HYDE — Clearfield Bison head coach Jeff Aveni knew his squad would be down two starters and he was going to have to reach into his bag of tricks to contend with the once-beaten visiting Penns Valley Rams. Mission accomplished.
Aveni shifted most of his line-up, including wrestling the #1 ranked AA wrestler in the state at 172 up to 215, threw two wrestlers with one combined varsity match between them in the mix, and managed to pull off a 39-36 win that came down to the last match after the first 12 bouts all ended with falls.
Clearfield never trailed in the match, and it was only tied once at 36-36; but a regular decision by Bryndin Chamberlain (17-11), up two weight classes at 139, over Zach Rummel (13-12) in the last match of the night gave Clearfield the hard fought victory as Chamberlain was carried off the mat by his teammates. Scoreless after one period and down 2-0 after a reversal by Rummel to start the second, it was all Chamberlain after that as he got an escape and takedown to end the second period up 4-2 and then repeated that exact effort in the final period to lock down the 8-2 win.
The win upped the Bison record to 12-2 on the season, while the Rams dropped to 11-2.
As stated, the first 12 matches all ended by pin, six for each team.
The two Coltons on the Bison, Bumbarger (22-10) at 145 and Ryan (24-6) at 152, got the Bison out to an early 12-0 lead.
At 160, Penns Valley’s Brayden Liskowski (23-7)got a quick fall over Eli Barrett, who was wrestling just his second varsity match ever.
Up a weight at 172, Ty Aveni (20-5) got a takedown and fall in the first period over Robert Martin (11-12) to give the Bison an 18-6 lead.
At 189, Clearfield’s Hunter Ressler and Penns Valley’s Shane Rimmey were locked horns with Ressler taking a 3-1 lead after one period and a 7-2 lead after two periods. However, Rimmey (10-7) started the final period on top and turned Ressler and picked up a fall at the 4:46 mark.
Then at 215, Brady Collins (27-1), who is now ranked #1 in the state in AA at 172, gave up 30 pounds in bodyweight, but still managed to pin the Rams’ Ty Steiger (7-13) after building up a 16-2 lead at the end of the first period. The pin doubled up the score for the Bison 24-12.
Nick Bailor (17-10) was down 1-0 after two periods against the Rams’ Landon Hess (20-7), but eventually used his 70 pound weight advantage to even the score at one, then takedown and pin Hess giving the Bison their biggest lead of the night at 30-12.
Back-to-back falls at 107 by Evan Loskowski (19-5) over Xavier Lutz (12-12) and Max Dinges (26-1) at 114 over Dominic Natoli, making his varsity debut, brought the Rams to within six at 30-24.
At 121, Bo Aveni (20-8) found himself down 11-0 heading into the third period after being put on his back twice by Conner Myers (25-6). Aveni chose top to start the third and put Myers on his back and picked up a dramatic come-from-behind fall in 4:53, giving the Bison a 12-point lead with three matches to go.
Once again the visiting Rams got back-to-back pins, this time by Erik Carlile (27-1) at 127 and Tripp Watson (20-11) at 133 to tie the match at 36, setting up Chamberlain for his heroics.
The Bison will back in action this weekend at the 26-team Thomas Automotive Tournament in Bedford, where they took second last year.
CLEARFIELD — 39, PENNS VALLEY – 36
145: Colton Bumbarger (C) wbf 2:41 over Sawyer Fetteroff (PV) 6 – 0 152: Colton Ryan (C) wbf 1:56 over Seth Fetteroff (PV) 12 – 0 160: Brayden Liskowski (PV) wbf :11 over Eli Barrett (C) 12 – 6 172: Ty Aveni (C) wbf :54 over Robert Martin (PV) 18 – 6 189: Shane Rimmey (PV) wbf 4:46 over Hunter Ressler (C) 18 – 12 215: Brady Collins (C) wbf 2:22 over Ty Steiger (PV) 24 – 12 285: Nick Bailor (C) wbf 5:07 over Landon Hess (PV) 30 – 12 107: Evan Loskowski (PV) wbf 1:00 over Xavier Lutz (C) 30 – 18 114: Max Dinges (PV) wbf 1:09 over Dominic Natoli (C) 30 – 24 121: Bo Aveni (C) wbf 4:53 over Conner Myers (PV) 36 – 24 127: Erik Carlile (PV) wbf 3:41 over Dakota Shugarts (C) 36 – 30 133: Tripp Watson (PV) wbf 2:37 over Jackson Shugarts (C) 36 – 36 139: Bryndin Chamberlain (C) decision 8-2 over Zach Rummel (PV) 39 – 36
CLEARFIELD BISON SCOREBOARD:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/06 & 07 @ Top Hat Tourney – Williamsport 166.5 pts. 5th place
12/10 @ Philipsburg-Osceola 55 – 13 1 – 0
12/12 DUBOIS ppd. 1 – 0
12/13 DUBOIS 41 – 17 2 – 0
12/17 BROOKVILLE 55 – 13 3 – 0
12/21 @ St. Marys 50 – 21 4 – 0
01/03 & 04 @ Laurel Highlands Tourney 185 pts. 2nd place
01/08 @ Altoona 29 – 31 4 – 1
01/10 & 11 @ Mid-Winter Mayhem – IUP 88 pts. 17th place
01/14 @ Bald Eagle Area 44 – 25 5 – 1
01/15 HUNTINGDON 48 – 17 6 – 1
01/18 BISON DUALS
vs. Curwensville 54 – 15 7 – 1
vs. Central Clarion 54 – 15 8 – 1
vs. Indiana 54 – 15 9 – 1
vs. General McLane 41 – 22 10 – 1
vs. Montoursville 23 – 37 10 – 2
01/21 BELLEFONTE 44 – 25 11 – 2
01/22 PENNS VALLEY 39 – 36 12 – 2
01/24 & 25 @ Thomas Auto Tourney – Bedford
01/28 @ Tyrone
02/01 @ District 9 AA Duals @ Brookville
02/21 & 22 @ District 9 Championship @ Clarion
02/28 & 3/1 @ Northwest Regionals @ Sharon
03/06 – 08 @ PIAA Championships @ Hershey
