SHARON — The Clearfield Bison wrestling team couldn’t keep their momentum rolling from the previous week’s District 9 championship title, as they went 1-7 on the opening night of competition at the PIAA AA Northwest Region Championships at Sharon High School Friday night.
Since the first round of consolations don’t start until Saturday morning, all eight Bisons are still alive for a third place finish and a trip to Hershey for the PIAA State Championships, but the wrestler with the best shot now is Colton Ryan, as he was the lone Bison to reach the semifinals.
Ryan (30-9), a senior, received a bye to the quarterfinals where he met Erie Cathedral Prep’s Gabe Dorman (27-9), a winner by fall in his opening round match. After a scoreless first period, Ryan was on bottom to start the second set of two minutes. Ryan reversed and pinned Dorman at the 2:58 mark to make the semis. His semifinal opponent will be District 10 champion Zachary Turberville (36-4) of Slippery Rock. Turberville squeaked by St. Marys’ Jackson Wehler 5-3 in his quarterfinal match. A semifinal win would give Ryan back-to back state qualifier seasons.
The other seven Bisons will have to win three matches in a row to reach the consolation finals in the wrestlebacks to advance to next week, as the top-4 in each weight class qualify for states.
At 127, sophomore Bo Aveni (32-10), the other returning state qualifier for the Bisons, lost a heartbreaker 4-1 in overtime to Saegertown’s Milan Harrison (30-7) in the quarters. He will face Redbank Valley’s Gabe Clinger (29-13) Saturday morning.
Senior Bryndin Chamberlain (35-9) was beaten 10-3 by Sabatino Sciullo (36-14) of Reynolds in his quarterfinal bout. He will face Ridgway’s Owen Steger (25-12) Saturday morning. Chamberlain shut out Steger 7-0 in the District 9 semifinals a week ago.
Fellow senior Colton Bumbarger (27-12), was tech falled 17-2 by Kaysom Mataria (34-6) of Greenville at 152 in his first match and will meet familiar foe Travis Coriarity (31-12) of Oswayo Valley Saturday. Bumbarger defeated Coriarity 13-7 in the semifinals last week at Clarion.
In his quarterfinal match, sophomore Tim Taylor (20-17) was tied up at seven with Derek Dube (34-16) when Dube picked up a reversal and a fall at the 3:53 mark. Taylor will face Curwensville’s Reed Hawkins (24-12) in the wrestlebacks Saturday.
The three biggest Bison each had a round of 16 match up, and each were sent to the consies.
Junior Brayden Wills (28-15) at 189 was majored 16-4 by Erie Cathedral Prep’s Bode Terry (33-10) and will meet Corry’s Landon Anderson (36-11) in his first match Saturday.
Also a junior, Ryan Ludwig (21-16) at 215 was beaten 5-1 by Dan Duran (32-13) of Ft. LeBoeuf and meets Franklin’s Gary Kiselka (30-7) on Saturday.
And 285 pound sophomore Matthew Peace (23-17) was shut out 6-0 by Commodore Perry’s Trevor Shearer (13-12) and has Maxwell Spaulding (32-9) of Erie Cathedral Prep on Saturday morning.
The Bisons, who placed sixth at the Northwest Region a year ago, find themselves in a logjam with four other teams tied for 17th with nine team points. Only one District 9 team is even in the top-10, and that is St. Marys in ninth place with 22.5 points. Reynolds sits atop the standings with 61.5 points.
While Clearfield went 1-7 on the day, the entire district went a lowly 17-41 and only has 11 semifinalists.
Complete tournament results can be found HERE.
Clearfield results:
Championship Round 1
189 – Bode Terry (Erie Cathedral Prep) maj. dec. Brayden Wills, 16-4
215 – Dan Duran (Fort LeBoeuf) dec. Ryan Ludwig, 5-1
285 – Trevor Shearer (Commodore Perry) dec. Matthew Peace, 6-0
Championship Quarterfinals
127 – Milan Harrison (Saegertown) dec. Bo Aveni, 4-1 SV
133 – Sabatino Sciullo (Reynolds) dec. Bryndin Chamberlain, 10-3
152 – Kaysom Mataria (Greenville) won by tech. fall over Colton Bumbarger, 17-2 4:27
160 – Colton Ryan pinned Gabe Dorman (Erie Cathedral Prep), 2:58
172 – Derek Dube (General McLane) pinned Tim Taylor, 3:53
Clearfield wrestlers in bold.
