Penns Valley wrestling comes up short against Clearfield in season opener
The first dual or competition of the season can bring out the butterflies for the most seasoned wrestler.
It’s the first time wrestlers are going against someone other than a teammate, and they’ve got the eyes of fans on them too.
On Thursday night, Penns Valley had its first dual of the season, but several guys in the lineup were also getting their first taste of varsity wrestling. Add in the fact that the Rams were missing two starters, and that all added up to a, 37-24, loss to Clearfield.
“Coming up from junior high, some of these guys probably haven’t been on bottom too much because they did well in junior high. Coming up here,” Penns Valley coach Joel Brinker said, “it was exposed that our bottom wasn’t too good in those matches. That’s the process that we got to get through as sophomores. They kind of got pushed around and bullied a little bit in some of them. They’re working hard. They’ll be fine in the long run.”
As nerves were on high, they surely didn’t get settled too easily either.
The Bison came out and took the first three bouts of the night with bonus points in two of them. Will Domico opened with a 4-1 win over Robert Martin at 172 pounds.
Hunter Ressler ended up winning his match with Caden Simco due to Simco injury defaulting out at the end of the second period. It was a scary situation as Ressler was finishing off a takedown of Simco, who was bent backward over his head with a shoulder stuck in the mat. Simco did get up and walk off the mat under his own power.
Carter Chamberlain put Clearfield up 15-0 by sticking Brandon Corl in 2 minutes, 31 seconds at 215.
“It was a good starting point for us. We did a good job there in the upper weights getting bonus,” Bison’s coach Jeff Aveni said. “At 189, I hope that kid is okay, that was a very awkward position, but I think Joel was just telling (my assistant) he was doing okay. We expect that out of Chamberlain.”
At heavyweight, the Rams got to work, and it was a huge start.
Landon Hess came out and stuck Nick Bailor in 1:44. Conner Myers followed at 107 and earned a 5-2 win, scoring all five of his points in the third period on a reversal and nearfall points.
A forfeit in favor of Clearfield at 114 made it 21-9. However, Jack Darlington got those six points back by pinning Dakota Shugart in 3:16.
Darlington built up a 12-1 lead before sticking Shugart.
“It was nice to see Hess come through and get us on the board. I knew we would come back around; we had some guys not in. We needed to kind of gamble and move some guys around to try to make it interesting,” Brinker said. “We came up short, but first dual match of the year. Overall, I’m not discouraged. It’s a process. I think we’ll be okay. There was good spots and things we obviously can work on.”
Tripp Watson, who was getting his first taste of varsity action, gutted out a 4-1 win over Bryndin Chamberlain. Watson used a second-period takedown and a late third-period reversal for the victory.
His win got Penns Valley to within three points at 21-18.
In what Aveni felt was a key match for the Bison, Adam Rougeux pinned another new face in Joel Conklin in 4:58 at 133 pounds.
One of those gambles that Brinker talked about was bumping Colton Shunk up to 139 pounds. Shunk picked up a 10-5 victory, but one would think Brinker was looking for bonus points.
The Rams were within 27-21 with three bouts left, and two-time PIAA medalist Ty Watson still to go.
At 145 pounds, Clearfield’s Colton Bumbarger built up a 13-4 lead on Zach Rummel before putting Rummel on his back in 5:03. The Bison were deducted a team point for unsportsmanlike during the bout.
Ty Watson then came to the mat at 152 needing at least a technical fall to keep Penns Valley’s chances alive for a win. In the end, he was only able to secure a 7-0 win over Ty Aveni as Aveni’s length proved a sticking point and kept Watson from escaping from the bottom position.
The dual was wrapped up as the Rams couldn’t score enough points, but the Bison still had Brady Collins, who finished fourth in the state left to go too.
“We got some big wins coming up through with Adam Rougeux,” Jeff Aveni said. “We don’t surrender bonus points to Shunk or (Ty) Watson, (so) keeping their big guns to regular decisions is huge too. We knew coming in we were going to be in a dog fight. Coach Brinker always does a great job having these guys ready to wrestle, and puts some nice teams on the mat.”
Collins closed out the dual racking up an 18-1 technical fall on Ethan Fetterolf in 2:29.
As Brinker said, he wasn’t discouraged by the result. He graded his team’s performance as a B.
He said that he’s keeping “things in perspective” as he knows these new faces will just get better.
“There’s things that we’re trying to do in the room, and I saw us trying to do some of those things tonight. Some positioning, we were getting blown off base and stuff,” Brinker said. “We’ll be alright. I think after some more competitions, we get up and running, we’ll be alright.”
Clearfield 37, Penns Valley 24
Thursday at Spring Mills
172: Will Domico, C, dec. Robert Martin, 4-1
189: Hunter Ressler, C, injury def. Caden Simco, 4:00
215: Carter Chamberlain, C, pinned Brandon Corl, 2:31
285: Landon Hess, PV, pinned Nick Bailor, 1:44
107: Conner Myers, PV, dec. Xavier Lutz, 5-2
114: David Magnuson, C, won by forfeit
121: Jack Darlington, PV, pinned Dakota Shugarts, 3:16
127: Tripp Watson, PV, dec. Bryndin Chamberlain, 4-1
133: Adam Rougeux, C, pinned Joel Conklin, 4:58
139: Colton Shunk, PV, dec. Colton Ryan, 10-5
145: Colton Bumbarger, C, pinned Zach Rummel, 5:03*
152: Ty Watson, PV, dec. Ty Aveni, 7-0
160: Brady Collins, C, tech. fall Ethan Fetterolf, 18-1 (2:29)
*-Clearfield was deducted a team point for unsportsmanlike
Takedowns: C 15, PV 10
Records: Clearfield (2-0), Penns Valley (0-1)
JH: Penns Valley 44-39
Next match: Penns Valley at Babbit Duals, River Valley HS, Saturday, 9 a.m.
