District 9 AAA Finals Results

by The Progress

Posted on February 28, 2010

CLARION - There weren't very many surprises at the District 9 Class AAA wrestling championships held Saturday at Clarion University's Tippin Gymnasium.
As expected, DuBois and Clearfield had stellar days on the mat, combining for 24 of the 42 wrestlers advancing to the regional tournament next weekend in Sharon.
Winning the battle between the two powerhouses was Clearfield, edging DuBois by 6.5 points. Clearfield extended its reign at the top of the individual championships for a third consecutive year, totaling 180.5 team points while DuBois finished with 174.
DuBois led Clearfield 158-133 at the end of the consulation semifinals. The Bisons cut their deficit to 166-154 at the conclustion of the consulation finals, and they continued their momentum into the championship round, where they swept all four head-to-head bouts.
The Beavers placed 10 wrestlers in the finals, but only two came away as district champions in Geno Morelli (140) and Matt Zimmerman (152).
DuBois also had two others win in the consolation finals, securing a spot at Sharon as well following wins by Danny Robinson (130) and Lando Hanna (171).
Overall, 12 of 14 Beavers' advanced to the regional tournament.
Two junior wrestlers earned their third consectutive trip to regionals in Punxsutawney's Kody Young (130) and Bradford's Mark Havers (160).
Clearfield had eight wrestlers make it to the finals, with six capturing championships. Derek Danver (145) repeated as champion, as did Andre Buck, who moved up a class to heavyweight this year.
Buck's victory proved to be the difference in the final bout of the night. His pin of DuBois' Jon Sunealitis, who also moved up to heavyweight as well, gave the Bisons the top team score.
Danver won in impressive fashion with a 16-1 technical fall over Punxsy's Duell Thompson. A pair of freshmen also earned their first district championship in Christian Stone (112) and Nolan Barger (125) while senior Kodie Lowder won in between his two teammates at 119.
All four of the Bisons that reached the consolation finals earned invites to next weekend. Shane Peters won by major decison over St. Marys' Evan Smith, 16-7, at 112 while Cody Lansberry pinned Punxsutawney's Nathan McGregor in 2:01 at 135.
Shane Harper was a major decision winner, 11-1, over Ryan Orner, of Bradford, at 140. Wil Beauseigneur was the fourth Bison to win in the consy finals with a 4-1 decision.
In all, Clearfield sent all but one of its wrestlers to regionals.
St. Marys' Sean Sadosky avenged last year's setback as he was the lone Dutchman to win a district championship. Sadosky made short work of DuBois' Ken Dixon, pinning him in 58 seconds.
Sadosky won both of his bouts by pins, totaling 1:09, to improve 30-0 on the year.
Butch Yetzer (140) also advanced to next weekend's tournament following his second place finish.
St. Marys head coach Wayne Fordoski was also recognzied with a placque. Fordoski is retiring from coaching.
Young finished as Punxsy's lone district champion while Tige Woodson also earned a spot at regionals with a third-place finish at 189 following a pin of St. Marys' Kyle Schneider.
Young recorded his second pin of the event in the second period of his finals match against Clearfield's Andrew Hill. The junior Chuck was leading 10-1 at the time before he finished off the Hill.
Cappella, who is a sophomore, finished as the runner-up for the second consecutive year.
Like Punxsy, Bradford also had four wrestlers reach the finals, where three scored district championships. The Owls had eight individuals competing in the consolation finals, and all eight survived to wrestle again next weekend.
Havers recorded two pins on the day, with the final one coming in 2:22 against DuBois' Joe Morrison. Zach Britton (135) won by pin while Zach Smith (171) pulled out a late victory with three nearfall points against Clearfield's Logan Shadeck.
For DuBois, it didn't start well at all for the Beavers as they dropped the first four bouts in the finals.
Stone needed overtime to get past DuBois' Nick Bogacki at 103 in a thrilling match to the finish. The Bison led by a point after the first two periods, but Bogacki took the lead following a reversal 30 seconds into the third. However, Bogacki let Stone escape, to begin restart standing, with one minute left in the bout.
Bogacki nearly ended the match in the closing seconds, but he wasn't able to secure the takedown before the clock expired. In overtime, Stone returned the favor, scoring a takedown with eight seconds left for the victory.
At 112, a late escape by Punxsy's Spack was the difference, and avenged last year's loss in a rematch from last year's 103 bout.
Spack led 2-0 following a late takedown in the first period. Stanton was able to cut this in half with an escape in the second. Stanton, who was going for his third straight district championship, evend the score following a reversal with 37 seconds to go. However, Spack, a sophomore, was able to get an escape with 12 seconds to go for the win.
The Beaver's hard times continued at 119 in a bout of experience versus youth. Lowder, a senior, led Brown, a freshman, 1-0 after two periods. Brown escaped on the first restart to tie things at one, but Lowder recorded a takedown with 53 seconds left and he was able to keep Brown down to the finish.
Morelli, who moved up a weight class this year, gave DuBois its first district championship at 140. Morelli controlled the bout early, leading 2-0 and 5-1 through the first two periods, before the sophomore held on to get the 5-2 decision for his second district championship.
Zimmerman got the Beavers their second crown with a strong effort at 152 against top-seeded Jake McMurtrie, of Bradford. He led 2-1 after the first period and a reversal with 17 seconds left in the second period made it 4-3.
The senior was credited with an escape as both wrestlers started the third period standing. Zimmerman sealed the victory with a takedown 27 seconds left to get the 7-4 decision.
The Beavers lost the early matches at the beginning. In their first three bouts, DuBois was tied or led in the third period, but none of the Beavers were able to hold on to win.
Overall, the top two seeds met in 12 of the 14 finals. Third-seeded Chris Powers, of DuBois, and Duell Thompson, of Punxsy, advanced at 135 and 145, respectively.
Powers knocked off Clearfield's Cody Lansberry, who was the second seed, with an impressive 8-3 decision in the semfinals while Thompson beat out second-seeded Matt Ostrander from Bradford, with an 8-6 decision. However, neither was able to knock off the top seed though.

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