MORRISDALE – The Bison put two wrestlers in the semi-finals Friday night at the Ultimate Warrior Tournament, while four remain alive in the consolation brackets. Out of 31 teams, Clearfield currently sits in the middle of the pack at 11th place with 62 team points. Bald Eagle Area leads the tournament with 90 points with Mifflin County closely trailing them at 87.5 points.
Luke McGonigal and Matt Ryan both punched their ticket into the semi-finals, albeit in different fashion. While number one seed 195-pound Bison senior McGonigal spent less than four minutes on the mat with two falls, 120-pound Matt Ryan dropped down a weight class and had to win three matches, one of them against the number two seed in his bracket.
McGonigal received a first-round bye and then pinned Bradford’s Hunter Gray and Hollidaysburg’s Gus Dellinger. He will wrestle Philipsburg’s Brandon Anderson Saturday morning.
Ryan beat Drake Holderman of Bald Eagle Area in his first match and West Branch’s Tyler Denochick 4-2 in the second round. In the quarter-finals, Ryan had an outstanding 9-7 victory over second seeded Anthony Glasl of Brockway. He will wrestle third seed Dylan Ramsey of Shippensburg in his next bout in an attempt to reach his first Ultimate Warrior final.
Also alive are juniors Jude Pallo and Caleb Freeland, and seniors Quentin Edwards and Hunter Wright.
Pallo was 3-1, pinning Tyrone’s Isaac Parks in the first round, losing to fourth seed Malachi Duvall of St. Joes, then beating Brockway’s Adam Stine in the wrestlebacks. In the second round of consolation, Pallo pinned Kyle Minerd of United in 4:04.
Edwards is having the best tournament of his career. He is 3-1 with victories over Steven Chenot of Towanda and Josh Joseph of United. In the second round of consolation, Edwards defeated Owen Petrisek of Bentworth 9-3 to stay alive.
Freeland had a bye in the first round then won 15-9 over Caleb Morgan of Mount Union before being beaten by the number one seed Gage McClenahan 11-3.
Wright beat Nick Zaboski of Lake Lehman before being blanked by Moshannon Valley’s Jon Dale 5-0.
Knocked out during the first day’s action were freshman Angelo Maines at 106 and sophomores Peyton Smay at 113 and Nate Barr at 145, as well as junior Avry Gisewhite at 220. While Maines and Barr won their first matches before losing out, Smay went 0-2. Gisewhite pinned Hunter Hos of Ridgway before losing to the number one seed Cole Forrester of Shippensburg. He then won his first wrestleback match before losing to Brockway’s Justin Smith.
Wrestling will resume at 9:00 AM Saturday morning. Finals are set to begin around 5:30 PM. For all the times and prices of admission, click here.
Full results, courtesy of Dave Williamson, can be found here.
Team scores can be found here.