CLARION — After the first day of action at the 2023 District 9 AA Wrestling Championships, the Clearfield Bison sat in second place behind St. Marys, another team dropping down from AAA to AA this year. The Bison then lost their first two semifinal matches on Saturday morning, but then a 13-match win streak, by 11 different teammates, catapulted the Bison way atop the standings and they never looked back.
In all, the Bison ended up with two champs, two runners-up, three third places, and a fourth to send the largest contingent of the 16-team tourney on to the North West Regional Tournament, which starts Friday at Sharon High School. The Bison will be represented in the first seven weight classes, plus 189, at Sharon.
The Bison ended up with 186 points to easily outdistance runner-up St. Marys, who ended up with 160 to edge Cranberry and their 155.5 points. A distance fourth was perennial AA power Brookville, which ended up with 143 points as the injury bug took their toll on the Raiders.
Both Bison champions entered the championships as top seeds.
They were senior Evan Davis at 121 and sophomore Brady Collins at 139.
The two runners-up for the Bison were sophomore Ty Aveni at 145 and junior Carter CHamberlain at 189.
The trio of bronze medalists were three out of four of the “Fab 4” freshmen on the squad – Cash Diehl at 107, Bryndin Chamberlain at 114, and Colton Bumbarger at 133. Bumbarger was only one of two wrestlers to pick up five wins in the entire tourney.
The fourth place finisher for the Bison was the final freshman in the “Fab 4”, Colton Ryan at 127.
Three other Bison made it to Saturday, all placing sixth. They were senior Patrick Knepp (6-22 on the season, 10-31 for his career) at 152, and sophomores Carter Freeland (22-12) at 160 and Nick Bailor (8-12) at 285.
Evan Davis (25-8), a three time district runner-up in AAA, picked up that elusive title with a 2-0 victory over Cranberry’s Elijah Brosious (27-9) in the final. Davis scored a takedown about 30 seconds into the match and there was no further scoring. Davis is now 98-44 for his career, leaving him two wins shy of the 100-win Club as he heads to regionals.
Brady Collins (32-3) had an easy go of it all weekend. He had two pins, including one in the finals, and a tech fall in the semis to go 3-0. The championship final against Ben Reynolds (14-9) of St. Marys lasted all of 3:01, as Collins built up an 8-2 lead before getting the fall and earning his second District 9 title in two years.
Ty Aveni (22-10), the four seed, upended top seeded Avery Bittler (26-11) of Johnsonburg in the semifinals by a 4-2 score in overtime to reach the finals. Once there though, Jaden Wehler (24-9) of St. Marys buily up a 5-0 first period lead over Aveni and cruised to an 8-0 final.
At 189, Carter Chamberlain (32-5) also earned an upset seed-wise in the semis as he upended the two two seed, Seth Stewart (26-7) by a 4-1 score on the strength of two takedowns. In the championship final, Chamberlain got in deep on several single leg takedowns but just wasn’t able one and was defeated by the top seed, Jackson Zimmerman (32-4) of Brookville. Tied 2-2 headed to the last period, Zimmerman escaped to a 3-2 lead, then scored a late takedown after Chamberlain’s last ditch effort at the winning takedown failed to set the final at 5-2.
After Cash Diehl (26-10) lost a 5-3 heartbreaker to Oswayo Valley’s Andrew Coriaty (18-5) in the semifinals, he did a great job coming back and winning his final two bouts by fall and major decision to finish in third.
Bryndin Chamberlain ran into a buzzsaw in undefeated Weston Pisarchick (24-0) of Brockway and was dealt a 16-1 tech fall loss in the semis. Chamberlain, the five seed, also bounced back nicely with two regular decisions to also place third and move on.
Entering the tourney with an 11-16 record and a number five seed, it’s probably safe to say no one had as good a tournament as Colton Bumbarger. After being pinned by the number four seed in the quarterfinals, Bumbarger (16-17) won four consolation bouts, all by pin, to get the bronze. He pinned the eight, two, and seven seeds along the way.
The lone fourth place finisher for the Bison was Colton Ryan (21-13), who went 3-0 against the field but just couldn’t figure out Curwensville’s Dylan Deluccia (22-10), who dealt him his two close losses in the quarterfinals (9-7 in OT) and consolation finals (6-2).
Weston Pisarchick and Waylon Wehler from St. Marys split the Joseph Kata Outstanding Wrestler Award.
Coach Wenner from Cranberry was named District 9 AA Coach of the Year.
Complete results courtesy PA-Wrestling.com can be found by clicking HERE.
Clearfield’s Saturday Results:
Championship Semifinals
107 – Andrew Coriaty (Oswayo Valley) dec. Cash Diehl, 5-3
114 – Weston Pisarchick (Brockway) won by tech. fall over Bryndin Chamberlain, 16-1 5:03
121 – Evan Davis maj. dec. A.J. Barnes (Sheffield), 11-0
139 – Brady Collins won by tech. fall over Colton Ross (Brockway), 17-2 4:44
145 – Ty Aveni dec. Avery Bittler (Johnsonburg), 4-2 SV
189 – Carter Chamberlain dec. Seth Stewart (Brockway), 4-1
Consolation Round 3
127 – Colton Ryan maj. dec. Hayden Holden (Sheffield), 11-3
133 – Colton Bumbarger pinned Brendon Wright (Clarion), 2:19
152 – Patrick Knepp dec. Alex Marfink (Sheffield), 9-4
160 – Carter Freeland dec. Tristan Dilley (St. Mary’s), 9-4
285 – Nick Bailor won by inj. default over Henry Milford (Cranberry)
Consolation Semifinals
107 – Cash Diehl pinned Austin Gilliland (Curwensville), 1:48
114 – Bryndin Chamberlain dec. Alex McLaughlin (Cranberry), 4-2
127 – Colton Ryan maj. dec. Brandon Murray (Cranberry), 11-3
133 – Colton Bumbarger pinned Brecken Cieleski (Brookville), 2:15
152 – Andrew Wolfanger (St. Mary’s) pinned Patrick Knepp, 2:08
160 – Logan Augenbaugh (Curwensville) dec. Carter Freeland, 5-0
285 – Baily Miller (Brookville) pinned Nick Bailor, 2:00
Fifth Place
152 – Rylan Arnold (Port Allegany) dec. Patrick Knepp, 4-0
160 – Mason Gordon (Port Allegany) dec. Carter Freeland, 5-2
285 – Gabe Carroll (Redbank Valley) pinned Nick Bailor, 1:45
Third Place
107 – Cash Diehl maj. dec. Michael Copello (Ridgway), 10-1
114 – Bryndin Chamberlain dec. Logan Powell (Clarion), 7-4
127 – Dylan Deluccia (Curwensville) dec. Colton Ryan, 6-2
133 – Colton Bumbarger pinned Ryder Kuklinskie (Curwensville), 3:30
Championship Finals
121 – Evan Davis dec. Elijah Brosius (Cranberry), 2-0
139 – Brady Collins pinned Ben Reynolds (St. Mary’s), 3:01
145 – Jaden Wehler (St. Mary’s) maj. dec. Ty Aveni, 8-0
189 – Jackson Zimmerman (Brookville) dec. Carter Chamberlain, 5-2
Clearfield wrestlers in bold.