Bison Wrestlers Storm Through Elker Territory

Jessica Shirey, Team Reporter
February 13, 2009

RIDGWAY - In the first dual meeting between two storied wrestling traditions, the Bison wrestlers outlasted Ridgway, winning the battle for District 9 supremacy, 40-21, on Thursday night.

Clearfield, who won nine of the 13 "matches wrestled", earned half of those wins in the third period, where the Bison's better conditioning became evident.

"We wrestled well. I think that the kids were fired up. I would say that we wanted it a little more than they did. We won so many toss-up bouts," said nine-year head coach Jeff Aveni.

"And, another thing, it really seemed like we won the conditioning battle there. I was happy to see that we won the conditioning battle in the third period. But we want to take it another step further, where we're really coming there at the end."

The dual meet got under way at 135 pounds. Sophomore Shane Harper put six on the board right off the bat.

Harper took down Steve Mitchell, showing him the lights early. But no points were award at the mat's edge. Mitchell would then score off a takedown. Harper, however, knotted up the bout at two with a reversal.

Starting in the defensive position, the Bison escaped Mitchell's grasp. He took the Elker to his back for the fall. The end came at the three minute mark.

"(With) Harper, you always hope to get six, but you never know. He'll pin people. That was a great start. He got himself going and got a big fall," Aveni said.

Ridgway's Garet Pisani, who is ranked third in the state in Class AA, would even the team score with a fall in the next bout.

Bison Derek Danver, however, put his team back on the board, winning a battle at 145 pounds. He picked up a takedown and tilted Nate Dornish for a 5-0 favor after one.

Dornish would turn Clearfield's 31-win sophomore for two, before he extended his lead with a reversal. But the Elker would post one of his own, adding two more near fall. The score read 7-6 after two.

Danver, who elected for the optional start, had a strong third period showing. He scored a takedown and tacked on two sets of three backs. He turned Dornish again for two and the 17-7 major decision.

"He finally woke up in the third period and ended up getting a major for us. We wanted some bonus points out of that. And, he got them," Aveni said of his sophomore's performance.

Ridgway claimed the next two bouts with a Sam Skraba decision and a Zack Zelcs fall at 152 and 160 pounds, respectively. But the Bison would get the best of them in upper weight classes.

Bumping up to 171 pounds, Clearfield's Shawn Hall used two takedowns and back points and an escape for the 7-2 advantage over Shane Munson after one.

From the bottom, the senior reversed Munson for two more near fall in the next stanza before decking the Elker at the 4:35 mark in the third.

In a 189-pound rematch, Bison Cliff Hill went into the bout's final period with a 4-2 edge on Cody Sheasley.

Sheasley evened up the score with a reversal. But Hill shook his leg free for the escape. After the action was stopped, he started from the bottom, reversing the Elker to set the 7-4 final.

"It was a big win out of Cliff Hill. That kid tech falled him up at Tool City, and Cliff comes back and beats him tonight. That was a huge win," Aveni said.

At 215, Clearfield's Andre Buck put Elker Jake Thompson on his back to go up 3-0 after two.

Thompson, however, would catch the Bison in a cradle for three near fall. Buck fought off the fall and exploded for an escape. He took down Thompson at the buzzer for the 6-3 win.

Aveni said that Buck had a solid win against a "good kid." He said that Thompson's record isn't an indictor of his skill level. He said Ridgway has two wrestlers who are currently splitting time at the weight, and he believes that Thompson has seen the tougher action.

Although Buck was in trouble at the end, he still believed that he would pull out the win in the end.

"If you're going to pin Andre, you'll have to do it with a half nelson or something else, because he's pretty flexible. He made a mistake and stepped right into a cradle. I figured that once he got out of that, he was going to get out of the bottom," Aveni said.

Bison Sean Owen went a full six minutes with Joe Chittester, who is currently ranked sixth in the state in the Pennsylvania Wrestling Rankings. He entered the match with a 29-1 record that included 20 falls.

Chittester's only loss came at the hands of Conneaut Lake's Kris Tursky, who Owen pinned in the championship bout at Tool City.

After a scoreless opening period, the Bison escaped for the bout's first point. Chittester would knot the match up with one of his own in the third. But it was the returning state champion who scored the deciding takedown for the 3-1 win.

"Chittester did a good job of to an extent staying away without stalling. If you really want to call him for that, you can but he really didn't back up. It wasn't like he was running off the mat. He was fending off Sean's shots. And, he did a real good job of that," Aveni said.

"The key (for Sean) was not to make a mistake, get that opportunity to score and take advantage of it. That's what he did, so it was big for him. His seasoning showed there. The match was tight, but Sean just stayed patient. When he got his opportunity, he took advantage of it."

Owen, who is now 34-0 on the season, has scored 72 consecutive wins, surpassing the previous mark that was set by four-time state champion Jerry Maurey with 67 career wins from 1947-50.

Owen also passed former Bison standout Brad Pataky on Clearfield's All-Time Wins list, moving into third place with a 126-26 career mark.

"Those kind of things rack up, and we'll appreciate them at the end of the season. Right now, he's on a goal and wants to go back and win another state title. So, he needs to stay focused on that. We will let the rest of that stuff take care of itself and celebrate, when the season is over," Aveni said of his heavyweight's accomplishments.

Ridgway would pull within four, 25-21, after a Corey Bush fall at the third period buzzer in the next bout. But the Bison proved too much for them to handle, winning the next three on the mat.

At 112 pounds, Clearfield's Kodie Lowder came out on top in a 9-6 decision over Elker Kyle Caggiano.

In the second, Lowder scored on a reversal and a takedown, adding on a Caggiano interlock and escape for a 6-3 favor.

Caggiano would post a reversal and go with the optional start in the final stanza. Lowder, however, would take him down, before the Elker escaped to set the final.

Bison senior Andrew Spicer used two takedowns and an escape to upend Slade Horner 5-0 at 119 pounds.

In the next bout, Clearfield's Andrew Hill went extra periods and upset Jeff Slattery, who had 20 wins on the season, by a 3-1 decision.

The two wrestlers exchanged escapes in regulation and went scoreless in the first overtime.

In the offensive position, Hill didn't surrender an escape and battled to maintain control. He nearly scored one of his own but was unable to covert.

Hill, who scored first in regulation, opted to take the defensive position in the ride out. He reversed Slattery at the edge of the mat for the win.

Aveni said his sophomore wrestled well and has the capabilities to do so.

"It's good to see that he's getting to the end of his 10th grade year and starting to beat some kids on that level. And, I think he's on that level. We've always thought that he was on that level. We just got to get him to believe that he is and keep him plugging away," he said.

Bison Holden Lowe won by forfeit at 130 pounds and upped his record to 32-5 on the season.

Clearfield, who now has an 18-2 record, has gone through its regular season schedule undefeated.

"We had talked about our regular schedule and wanted to go through undefeated. Now, believe me, we understand that's not a true undefeated season. We have two losses," Aveni said.

"But with our schedule, we won every match this year. And, that was nice to do. It was one of our goals at the beginning of the season. So, it's another goal chalked off that list."

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