Sports

Wrestlers go winless over weekend

The Clarion Golden Eagles wrestling team had a tough weekend.

They dropped three home matches against Bloomsburg, Rider and Ohio University.

Scott Joseph had a big upset in the 174-pound weight class on Friday, Feb. 4, but it wasn’t enough to take down Bloomsburg as they escaped with a 19-15 victory.

After Friday’s match, Clarion’s record dropped to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the Eastern Wrestling League.

The match started at the 141-pound weight class, and Bloomsburg struck first when Derek Shingara pinned Hunter McGraw at the 2:11 mark.

The Golden Eagles fought back with four straight decisions.

The streak started at the 149 pound weight class when Clarion’s Anthony White defeated Bloomsburg’s Matt Hicks 7-3.

White had two, first period takedowns that led to his win raising his record to 18-9.

The Golden Eagles No. 6 ranked James Fleming won a 4-2 decision over Frank Hickman at 157 pounds.

Hickman posted a 2-0 lead late in the second with a takedown, but Fleming was in control of Hickman the entire third period, including a three-point near fall with one minute to
go that provided the winning margin.

Fleming is now 22-2 this season.

Bekzod Abdurakhmonov made three straight wins when he defeated Josh Veltre 11-5 at 165 pounds.

He had three, first period takedowns to win the match, increasing his record to 20-6.

The match of the night for the Golden Eagles came at 174 pounds where underdog Joseph upset PSAC champion, Mike Dessino, 5-4. Joseph had a second period takedown for a
3-2 lead after two.

Joseph took down in the third, and after getting a point for Dessino’s unsportsmanlike conduct, escaped with about six seconds remaining to lead 5-2.

Joseph was penalized with one second left, but gained the win giving Clarion a 12-6 lead.

Bloomsburg’s Nate Graham won an 8-0 major over Steven Cressley at 184 pounds, and then Bloomsburg’s Richard Perry upset Clarion’s Alex Thomas at 197 pounds 2-1 in
another exciting match.

Clarion’s Quintas McCorkle had escaped with a 3-2 victory in an exciting match.

The score was tied 1-1 after regulation, and ended the first tiebreaker with a 2-2 score.

In the second tie-breaker, McCorkle escaped, then rode out Zac Walsh for the 3-2 win.

Clarion was back on top, 15-13, but Bloomsburg won the final two matches to edge the Golden Eagles 19-15.

On Sunday, Feb. 6, Clarion wrestlers White, Fleming, Abdurakhmonov and Thomas all went 2-0, but the Golden Eagles fell short losing to Rider 22-18 and Ohio University 28-18.

White had a 9-4 win over Rider’s Zac Cibula at 149. White had four takedowns to secure the win. At 157 pounds, Fleming pinned Ramon Santiago cutting Rider’s lead to 13-9.

Abdurakhmonov used two takedowns to defeat Jimmy Resnick 5-0 at 165 pounds.

Joseph lost an 11-4 decision to Rob Morrison at 174, and Cressley was pinned by James Brundage at 184 giving Rider a 22-12 lead.

Thomas used a strong second period to defeat Joe Ferber 1-0 at 197 and McCorkle defeated Evan Craig 4-3 at heavyweight to make the final score 22-18.

The Golden Eagles were defeated in the next match losing 28-18 to Ohio University.

Clarion was down 13-0 and rallied back to tie the match 13-13.

The rally started with White winning a 7-6 decision over Darrin Boing at 149.

The 157 match was scoreless between Fleming and Chris Kline in the second, with Fleming on top and in control.

He turned Kline and pinned him at 3:38 making the score 13-9.

Abdurakhmonov tied the match at 165 pounds when he majored Steve Wilson 14-0.

Abdurakhmonov had two takedowns and three near falls plus riding time for the win.

Joseph was pinned at 174 pounds, and Cressley lost by disqualification at 184 after a re-start with 15 seconds to go in the match.

“I think we came out and battled hard this weekend even though we didn’t get the results we wanted. I’m proud of all the guys on the team. Its getting late in the Division I
wrestling season and every team is battling with adversity including us. We are going to continue working through the adversity and battling like warriors,” Joseph said.

The Golden Eagles are now 3-8 overall and will host Pittsburgh University Thursday, Feb. 10, for Senior Night.