Bobcat Grapplers Fall To Raiders (12/13/16)
The Clarion Area wrestlers hosted the defending state champion and number two ranked Brookville Raiders on Tuesday night (December 16th). And though the final score was 59-6, Brookville, the Bobcats came away with some real positives, with Clarion battling strong and fighting to the end, in many of the matches, winning two and getting a gauge on where they need to improve.
Brookville received a forfeit at 106 for a 6-0 lead. Clarion’s Logan Dehner had a solid match with Brookville’s Ryan Park 113. The only points of the match came on a first period takedown by the Brookville wrestler.The lead grew to 15-0, Brookville registering a first period fall at 120.
The Raiders got another forfeit at 126 and a fall at 132, giving Brookville a 27-0 lead.
At 138, the Raiders’ Dontae Constable and Bobcat Frank Weber had a good match. Constable led 4-2 after one. Neither wrestler scored in the second. Constable scored five third quarter points for a 7-2 win.
The next two matches would produce Clarion’s wins.
Trailing 2-1 in the third period, Bobcat Ryley McMasters started in the bottom position and managed to get an escape and followed that with a takedown to secure a 4-2 win. Mike LeFay followed with a strong performance in a seesaw match, coming away with an 8-7 victory cutting Brookville’s lead to 30-6.
Brookville won the remaining matches.
Colton Rapp, at 160, wrestled Caleb Hetrick, a state qualifier from last year. Rapp fought hard but fell 8-1. followed
Brookville had a major decision at 170, a fall at 182, a forfeit win at 220 and a fall at 285, setting the final at 59-6.
After the match, Brookville Coach Dave Klepfer had some good things to say about the Bobcats, “… credit to their guys, we had them in a couple of tough situations, on their back and Clarion fights. They’ve got a lot of fighters on their team. They’re well coached. I feel like towards the end of the year they are going to be a better team. ”
CAT QUOTES:
Clarion Coach Brian Luton had this to say after the match, “Tonight, we kind of saw what Brookville was all about and why they’re ranked second in the state. But I’ll tell you what, our kids went out and fought. We didn’t get caught on our back too much. We battled for three periods. If we can do that all season, we’ll correct some of the mistakes that we made tonight and try to go back out the next outing, make improvements till we get to districts. The guys do that, we’ll be where we need to be by the end of the season.
“Colton and some of these guys had really, really tough kids, state quality, returning state place winners. And to go out and give them a competitive match, we’re not to far off from where we need to be.
“The score doesn’t look that great. But it was a lot closer, in the matches. There were a lot of contested matches, till late in the third period. That’s all I asked the guys to do. I think, in a sense, they knew what they were up against. And as long as we keep making strides, I’m ok with the performance tonight.”