CLARION — After having successful regular seasons, the Clearfield Bison and Curwensville Golden Tide wrestling teams will be competing against each other for the first time since 1973 in the individual post-season.
The venue will be the Waldo S. Tippin Gymnasium on the campus of Clarion University and the event will be the 2023 District 9 AA Championships, Clearfield’s first trip in to the small school division since the district split into two classes in 1974.
A top-4 finish will advance a wrestler to the North West Regional Tournament at Sharon High School on March 3 and 4.
The Bison ended up with six wrestlers with a top-4 seed, with two being top seeds, and the Tide have four wrestlers with seeds that, if met, would get them to Sharon.
Leading the way for the Bison with number one seeds are senior Evan Davis (22-8) at 121 and sophomore Brady Collins (29-3) at 139. Evans is a three time District 9 AAA runner-up, who was a state qualifier at 113 pounds last year. Davis needs five post season wins to reach the milestone 100-win plateau. Collins won a District 9 AAA title as a freshman last year at 126 pounds and also qualified for the PIAA state tourney.
Two Bison freshmen garnered second seeds – Cash Diehl (23-9) at 107 and Colton Ryan (18-11) at 127.
At 189 pounds, returning District 9 AAA champ and an eighth place finisher at the state tournament a year ago, junior Carter Chamberlain (29-4) is the lone number three seed for the Bison.
Sophomore Ty Aveni (20-9) is the number four seed at 145. Aveni was a fourth place finisher at the AAA district championships last year.
Nik Fegert (23-10) at 145 received the highest seed for the Curwensville matmen with his number three. Coincidentally, Fegert has finished third the past two District 9 AA Championships. He’ll be looking for his first state championship bid in this, his final season.
A trio of Tide earned number four seeds and need to at least match that seed to move on to Sharon.
They are sophomore Austin Gilliland (19-11) at 107, junior Logan Aughenbaugh (27-8) at 160, and junior Trenton Guiher (21-10) at 215.
Aughenbaugh placed third in the district as a freshman 145, then reached the top of the podium last year at 152, then fell one win short at regionals of being a state qualifier.
A duo of Bison and one Tide wrestler have number five seeds, meaning they just have to do one spot better to advance.
The Bison are 114 pound freshmen Bryndin Chamberlain (18-13) and Colton Bumbarger (11-16) at 133. The Tide’s is Chase Irwin (22-12) at 189. Irwin is a senior looking for that elusive first district medal.
Clearfield’s Carter Freeland (20-9) at 160, a junior high state champion last year, is a number six seed that could make his way to the podium and advance.
Other Bison that will be participating, and looking to pull an upset or two to advance, are seniors Patrick Knepp (5-19) at 152 and Eric Myers (6-18) at 215, and sophomores Hunter Ressler (8-9) at 172, and Nick Bailor (7-9) at 285.
The Bison are the lone team, out of 16 entered, to bring a full 13-man squad to the championships.
Curwensville’s non-seeded wrestlers are seniors Damian Brady (11-15) at 121, who got fourth at 106 last year, and JD Strong (4-13) at 152, juniors Ryder Kuklinskie (10-4), a district runner-up his freshman year at 132, and Jarett Anderson (6-16) at 172, and sophomore Dylan Deluccia (19-9) at 127.
Four other teams match Clearfield’s two top seeds.
Brookville, winner of the last three and 10 out of the last 12 District 9 AA team titles, has top seeds in Cole Householder (29-5) at 127 and Jackson Zimmerman (29-4) at 189. Both were state qualifiers last year, with Householder finishing seventh as a freshman.
Brockway brings back two state qualifiers from last year, and they are both top seeds this year – Weston Pisarchick (20-0) at 114 and Parker Pisarchick (27-5) at 133.
Top seeds from Cranberry are Dalton Wenner (25-3) at 107 and Brayden McFetridge (28-4) at 215.
Johnsonburg is the fifth and final team with two top seeds – Avery Bittler (23-9) at 145 and Aiden Zimmerman (26-5) at 160.
Each sporting one top seeded wrestler are Clarion with Mason Gourley (27-4) at 152, St. Marys with Waylon Wehler (28-3) at 172, and undefeated Carson Neely (27-0) from Port Allegany at 285.
Complete brackets can be found by clicking HERE courtesy PA-Wrestling.com.
The schedule for the weekend’s events are as follows:
2/24 Friday
Session I
4:00 PM Preliminary Round (3 Mats)
Quarter Finals and Consolation Round 1 (3 Mats)
Consolation Round 2 (3 Mats)
2/25 Saturday
Session II
10:00 AM Semi-Finals and Consolation Quarters (3 Mats)
Consolation Semi-Finals (3 Mats)
BREAK
Session III
3:00 PM 5th place and 3rd place (3 Mats)
4:30 PM Bob Colgan Recognition
4:35 PM HALL OF FAME
5:00 PM Parade of Champions/ Finals (1 Mat)
