Clearfield Drops Heavyweight Battle
to BEA, 40-26

Jessica Shirey, Team Reporter
December 15, 2011

CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield wrestling team couldn’t overcome the heavyweight firepower of Bald Eagle Area, dropping its home opener, 40-26, which snapped the Bison’s three-year win streak over its District 6 rival Thursday night at the Arthur J. Weiss Sr. Gymnasium.

Bald Eagle Area dominated the individual bouts between 160 pounds and heavyweight, winning five of the six bouts by fall. Clearfield claimed four of the remaining six bouts wrestled, including falls from Jonathan Sponsler (120) and Nolan Barger (152). Teammates Christian Stone and Wyatt Stucke added a forfeit and a technical fall at 132 and 138 pounds, respectively.

“We showed some life. I thought we wrestled better than we did at some weights the other night. DuBois really came at us. They woke us up a bit and made us a little more aggressive,” head coach Jeff Aveni said.

The dual meet got under way at 220 pounds, where Eagle junior Aaron Varner scored a 42-second fall over Delsin Wisor. Then, Nate Sharkey bumped into the heavyweight spot and pinned Clearfield senior Jordan Lancaster. The end came at the 1:49 mark.

After a stare-down, neither Clearfield nor Bald Eagle Area sent a wrestler out at 106 pounds. Instead, Bison freshmen Noah Cline battled Eagle junior Travis Giedroc in the 113-pound bout. Giedroc hauled in the opening takedown, but Cline broke free just before the first-period buzzer.

In the second, Cline started in the defensive position; however, the Eagle cut him loose, knotting the bout at two apiece. Giedroc regained the lead by one after a second stall warning against the Bison. Giedroc nearly converted a takedown with a second remaining, but the official waved it off the mat.

Just beyond midway through the final period, Giedroc took down Cline, stretching his advantage to 5-2. Cline escaped with 40 seconds remaining, but Giedroc set the final decision, 7-3, with a takedown at the buzzer.

After a scoreless first period at 120 pounds, Sponsler came out the back door for a two-point reversal against Jacob Noll. He rocked the Eagle to his back, scoring the fall at the 3:20 mark and cutting the team score to 15-6.

“It (dual meet) was disappointing right off the bat. But then Noah Cline comes out and wrestles a great match against Giedroc, who was one of the better kids in the region last year and back at the same weight class. I thought it was a great effort,” Aveni said.

“He needs to move, fake, take a few more shots and be more aggressive. Then, he’ll won’t be fending off so much and have his opponent on his heels a little bit. But Noah is learning. He had a couple varsity matches at Top Hat, and between DuBois and this one he’s been stuck with (Bryce) Swauger and Giedroc in his first two varsity matches. It’s quite a feat to ask a freshman, and he really stayed in this one.

“He kept it close and should recognize that he can wrestle with these guys now. We also had a great job by Jon Sponsler in his first varsity match. He’s a freshman who moved up and got beat out. We gave him a chance to get in the line-up so that we could adjust, and he goes out and gets a fall.”

In the 126-pound bout, Clearfield’s Frankie Aveni picked up the opening takedown against Cole Surovec. However, the Eagle would turn Aveni for two backs in the second. In the third, Surovec went ahead by one courtesy of an interlocking call against the Bison. Aveni would eventually earn the 4-3 regular decision off penalty points from Surovec cautions.

“Frankie gutted this one out and had a struggle with the weight a little bit. He did some things well in there. He’s getting better. He only had one win last year, and he’s got five already this year. He’s doing a really nice job right now and wrestling well. He even moved up a weight class and got a win,” Aveni said.

Stone would get his hand raised at 132 pounds, evening the team scoreboard at 15 apiece. Clearfield sophomore Wyatt Stucke had his second-straight impressive dual meet performance, which showcased his explosive offense during his 22-5 technical fall over Dion Barnard at 138 pounds.

Stucke came out aggressive, taking Barnard to his back for two and a 4-0 favor. Barnard and Stucke quickly swapped reversals, before the Eagle escaped and made it a three-point bout, 6-3. Stucke stretched his advantage to 12-3 with another takedown and four backs.

Starting down in the middle period, the Bison reversed Barnard for two more near fall. From the neutral position in the third, Barnard snagged a takedown only for Stucke to escape and take him down to his back again for three and the technical fall. The end came at the 4:51 mark.

