By Greg Reedy

Record Sports Editor

In a first for both schools, Clearfield defeated Ridgway 40-21 Thursday night at Ridgway High School. 

It was the first time Clearfield and Ridgway met in a dual meet. 

"We wanted this match, we sought after them to get this match," Ridgway coach Gary Gerber said. "I believe to get better, you have to wrestle the teams that are powerful at the time. It's a good end-of-the-year thing. Everyone was talking about it, there was a nice crowd, a lot of craziness going on and that's good for District 9 wrestling."

The featured bout of the night was at heavyweight as Joe Chittester (29-1 entering the night) took on Sean Owen, sporting a 33-0 record. After a scoreless first period, Owen escaped from the down position to start the second and take a 1-0 lead. He carried the lead into the third but Chittester also escaped from the down position to square the bout. Owen took control with a takedown 30 seconds from the conclusion of the third period for the 3-1 decision. 

"I believe in Joe," Gerber said. "I think he's a power to be reckoned with in Hershey. You saw it tonight. Owen is awesome. He's only had two matches that weren't falls. One was a tech fall and the other was 12-4. I think he (Joe) did a good job." 

With a boisterous crowd on hand, the match started at 135 as Shane Harper wrestled Steven Mitchell of Ridgway and scored a fall at 3:00. 

Gerber elected to send out Garet Pisani at 140 and Pisani answered for the Elkers with a fall over Troy Danver in 1:12. Gerber spoke of the strategy employed by not putting Pisani out at 135. 

"Then they put a JV in for a forfeit and the good kid, (Derek) Danver, he would have been up to 52, the kid Zack Zelcs beat, he would have been out of the lineup," Gerber said. "This way, at least (Holden) Lowe got the forfeit."

Derek Danver wrestled at 145 against Nate Dornisch in a back-and-forth bout until the third period. Danver collected a 5-0 lead after the first period, but Dornisch responded with his highlight of the bout being a combined four-point move to end the second period. Trailing 7-2, Dornisch got a reversal and then followed with two back points to cut the margin to 7-6 entering the third period. Danver took over from that point and scored the 17-7 major decision. 

Ridgway responded with a 7-2 decision from Sam Skraba over Will Beauseigneur at 152. Zack Zelcs pinned Logan Shadeck at 160 in 2:34 to put Ridgway up 15-10 in the dual. 

From there, Clearfield swept the next four bouts in the upper weights. Shaun Hall pinned Shane Munson in 4:45 and Cliff Hill won a 7-4 decision over Cody Sheasley in another close contest at 189.

The bout was tied at 4-all with 90 seconds left in the third period when Hill got an escape with a minute left and then a takedown 20 seconds later for the decision. 

Andre Buck won a 6-3 decision for Clearfield over Jake Thompson at 215. 

At 103, Corey Bush pulled out a fall over Shane Peters. Peters led 3-1 over Bush late in the bout until Bush got a reversal and then put Peters on his back. Bush got the pin with 0.4 seconds left. 

"That was a good comeback," Gerber said. "He never gave up, he wrestled hard and he took the opportunity when it popped up."

Kodie Lowder won a 9-6 decision for Clearfield over Kyle Caggiano at 112 and Andy Spicer took a 5-0 decision from Slade Horner of Ridgway in the 119-pound bout.

Andrew Hill took a hard-fought 3-1 decision from Ridgway's Jeff Slattery in an ultimate tiebreaker. The two exchanged a pair of escapes in regulation but could not determine a winner in regulation. A one-minute overtime and two 30-second tiebreaker periods also settled nothing. Hill got a reversal from the down position in the ultimate tiebreaker for the 3-1 decision. 

Holden Lowe won by forfeit for Clearfield at 130. Overall, Clearfield won 10 of 14 bouts. Gerber said the Elkers missed having D.J. Skraba out of the lineup due to injury. 

"All the toss-ups went their way. I think they wanted it a little more than we did," Gerber said. "Mentally, I think having that hole at the end just, we tried playing games, we tried shifting. They're not the kind of team you go with bullets missing in your gun."

Ridgway honored senior wrestlers Shane Munson, Jake Thompson, Cody Sheasley and Brandon Gardner before the meet. 

Ridgway finished the season 18-4 in dual meets. The focus will now shift to the individual tournaments, starting with the District 9 Wrestling Championships Feb. 20-21 at Clarion University. 

Clearfield 40, Ridgway 21

135 - Shane Harper (C) pin Steven Mitchell (R), 3:00 (6-0 C)

140 - Garet Pisani (R) pin Troy Danver (C), 1:12 (6-6) 

145 - Derek Danver (C) maj. dec. Nate Dornisch (R), 17-7 (10-6 C)

152 - Sam Skraba (R) dec. Will Beauseigneur (C), 7-2 (10-9 C)

160 - Zack Zelcs (R) pin Logan Shadeck (C), 2:34 (15-10 R)

171 - Shaun Hall (C) pin Shane Munson (R), 4:45 (16-15 C)

189 - Cliff Hill (C) dec. Cody Sheasley (R), 7-4 (19-15 C)

215 - Andre Buck (C) dec. Jake Thompson (R), 6-3 (22-15 C)

HWT - Sean Owen (C) dec. Joe Chittester (R), 3-1 (25-15 C)

103 - Corey Bush (R) pin Shane Peters (C), 5:59 (25-21 C)

112 - Kodie Lowder (C) dec. Kyle Caggiano (R), 9-6 (28-21 C)

119 - Andy Spicer (C) dec. Slade Horner (R), 5-0 (31-21 C)

125 - Andrew Hill (C) dec. Jeff Slattery (R), 3-1, ultimate tiebreaker (34-21 C)

130 - Holden Lowe (C) win by forfeit (40-21 C)