Redbank Bulldogs vs Clarion Area Bobcats Wed., Jan 8, 1997 @ Clarion
Referee: Bob Colgan
103	forfeit	    Bo Salas	         forf	0	  6
112	Matt Boozer	Marc Bennett	     2:20	6	  6
119	Anthony Adams   Chad Reed	        3:36	12	 6
125	Matt Brinker    Andy Barnes	      3:26	18	 6
130	Shawn Smith	Christian Fawcett	4-8	 18	 9
135	Nate Gourley    Ryan Lewis	       3-6	 18	12
140	Lenny McNeal    forfeit	          forf	24	12
145	Benji Shaffer   Cory Cathcart	    6-11	24	15
152	Erik Rupp	  Adam Taube	      18-8	 28	15
160	Todd Dinger	Jason Bonner	     3:28	34	15
171	Cory Moore	 forfeit	          forf	40	15	
189	Jason Barnett   John Bachman	     1:00	40	21
275	forfeit	    Shawn Lerch	      forf	40	27

 

The Redbank Bulldogs and The Clarion Bobcats squared off last Wednesday for the 31st consecutive annual meeting. With each team forfeiting two weight classes, there were only nine bouts wrestled. Redbank has had no 103 all season, and their heavyweight was sidelined with a cauliflower ear. Clarion has two starters out on illness. Both teams suffer from a lack of depth, obviously.

Redbank got the ball rolling quickly. After giving up the initial forfeit, the Bulldogs reeled off three straight falls, all in the first or second period. Clarion staged a mini-comeback in the middleweights through some deft line-up juggling on the part of head coach Randy Cathcart. With two wrestlers weighed in at 125, Clarion had options to play. Sending Barnes out @ 125 against Brinker, RC followed by moving Fawcett up to 130 to meet Shawn Smith, to satisfaction of wrestlers, coaches, and fans. This pair had met twice last year, splitting the results. In the "rubber match" Fawcett prevailed, but it was a great bout.

Sitting down his 130# entry, RC sent Ryan Lewis out at 135, then played a nice finesse by forfeiting at 140 (against Lenny McNeal, a strong senior) and moving Cory Cathcart up to 145, where he met Benji Shaffer and put an 11-6 decision on the board.

But the momentum came to a halt @ 152, as Erik Rupp scored seven takedowns on Adam Taube and put an 18-8 major decision up that locked out the match score. With a forfeit yet to yield, the Bobcats were 19 points down - and three pins could yield only 18 points.

With choice in hand, RC sent Jason Bonner out at 160 against Todd Dinger (instead of bumping him up to 171 to meet Cory Moore). In typical fashion, Dinger utilized what has to be genetic double-jointedness to fight out of a tight headlock in the first and a nasty predicament in the 2nd to notch the fall at 3:28. A quick fall @ 189 and a final forfeit @ 275 put a last twelve points up for the Bobcats, but it was too little, too late.

Redbank advances to 3-0 and reamins undefeated in duals. It was also 31 wins in a row for Redbank between the two Clarion County teams.

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