Bobcat Grapplers Down Tide; Junior High Drops Close Match (01/16/16)

On a night when the Clarion Area Wrestling Team and Boosters honored past greats in the “Legends Return Night” with a pre-match ceremony , the current Bobcats had a great evening themselves, defeating the visiting Curwensville Golden Tide 54-21, on Thursday (January 14th).

Current Bobcat Wrestlers great "Legends"

Current Bobcat Wrestlers greet “Legends”

After a forfeit win at 113 gave the Tide their only lead of the night, at 6-0, the Cats reeled off six straight wins. Alex Struble started the scoring parade with a 5-0 decision at 120, followed by four straight falls, by Ryley McMaster at 126, Adrian Weber at 132, Caleb Bailey at 138 and Colton Rapp at 145. Then with Prince Brooks’ 9-3 win at 152 the Bobcats had a 30-6 lead.

The Tide won the next two bouts. Shae Bloom scored a 15-0 technical fall over Mike LeFay (LeFay hung tough against one of the top wrestlers in the state, trailing only 2-0 after one). Then Seth Nellis fell 13-0 at 170 and the team score was Clarion 30 – Curwensville 15.

Ryley McMaster has his opponent in trouble

(Photo by Bri Nellis – Bri Nellis Photography) Ryley McMaster has his opponent in trouble

Alexander Burhart won by fall at 182, followed by forfeit wins by Zach Sintobin at 195 and Tom Wurster at 220, to move the Bobcat lead to 48-15. A forfeit win by Curwensville at 285, followed by a forfeit win by Bobcat Logan Dehner set the58-21 final.

Coach Rob Sintobin had this to say about his team’s effort. “Just really proud of the way the boys did tonight. They came out, especially those lighter weight kids. They’re really stepping up. To go out and get some pins and get the extra team points was obviously big for us, to put a lot of points on the board.

(Photo by Bri Nellis - Bri Nellis Photography) Caleb Bailey with a takedown

(Photo by Bri Nellis – Bri Nellis Photography) Caleb Bailey with a takedown

“We looked at the lineup ahead of time and could have gone either way. Some of those matches we weren’t really sure where we would go. I was really pleased when we went from being iffy to being kind of rolling through some of those matches, that we didn’t know how it was going to go. (I’m) really pleased.

“Mikey LeFay going out against one of the best kids in the state (Bloom) and wrestling well, 2-0 first period. Very pleased with that. That’s one of the best kids maybe in the country.

“I’m just really happy with the way they did, and looking forward to going to (Falconer Tournament) New York this weekend and see if we can keep it up.”

(Photo by Bri Nellis - Bri Nellis Photography) Colton Rapp with a nice double-leg

(Photo by Bri Nellis – Bri Nellis Photography) Colton Rapp with a nice double-leg

Curwensville won the Junior High match 43-42, on a tiebreaker. Coach Lee Weber contributed this summary:

“We lost a hard fought battle to drop to 3-2 against Curwensville. It was tied 42-42 but we lost due to one more match loss 8-7. Cole Stutzman, Jeremiah Hartzell, Matt Coleman, and Bowman Hartley all won by forfeit. Riley Slagle made quick work with a fall at :52. Cole Stimmell lost by fall to Holland.

“Jordan Pezzuti and Ayden Wiles lost by decision 6-0 and 5-4 respectively to two of Curwensville’s better wrestlers. Curtis Shipley lost by fall in the third period in a close match.

Ben Smith working toward a fall

Ben Smith working toward a fall

“Justin Goodman and Ben Smith both dominated their opponent with falls. With only two wrestlers with more than one year of experience, we are doing a great job of competing! Keep it up!”

The Bobcats will be at Punxsutawney on Tuesday (January 19th).

(Thanks to Bri Nellis for the photos. Good job, Cats!!!!)