HERSHEY — Both Clearfield Bison wrestlers were dealt losses in their first matches at the PIAA AAA State wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey on Thursday.
Sophomore Luke McGonigal was able to stay alive with a first round consolation win, but senior Travis Ogden saw his career come to an end.
Ogden (37-4), the Northwest Region runner-up at 195 pounds, was beaten 6-3 by Eli Grape (34-2), the Southwest Region runner-up from Upper St. Clair, in first round action. Grape used two takedowns in the first period and a third period reversal to pick up the win.
In his first round consolation bout, Ogden found himself down 2-0 after one period against Bryce Shields (30-4), the South Central Region fifth place finisher out of Dallastown. After that, though, it was all Shields, as he took a 10-2 lead in to the final period before eliminating Ogden 16-4.
Ogden finished his Clearfield Bison career a three year starter with a career record of 95-22.
As the third place finisher out of the Northwest Region at 170, McGonigal had to wrestle a preliminary round match against Penn-Trafford’s Matt McGillick (30-12), the Southwest Region fourth place finisher.
McGillick scored a 10-5 win over McGonigal to advance to first round action, where he was subsequently pinned in 1:34 by undefeated James Siegrist (32-0) from Manheim Central.
Facing elimination in his second trip to the state tourney, McGonigal picked up his first states victory 10-1 over Elijah
Jones (27-15) from Boyertown. A familiar foe, McGonigal had beaten Jones 9-2 in the recent state dual tournament.
Needing two more wins to medal, McGonigal will face Greater Latrobe’s Jake Shaffer (36-5) in the second round of consolations, which begin at 2:15 on Friday along with the quarterfinals. Shaffer, the Southwest Region bronze medalist, is a four-time state qualifier, placing eighth as a 152 pound sophomore and fourth as a 170 pound junior last year.
The only District 9 wrestler to reach the quarterfinals is Punxsuatwney’s Kaleb Young (34-0), while DuBois’ Dalton Goodrow joins McGonigal in the second round of consolations.
The Northwest Region advanced 12 of 42 wrestlers to the quarters, while 13 have been eliminated.
Leading the team race with 34.5 points is Bethlehem Catholic, who have six wrestlers in the quarters and three alive in the wrestlebacks. A surprise second after the first day is District 6 and Northwest Region’s Mifflin County with 23.5 points. Mifflin County has five in the quarterfinals, out of the six that qualified, and one wrestler eliminated.
Complete results from PA-Wrestling.com:
