Sharon — After a 1-7 start to the AA Northwest Region Championship on Friday night, the Clearfield Bison wrestling team fared a little better on Saturday by qualifying two for the PIAA AA State Wrestling Championships at Hershey, starting on Thursday March 5.
The Coltons, Bumbarger and Ryan, each won big matches in the wrestlebacks to up Clearfield’s streak to 29 consecutive have having at least one state qualifier. 
The streak looked to be in peril when 160 pounder Colton Ryan lost in the semifinals 6-4 after being up 4-0 with the second period winding down against Zac Turberville (37-4) of Slippery Rock. Turberville got a reversal with nine seconds remaining to be down 4-2 heading to the final period. Turberville then scored an escape and takedown all within the first 45 seconds of the third, then rode Ryan out for the win.
With his season, and career, on the line Ryan dropped down to the consolation semifinals with a trip to Hershey awaiting. He managed to secure the opening takedown against Gavin Ryhal of Greenville (36-10). An escape and a takedown gave Ryhal the lead in the second period, but Ryan got an escape back late in the period to send the match tied at four to the final set of two minutes. Ryan chose down and was gifted an escape to take a 5-4 lead with either wrestler needing a takedown for the win. Fortunately for Ryan, he managed one with 1:18 remaining and rode Ryhal out to earn the 8-4 victory. With the win, Ryan locked up his second trip to the state tournament.
In the third place match Ryan (32-10) put another win on the board to improve his placement one spot from a year ago when he was fourth. He shut out General McLane’s Peter Sadchikov (37-15) 7-0 to earn the bronze medal.
152 pound senior Colton Bumbarger lost his opening match on Friday, and like the other six Bison wrestlers that also lost their openers, needed three wins in a row to make it to Hershey. Bumbarger was the only one to accomplish that feat.
First he pinned Oswayo Valley’s Travis Coriarity (31-13) in the third period while down 3-1. Then while up 1-0 in the third period with St. Marys’ Konnor Meyer (25-11) he picked up another fall.
Then, in the blood round, he scored the final five points, the last three via sudden victory takedown, in a come-from-behind 11-8 win over Corry’s Carson Braswell (38-8). The celebration after the sudden victory is pictured below.
However, in the third place match he was beaten 1-0 by Greenville’s Kaysom Mataria (36-7), who had beaten Bumbarger 17-2 in the quarterfinals the night before. Bumbarger (30-13) will be making his first trip to the state tournament. Bumbarger needs just one win in Hershey to hit the 100-win milestone for his career.
Falling one win short of qualifying was 127 pound sophomore Bo Aveni. He won his first two consolation matches by fall, then went up against familiar for Jace Walter (37-10) of St. Marys, who Aveni defeated 4-0 in the dual meet and 7-4 last week in the District 9 finals. The third time was not the charm, as Walter avenged those losses with a 5-1 win, only giving up a late stall point.
Aveni (34-12), who placed fourth and qualified for states last year as a freshman finished off his day in the fifth place match with Rocky Kowle (38-8), a senior from North East. Kowle came away with a 4-2 win, placing Aveni sixth, two spots down from a year ago. Aveni will take a 66-27 record into his junior year.
Only one other Bison, Tim Taylor at 172, managed a consy bracket win. Taylor defeated Curwensville’s Reed Hawkins (24-13) by an 8-4 count in his first match Saturday. Lamech Albers (38-7) of Corry ended the sophomore’s season by a score of 9-2. This was Taylor’s first varsity season and he will take that 21-18 record into his junior year.
The other four Bison all lost their first match Saturday morning to finish 0-2 for the tourney.
133 pounder Bryndin Chamberlain finished his senior season with a 35-10 record and back-to-back District 9 championships. His career record ended up 111-62.
Junior Brayden Wills at 189 finished his season with a 28-16 record and will take a 29-23 overall record into his senior campaign.
215 pound junior Ryan Ludwig (21-17) will take a 36-38 career mark into his final year.
And sophomore Matthew Peace at 285 will take his 23-18 record into his junior year.
The Bison ended up 13th in the team race with 39 team points, down seven spots from their sixth place finish of a year ago.
Erie Cathedral Prep won the team title with 125 points, edging runner-up Reynolds and their 121 points. The top District 9 team was St. Marys, who placed ninth with 64 points.
District 9 had two champions, Bradford’s Jordan Thompson at 160 and Port Allegany’s Aiden Bliss at 215, and is sending 11 total to Hershey.
Complete tournament results can be found HERE.
Complete Clearfield Results:
Team Standings
(1) Erie Cathedral Prep 125.0, (2) Reynolds 121.0, (3) Grove City 112.0, (4) Greenville 101.0, (5) Hickory 90.0, (6) North East 85.5, (7) General McLane 81.5, (8) Corry Area 68.0, (9) St. Marys 64.0, (10) Fort LeBoeuf 61.0, (11) Port Allegany 44.5, (12) Johnsonburg 42.0, (13) Clearfield 39.0, (14) Franklin 38.5, (15) Titusville 34.5, (16) Cochranton 33.0, (17) Ridgway 32.0, (18) Sharpsville 31.0, (19) Brookville 26.0, (20) Union City 25.5, (21) Seneca 23.0, (22) Bradford 22.0, (23) Commodore Perry 20.0, (23) Conneaut Area 20.0, (25) Saegertown 18.0, (25) Slippery Rock 18.0, (27) Central Clarion 12.0, (28) Northwestern 5.0, (29) Brockway 3.0, (29) Maplewood 3.0, (31) Curwensville 2.0, (32) Cambridge Springs 0.0, (32) Mercer 0.0, (32) Oswayo Valley 0.0, (32) Redbank Valley 0.0
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
Consolation Round 1
127 – Bo Aveni pinned Gabe Clinger (Redbank Valley), 0:26
133 – Owen Steger (Ridgway) dec. Bryndin Chamberlain, 11-8
152 – Colton Bumbarger pinned Travis Coriaty (Oswayo Valley), 3:32
172 – Tim Taylor dec. Reed Hawkins (Curwensville), 8-4
189 – Landon Nickerson (Corry Area) dec. Brayden Wills, 5-4
215 – Gary Kiselka (Franklin) dec. Ryan Ludwig, 1-0
285 – Maxwell Spaulding (Erie Cathedral Prep) pinned Matthew Peace, 0:22
Championship Semifinals
160 – Zachary Turberville (Slippery Rock) dec. Colton Ryan, 6-4
Consolation Round 2
127 – Bo Aveni pinned Mario Casilio (Johnsonburg), 4:49
152 – Colton Bumbarger pinned Konnor Meyer (St. Marys), 4:35
172 – Lamech Albers (Corry Area) dec. Tim Taylor, 9-2
Consolation Semifinals
127 – Jayce Walter (St. Marys) dec. Bo Aveni, 5-1
152 – Colton Bumbarger dec. Carson Braswell (Corry Area), 11-8 SV
160 – Colton Ryan dec. Gavin Ryhal (Greenville), 8-4
Fifth Place
127 – Rocky Kowle (North East) dec. Bo Aveni, 4-2
Third Place
152 – Kaysom Mataria (Greenville) dec. Colton Bumbarger, 1-0
160 – Colton Ryan dec. Peter Sadchikov (General McLane), 7-0
Clearfield wrestlers in bold.
