HYDE — The host Clearfield Bison wrestling team finished right in the middle of the pack at the District 4-9 Wrestling Championship on Saturday as they placed fourth out of seven teams; but the most important part for the team is that eight wrestlers placed in the top-4 and will advance to next weekend’s Northwest Region AAA Championship in Altoona.
Leading the way for the Bison were gold medalists Luke McGonigal, a junior who won his third district title, and sophomore Trae Kitko, who won in his first try at districts.
Earning silver medals were junior Hunter Wright and senior Thayne Morgan. Bronze medalists were freshman Peyton Smay, junior Matt Ryan, and senior Steven Sawyer. In fourth place was sophomore Cole Smay.
Dropping to 170 pounds for the first time all year, McGonigal (29-1) was dominant enough in his two matches to win the AAA Joseph Kata Outstanding Wrestler Award as voted on by the coaches.
After a scoreless first period in the finals against senior Garrett Campbell (23-6) from Selinsgrove, McGonigal started to create some distance with a five point second period. After building his lead to 10-0 midway through the final period, McGonigal secured the fall at the 5:47 mark.
McGonigal, now 93-19 for his career, had a 1:21 pin in the semis against Izsak Kerner of DuBois.
Trae Kitko (15-3) also had a fall in the finals, his over the top seed from Punxsutawney, Alexander Neal (18-8). Kitko
hit a 4-point move in the opening period, then had an escape in the second to go up 5-0. Kitko gave up a penalty point as they moved to the third period 5-1. In the final period Kitko reversed off of the bottom for a 7-1 lead before picking up the fall in 5:24.
At 152 pounds, Hunter Wright (24-12) had a bit of a roller-coaster day. The number one seeded Wright found himself down 11-2 in the third period of his semifinal bout against Punxsutawney’s Stone Smith, who was 13-12 at the time. But the always dangerous, and never say die, Wright ended up pinning Smith as the final period was winding down to the 5:40 mark.
Third seed Dominic Parker (17-9) of Shikellamy then dominated Wright in a 16-5 finals victory.
Thayne Morgan (15-14) picked up a major decision in his opening round match of the tourney before facing the number two seed Pierson White (19-8) of Shikellamy in the semifinals. Down 2-1 less than a minute in to the match, Morgan was slammed to mat on to his left shoulder and couldn’t continue. Awarded the disqualification victory at the 59 second mark, Thayne advanced to the finals against DuBois’ Carson Hanna (33-2), but did not compete due to the injury. Ironically, Thayne was filling the 160 pound spot vacated by his twin brother Zane, who injured his right shoulder in a dual meet in January and was lost for the remainder of the season.
After winning his opening bout via a major decision, Matt Ryan (25-13) faced his nemesis Tyler Dilley (20-4) in the semifinals. Dilley won by a “closer than the final score would indicate” 10-5 margin to advance to the finals and send Ryan in to the wrestlebacks. Ryan won his consy semi 11-4 and then defeated Selinsgrove’s Justin Schooley (14-14) in the third place match by a slim 4-2 margin.
Freshman Peyton Smay (12-15) at 106 made his inaugural foray in to the district championships a successful one as he went 3-1 to garner third place, one spot above his seeded finish. Smay’s only loss was to eventual champion Trenton Donahue (32-2) of DuBois. Smay, down 3-0 in the final period of his third place match, scored the final four points, including a takedown with only a second or two on the clock to knock off the number three seed, Jared Zartman (14-26), 4-3.
Senior Steven Sawyer (14-13) had to bump up a weight class to 182 pounds when McGonigal decided to make his drop for the post season. Undeterred, Sawyer went 3-1 in the tourney with his only loss a 6-4 overtime setback in the semifinals against the number two seed. Sawyer then won 3-1 decisions in both the consolation semis and finals to earn his bronze medal.
113 pound sophomore Cole Smay (10-16) went 2-2 with two pins to place fourth and earn his first trip to the regional tourney.
Two Bison went 1-2, finishing one win short of qualifying for regionals.
126 pound sophomore Jude Pallo (10-17) started off the tourney in strong fashion, dominating the number three seed Hayden Tettis (16-10) in the quarterfinals 13-2. Pallo then lost to the eventual champion Riley Hilner (22-6) of Williamsport in the semis and eventual third place finisher Jake Skarbeck (14-13) of Punxsutawney in the consy semis.
Sophomore Rudy Cordon (2-4) won a consy match at 145 before bowing out in the consy semis as well.
Going 0-2, and also being eliminated in the consy semis, were sophomores Quentin Edwards (3-17) at 132, Caleb Freeland (14-16) at 138, and Avry Gisewhite (8-20) at 220.
Unable to finish off the season due to injury last month was senior Zane Morgan, who finished at 8-9.
With three champions and 12 placewinners, the St. Marys Flying Dutchmen were able to claim the team title with 184 points. Despite their five champions, the DuBois Beavers only managed 158 points to finish a distant second due to three less placewinners than the Dutch. Shikellamy was only three points back in third place with 155 points. The host Bison were fourth with 125, while Punxsy (79.5), Selinsgrove (78), and Williamsport (63) rounded out the scores.
Champions were:
106 – Trenton Donahue, DuBois (32-2), 113 – Ed Scott, DuBois (31-1), 120 – Dalton Woodrow, DuBois (28-6), 126 – Riley Hilner, Williamsport (22-6), 132 – Kolby Ho, DuBois (32-2), 138 – Alec Bittler, St. Marys (22-3), 145 – Cameron Resch, St. Marys (23-5), 152 – Dominic Parker, Shikellamy (18-9), 160 – Carson Hanna, DuBois (33-2), 170 – Luke McGonigal, Clearfield (29-1), 182 – Jordan Hepler, Shikellamy (17-5), 195 – Josh Krieger, Shikellamy (23-6), 220 – Christian Steffan, St. Marys (22-3), 285 – Trae Kitko, Clearfield (15-3)
Complete bracket results for both the District 4-9 AAA Championship and District 9 AA Championship can be found at the FloArena by clicking here.
Clearfield Placewinners: