 161.5 pts 3rd place
02/04 District 9 AA Duals @ Brookville
vs. Cranberry 39 – 25 14 – 1
vs. Brookville 26 – 33 14 – 2
02/07 PENNS VALLEY 32 – 29 15 – 2
02/24&25 D9 AA Championships @ Clarion