Central Mountain Overpowers Inexperienced Bison, 54-20

Jessica Shirey, Team Reporter
January 3, 2012

Clearfield - The Clearfield wrestling team’s youth and inexperience continued to show Tuesday night when the Central Mountain Wildcats defeated the home-standing Bison, 54-20, at the Arthur J. Weiss Sr. Gymnasium.

Central Mountain claimed nine of the 12 bouts wrestled, including seven falls. The Wildcats strung together five consecutive pins from 160 through 220 pounds while finishing the dual meet with back-to-back pins at 138 and 145 pounds.

Clearfield’s Christian Stone scored the Bison’s lone pin at 126 pounds, while teammate Nolan Barger blanked his Wildcat opponent with a 15-0 technical fall at 152 pounds. Clearfield’s Noah Cline and Central Mountain’s Keanan Bottorf won by forfeit at 106 and 113 pounds, respectively.

The dual meet got under way at 152 pounds where Barger unleashed his offense in the second and third periods against Wildcat David Kohen. Up 2-0 in the middle stanza, Barger escaped and followed with a takedown.

The Bison junior cradled Kohen twice for five near fall and a 10-0 advantage. After starting neutral in the third, Barger hauled in his third takedown and collected three more backs for the technical fall. The end came at the 4:58 mark.

“He was solid. It took him a little while to get going there. You know, he’s still getting his offense moving, but he ended up getting us five (team) points. It was a good start to the match,” said head coach Jeff Aveni.

“Really, that wasn’t the match-up we wanted to start the match. We would have rather had him wrestle (Chad) Reese. It got us off to a good start but then we ran right into their horses. We’re just not that strong from there.”

Central Mountain’s Brian Brill (0:56); Nathaniel Powers (1:11); Blaze Buckwalter (1:32); Devin Stacey (0:42); and Cameron Porter (1:06) pinned five-straight Clearfield opponents from 160 through 220 pounds and propelled the team scoreboard to 30-5.

At heavyweight, Wildcat Michael Stover tossed Jordan Lancaster to his back, putting the Bison down 4-0 right off the bat. However, Lancaster rolled through, reversing Stover to his back for a 5-4 edge after one.

Starting in the defensive position in the second, Lancaster reversed Stover again (7-4). Stover closed his deficit after taking Lancaster down in the third. He opted to cut the Bison loose and evened the bout with another after a Lancaster shot attempt with seconds remaining in the final period.

After a scoreless overtime period, Lancaster and Stover swapped penalty points in their respective tie breaker periods. In the ultimate tiebreaker, Stover managed an escape with seconds remaining for the 10-9 regular decision.

“It was tough. We made a mistake and get thrown right to our back. Jordan does a good job fighting off his back there. (He had) a big heavy kid land on him, comes off his back and then we just made mistakes by putting the full nelson on,” Aveni said.

“Both guys made mistakes. We just couldn’t hold him down at the end to pull off the win. But you know, I thought it was a gutsy performance from both guys. Neither is a top level guy, but they both wrestled hard, and both wanted to win.”

Cline won by forfeit for Clearfield at 106 pounds, while Central Mountain’s Bottorf received a forfeit win at 113 pounds. The team scoreboard read 39-11 with five bouts remaining, and a re-match between Bison Frankie Aveni and Robert Aungst at 120 pounds.

Aveni had previously beaten the Wildcat by a 12-4 major decision at the Williamsport Top Hat Tournament. This time, Aveni used a first-period takedown and a third-period escape for a 3-1 decision.

“We had wrestled him (Aungst) earlier. I thought he wrestled us a little more defensively tonight . . . You know, Frankie was in on some shots. He could have done a couple things better to be able to finish some of those shots, “Aveni said.

“He gutted another one out. I don’t think he felt his best out there tonight. It was a solid win though. He’s taken his lumps this past year and was giving up some weight. Now, he’s in his own weight class and is coming on for us.”

At 126, Stone outpaced Central Mountain’s Logan Bechdel until winning by fall in three minutes and 36 seconds. Up 2-0, the Bison junior had Bechdel in trouble when time expired in the first. Stone collected three backs and headed into the middle period with a 5-0 favor.

In the second, Stone lost control of Bechdel, who never gained complete control. Bechdel was awarded an escape at which time the bout was stopped for blood time. Stone took Bechdel down and turned him for the fall with 24 seconds left in the period.

“That match was something that all of us can learn from. Christian controlled the tempo of the match. He controlled the tempo. He controlled the tie-ups. He was the guy taking the shots. He was the aggressor,” Aveni said.

“He kept Bechdel on his heels the whole time. Eventually, he (Bechdel) is going to get himself into a little bit of trouble. You know, he did. That was all about Stone’s approach to the match. He wrestled very well and pinned a real good opponent.”

Clearfield’s Dylan Graham and Gavin Caprio went scoreless through the first and second periods of the 132-pound bout. In the third, Caprio caught Graham for three near fall. Graham rolled free for an escape, but Caprio held on for the 4-1 decision.

“It’s a tough loss. I mean we rolled onto our back out of a half nelson, gave up three back points and lose the match because of it. Dylan needs to develop a shot on his feet, and if he does that, he’s going to be more offensive,” Aveni said.

“He has to be able to score some points on his feet. I don’t feel Dylan was aggressive enough in that match. (He was wrestling a) freshman who was in a gym for a first time like this. He might have had a few dual meets, but he’s still a freshman, and things can be intimidating, especially if you go out and get after them.”

Aveni continued, “If he goes out aggressive like Christian Stone does, Dylan wins that match. He let him (Caprio) build confidence. As the match went on, it was 0-0. I really think he (Dylan) was game planning a 1-0 win. If you’re game planning a 1-0 win and you make a mistake, that one mistake will give it to the other guy.”

Central Mountain’s Joey Miller won by fall in 2:39 and Chad Reese in 1:18 at 138 and 145 pounds, respectively, to close out the dual meet.

Clearfield returns to action Thursday night at home against Brookville. The dual meet is set for 7 p.m.

In 1999-00, the Lock Haven, Bald Eagle-Nittany and Sugar Valley high schools combined to form Central Mountain. Clearfield wrestled Central Mountain for the first time in 2003, and they have competed in eight dual meets. Central Mountain leads the overall series with six wins.

Clearfield and Lock Haven wrestled 63 dual meets after meeting for the first time in 1937. The Bison lead that overall series with 44 wins, which include three shut outs: 45-0 in 1937; 38-0 in 1939; and 45-0 in 1944.

After meeting first in 1957, Clearfield and Bald Eagle-Nittany wrestled just four times and spit the dual meet series with two wins apiece.



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