CLARION — The Clearfield Bison wrestling team made it two for two for District 9 team championships since they changed classes from AAA to AA a year ago. The 2024 Bison had three champions and will send 11 wrestlers to the North West Regional Tournament at Sharon next weekend, where they placed second a year ago.
The Bison accumulated 234 points to easily outdistance runner-up Port Allegany and their 186 points.
The Bison finished with three champs, a runner-up, three third places, and four fourth place finishes amongst their 11 regional qualifiers. They also added two fifth place finished as all 13 team members contributed points to the team title.
Reaching the top of the podium for the third consecutive year was junior Brady Collins (39-2). Collins earned tech falls in both the semifinals, a 19-3 win over Tristan Dilley of St. Marys, and the finals, a 22-6 win in just 2:21, over Avery Bittler from Johnsonburg. Collins had four takedowns in each match as he wasn’t really challenged in either.
Winning District 9 titles for the first time were fellow sophomores Cash Diehl at 121 and Colton Ryan at 133.
Diehl (28-9), who placed third at 107 a year ago, shut out Brookville’s Jared Popson in the final. Diehl had a takedown in the first and second periods and then rode Popson the entire two minutes of the final period to secure the win. Diehl was a 5-1 winner in the semis over Ian O’Shea of Port Allegany.
While Collins and Diehl were top seeds, Ryan (32-11) was the second seed, but had little trouble defeating top seed Central Clarion’s Logan Powell 10-4 in the finals. Ryan built up a 9-0 lead halfway through the match and then cruised to the title.
Carter Chamberlain (28-8) ended up with his third District 9 runner-up finish as he was beaten 3-1 in overtime by Brookville’s Easton Belfiore at 189. Chamberlain was a District 9 AAA champion and eighth place finisher in the state his sophomore season.
Sophomore Ty Aveni (32-17), a runner-up a year ago, placed third this year at 145 as he lost 6-5 in the semifinals, but came back to win both of his wrestleback matches, one by fall and then 4-2 over Alden Ferguson from Port Allegany in the consolation finals.
Senior Will Domico (24-13) was injured a year ago and didn’t get to wrestle, but he made the most of his final opportunity as he defeated the number two seed Jacob Henry from Central Clarion 7-4 in the consolation finals at 160, after losing in the semifinals 8-3 to eventual champion Reece Bechakas from Kane.
At 285, junior Nick Bailor (18-16) moved up three spots from last year as he went from sixth to a bronze medal in one year’s time. Bailor was pinned in the semifinals by the number two ranked heavyweight in the state, undefeated Carson Neely of Port Allegany, and then picked up a 3-2 win by the ultimate tie-breaker in the consy semis, then got a fall of his own in the consolation finals over Johnathon Winnings from Brockway.
Two Bisons lost in the consolation finals and two were forced to injury default to finish in fourth.
At 114, sophomore Dakota Shugarts (21-15) was beaten 6-0 by Ian Fitzsimmons of Port Allegany and sophomore Colton Bumbarger (22-16) at 139 was major decisioned 11-3 by Dane Wenner from Cranberry.
Defaulting with injuries were sophomore Bryndin Chamberlain (22-17) at 127 and junior Carter Freeland (13-10) at 172. Both should be recovered enough to compete at next week’s regional tournament.
Two Bison won their last match, placing fifth, one spot short of advancing to Sharon.
Juniors Xavier Lutz (19-18) at 107 and Hunter Ressler (19-19) at 215 saw their seasons come to an end. Also seeing his season and his Bison wrestling career come to an end was senior Adam Rougeux. Rougeux didn’t make the post season line-up, but went 23-11 this past season to finish with a career record of 42-34.
Complete results courtesy PA-Wrestling.com can be found by clicking HERE.
Saturday results for Clearfield (in bold):
Championship Semifinals
114 – Dalton Wenner (Cranberry) pinned Dakota Shugarts, 5:06
121 – Cash Diehl dec. Ian O’Shea (Port Allegany), 5-1
127 – Weston Pisarchick (Brockway) dec. Bryndin Chamberlain, 8-6 SV
133 – Colton Ryan dec. Brody Wehler (St. Mary’s), 8-4
139 – Parker Pisarchick (Brockway) maj. dec. Colton Bumbarger, 8-0
145 – Jaden Wehler (St. Mary’s) dec. Ty Aveni, 6-5
152 – Brady Collins won by tech. fall over Tristan Dilley (St. Mary’s), 19-3 3:57
160 – Reece Bechakas (Kane) dec. Will Domico, 8-3
172 – Andrew Wolfanger (St. Mary’s) maj. dec. Carter Freeland, 17-8
189 – Carter Chamberlain pinned Ben Walter (Kane), 2:53
285 – Carson Neely (Port Allegany) pinned Nick Bailor, 1:26
Consolation Round 3
107 – Xavier Lutz pinned Ryan Snyder (Cameron County), 0:34
215 – Hunter Ressler pinned Rocco Delhunty (Ridgway), 2:29
Consolation Semifinals
107 – Austin Gilliland (Curwensville) pinned Xavier Lutz, 4:39
114 – Dakota Shugarts dec. Gage Singer (Johnsonburg), 5-0
127 – Bryndin Chamberlain dec. Hayden Holden (Sheffield), 4-2
139 – Colton Bumbarger pinned Konnor Meyer (St. Mary’s), 0:20
145 – Ty Aveni pinned Daniel DeLong (Cranberry), 1:53
160 – Will Domico pinned Jace Meyer (St. Mary’s), 2:47
172 – Carter Freeland dec. John Wright (Coudersport), 3-2
215 – Trenton Guiher (Curwensville) pinned Hunter Ressler, 3:47
285 – Nick Bailor dec. Lucas Risser (Coudersport), 3-2 UTB
Fifth Place
107 – Xavier Lutz pinned Beau Stauffer (Port Allegany), 0:26
215 – Hunter Ressler maj. dec. Ethan Ott (St. Mary’s), 13-2
Third Place
114 – Ian Fitzsimmons (Port Allegany) dec. Dakota Shugarts, 6-0
127 – Aiden Beimel (St. Marys) won by inj. default over Bryndin Chamberlain, 0-0 0:03
139 – Dane Wenner (Cranberry) maj. dec. Colton Bumbarger, 11-3
145 – Ty Aveni dec. Alden Furgeson (Port Allegany), 4-2
160 – Will Domico dec. Jacob Henry (Central Clarion), 7-4
172 – Logan Augenbaugh (Curwensville) won by inj. default over Carter Freeland
285 – Nick Bailor pinned Johnathon Winnings (Brockway), 2:40
Championship Finals
121 – Cash Diehl dec. Jared Popson (Brookville), 5-0
133 – Colton Ryan dec. Logan Powell (Central Clarion), 10-4
152 – Brady Collins won by tech. fall over Avery Bittler (Johnsonburg), 22-6 2:21
189 – Easton Belfiore (Brookville) dec. Carter Chamberlain, 3-1 SV