Stucke gave his team its first lead of the night with the scoreboard reading, 20-15.

“If you’re willing to go out and make mistakes, you’re probably going to score points. If you’re inexperienced and won’t try anything, how are you going to learn anything? He’s doing exactly what we want him to do,” Aveni said.

“He had a tough Top Hat tournament with a tough draw. He goes out against Barnard, an experienced kid who was in their line-up all last year, and gets a tech fall over him. And, that was him wrestling at a higher level. He’s stepping up and wrestling out of his shoes in that match. Aveni added, “That’s something everyone is capable of doing. He’s a great example for our team right now with the effort and attitude that he’s taking onto the mat. He does a lot of rolling and flopping around, but he does create problems with that style. Try to keep up with his pace when he gets in shape. He’s not even in shape yet. Wait until he sets that pace, you’re going to have to wrestle six minutes with him. You’ll have to stay out of danger, too because he is dangerous.”

Clearfield junior Dylan Graham bumped up two weights amidst the teams’ line-up shake ups and had a 145-pound meeting with Matt Dillion. Up 1-0, Graham attempted to muscle Dillion and became the victim of an Eagle five-point move with four seconds left in the second. It would be the difference in the outcome of the bout.

In the last stanza, Dillion would escape to go up 6-1, but Graham picked up a takedown to trail by only three. The two exchanged reversals, before Dillion escaped to set the 9-5 regular decision. The Eagle’s win pulled his team within two of Clearfield, 20-18.

“There were matchups that we hoped to get. Really, the way it fell, it put the ball in their court. We could have weighed Stone in at 132 and created a no match situation, which we realized a little later. But Stucke went out and did his job anyway, so that really didn’t affect us. We got the six from Stone, five from Stucke and made a mistake there in the Graham/Dillion match,” Aveni said.

“He (Graham) shouldn’t be muscling guys when he’s moving up two weight classes. But that’s Dylan’s style. He’s aggressive and made an aggressive mistake. If you’re making an aggressive mistake, that means you’re wrestling hard and creating opportunities for yourself. It just didn’t work out in our favor in that one.

“That really hurt. We didn’t get the win at 145. That put us behind the eight ball. We had to have 145 and one more either 160 or heavyweight. When they bumped up from the start, they took heavyweight from us. We knew we were outgunned once we hit 170 through 220. They’ve got really good heavyweights, and we’ve got to make up for it somewhere else.”

Wrestling up at 152, Barger gave up the opening takedown to Bald Eagle Area junior Tyler Baney. However, Barger quickly reversed Baney and cradled him for the fall with 13 ticks left in the first period. Barger stretched his team’s advantage to 26-18, but it would be short-lived, as the Bison met the strength of their opponent’s line-up.

Eagles Jake Taylor (3:14), James Grieb (1:18) and David Gawryla (0:46) finished with three consecutive falls from 170 to 195 pounds. Teammate Dustin Coakley added a 8-0 major decision at 160 pounds.

“We felt going in that we had to win eight bouts. Because if we (split), we probably get out-bonused. As it ended up, it was heavyweight, 145 and 160 pounds that we needed to turn the corner,” Aveni said.

“When they bumped up, it really eliminated our shot at heavyweight, and the no match at 106 took one from us. If they leave Giedroc at home, we say, ‘hey, we’re going to take the six points,’ and it gives us another shot to get a win there at 113.

“Overall, I thought it was a pretty good effort, and that it was an entertaining match for all. Bald Eagle Area wrestled tough. You know, it’s early in the season. We both made our mistakes. I think both teams can take something from it.”

Clearfield and Bald Eagle Area wrestled for the first time Feb. 26, 1958 in the Bison’s final dual meet that year. Clearfield defeated the Eagles, 34-9 and later owned 16-straight victories, starting in 1961 and lasting through 1976. After the Bison’s claimed the 1986 dual meet, Bald Eagle Area claimed 22 straight through 2008.

Clearfield and Bald Eagle Area have wrestled 55 dual meets. The Eagles currently lead the overall dual meet series with 29 wins to Clearfield’s 26 wins.

The Bison wrestlers return to action Wednesday, Dec. 21 at Punxsutawney. The dual meet is scheduled to get under way at 7 p.m.

Match Results

Back to top