Owen Wins Second Regional Title,
Three Bison Hershey-bound

Jessica Shirey, Team Reporter
March 1, 2009

ALTOONA – Bison Sean Owen collected his second Northwest Class AAA Regional title, punching his ticket to Hershey during the tournament’s championship finals Saturday night at the Altoona Fieldhouse.

Clearfield’s Holden Lowe (130) and Andrew Spicer (119), who finished second and third, respectively, will join the returning state champion in “Chocolatetown.”

Owen didn’t see five minutes of mat time, scoring on a pair of falls during his heavyweight action. He pinned Stephen King (Lewistown, 6-2, 26-8) in 2:45 before decking Zach Corl (Central Mountain, 6-1, 36-6), for the gold.

With a 4-2 favor, Owen took down Corl and locked up a cradle for the fall. The end came at the 1:49 mark.

Owen’s pin marked the fastest of the tournament finals. He’s currently 39-0 with 32 falls on the season. Corl held the 11th spot in the Pennsylvania Wrestling Rankings prior to regional tournament action.

“It was a great job by Sean. He was doing the things that he does well. His mind was on for that match. He had his mind set at what he wanted to do. He wanted to go out there and wrestle well. I think he wrestled that match with a little fun,” nine-year head coach Jeff Aveni said of his heavyweight’s finals performance.

“He’s always good in front of a big crowd. I think he came out and really liked the atmosphere. Like I said, he was mentally prepared. He knew what he had, knew who he was wrestling and knew what he needed to do. He got an opportunity and finished it.”

Clearfield’s Holden Lowe fell 11-2 to sixth-ranked Rocco Wellek (Cathedral Prep, 10-1, 42-2), who is a two-time state qualifier, including an eighth place finisher, in his championship bout at 130 pounds.

Aveni, however, was not disappointed in his 36-win senior’s performance.
 
“I think it’s more important what Lowe did for the whole tournament. You know, Holden came in here, and his goal was to qualify for states. And, he did that. In the finals, he went out there and had fun. It just didn’t turn out the way he wanted,” he said.

But Aveni said that he’s seen Lowe’s commitment to the sport and his goals over the past four years. He noted that his senior is “very deserving” of the trip to Hershey.

“Holden is one of those kids that you’re proud of as a coach, when he does (achieve a goal). I know how hard he worked to get there. It’s nice to see his work pay off,” he said.

Lowe became Hershey-bound via a 3-2 decision over Kyle Miller (Indian Valley, 6-1, 29-10) in the semis. Miller went on to finish fourth.

Lowe used a first period takedown and an escape in the second for a 3-0 advantage. Miller escaped in the final stanza and pulled within one after a second stall warning on the Bison.

After defaulting to Mitchell Port (Bellefonte, 6-1, 36-2), Spicer avenged an early season loss to Kevin Kerr (Corry, 10-1, 30-10) in the consolations for a spot in the bronze medal bout at 119 pounds.

Even at two, Spicer started in the defensive position in the second. Kerr turned him for three near fall. Spicer, however, picked up a reversal to pull within one.

Electing for the optional start, the Clearfield senior surrendered one but knotted the bout with a takedown. He, then, opted again to start neutral, taking Kerr down for the 8-7 win.

Spicer would use a second period escape before riding out John Agnello (Cathedral Prep, 10-2, 27-17) for the 1-0 decision and a top three spot.  The Bison senior handed Agnello both of his tournament loses.

Aveni said that Spicer needs to believe that he can compete and win matches. He said that when he does so, he can beat anybody on the mat.

“He believed in himself this weekend, went out and really just had a great tournament. He made an outstanding run, and now he’s going to wrestle with the top 16 kids in the state,” he said.

Sophomore Derek Danver notched a pair of wins in the wrestlebacks before coming out on the losing end of an 8-4 decision to 10th-ranked Shane Alterio (Bellefonte, 6-2, 29-7).

Aveni said that be believed Danver had a great tournament and wrestled tough against Alterio in both matches. He said that as a 10th grader, he had an outstanding season and will only improve by wrestling kids at that level.

“You can’t look past that because one kid beat him twice in the same tournament. He’s getting to a level where he can wrestle those kids. He’s going to get better every time that he wrestles like that. I think this tournament was great for him and will make him better,” he said of Danver, who finished 36-8 on the year.

After going 1-1 in the opening rounds, Danver pinned Matt Zimmerman (DuBois, 9-3, 15-16) in 3:26. He would, then, meet James Shirley (Punxsutawney, 9-2, 26-13) in the consolation semifinals –a re-match of last weekend’s district final that saw a 3-2 win for the Bison.

The two went scoreless in the first period. Danver, however, would reverse Shirley in the second before taking him down for three backs at the end for the 7-0 win.

Aveni said he was pleased with his team’s effort that put them in the fourth spot at 83 points for the tournament. He noted that Clearfield put eight kids in the top eight and seven in the top six.

“To come in here and put seven kids into the top six, I thought that we wrestled real well. It would have been nice to get a couple more kids through, but these kids wrestled hard,” he said.

“We were in some tough bouts. We wrestled hard. We wrestled tough. And, sometimes you come out on the wrong end of the stick. Overall, we had pretty good team performance. I thought that we wrestled real well.”

Clearfield Results

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