Logan Powell, Josh Beal Finish Second, Jacob Henry Fourth To Punch Tickets To Regionals As Wildcats Finish Seventh In District Nine Class-AA Wrestling Tournament

on 28 February, 2024 at 10:15

Wildcats Logo by Karl Jacobson

A pair of Central Clarion Wildcats claimed second place at the District Nine Class-AA Wrestling Championships, held Friday and Saturday, February 23rd and 24th, at PennWest Clarion’s Tippin Gymnasium. Logan Powell claimed Silver at 133 pounds, with Josh Beal garnering second at 285. Jake Henry finished fourth at 160.

With their place finishes, they earned spots in the Northwest Class-AA Regional Championships on Friday and Saturday, March 1st and 2nd at Sharon High School.

**Photo from C-L Adult Booster Club Facebook page – Logan Powell 2nd place**

Logan received an opening bound bye. He scored a technical 15-0 technical fall in 4:10 over Owen Adams of Redbank Valley, followed by a 9-1 major decision over Cranberry’s Alex McLaughlin in their semifinal bout, before dropping a 10-4 decision to Colton Ryan in the championship bout.

Josh pinned Daniel Drake of Brookville in 5:20 in their first round matchup. He followed that with a win by fall at 2:47 in the quarterfinals, over Curwensville’s Brooks Hendershot. It was another win by pin for Josh in the semis as he downed Brockway’s Jonathan Winnings in 5:10, before dropping the championship match on a fall at 1:47 to Carson Neely of Port Allegany.

**Photo by John Beal – Josh Beal 2nd place**

Jake won a 9-8 first round decision over Redbank Valley’s Nolan Barnett and followed that by pinning Brockway’s Blake Pisarchick at 4:56 of their quarterfinal match. He dropped a 13-11 sudden victory decision to Mason Gordon of Port Allegany. Jacob came back in the consolation semis with a win by fall at 2:16 over Coudersport’s Owen Deutschlander, before falling 7-4 to Clearfield’s Will Domico in the third place match.

**Photo by Andrew Henry – Jake Henry 4th place**

Grayson Aaron went 2-and-2 at 127, advancing as far as the consolation semifinals, finishing in sixth place. His wins were by technical fall and pin. Ethan Rex went 2-and-2 at 172, with his wins coming by fall and major decision. Brendon Wright was 1-and-2 at 139 with his win coming by fall.

Others competing for the Wildcats were Cody Heller (107), Kayden Ferguson (114), Rudy Schettler (189) and Matt Alston (215).

The Wildcats finished seventh in the sixteen team field. Clearfield was the Team Champion.

Central Clarion head coach Braun Gourley said, “Overall we wrestled well. We lost a few close matches in the wrestle back. Three regional qualifiers is an improvement. Our goal is to advance to states this week. The top 4 will move on and as you know all the wrestlers are good this time of year.”

(Congratulations to Logan, Josh and Jake!!!! Have a great regional tournament!!!! Fine season to the rest of the Wildcats!!!! Thank you to John Beal, Andrew Henry and the C-L Adult Booster Club for photos!!)