Attitude, talent producing wins for McGuffey’s Clutter
YORK RUN – Christian Clutter is finding that victories are the product of not only better wrestling, but also a more mature attitude.
As a freshman at McGuffey High school last season, Clutter had a respectable record, 34-12, but the end result – making it to the PIAA Championships – eluded him.
This season, it’s easy to see he is wrestling with more confidence and a mature nature that is rare for a 160-pounder. It’s producing more victories, 18 so far this season, and fewer losses, just two.
Clutter, the top-ranked Class AA wrestler at 160 in the O-R Rankings, chalked up two impressive wins Friday in the Tri-County Athletic Directors’ Association Wrestling Tournament at Albert Gallatin. Clutter, the No. 2 seed, pinned Cyle Conley of Burgettstown in 1:36 to start the tournament and moved into the semifinals with an 8-0 major decision over Matt Cimino of Chartiers-Houston.
Semifinals get under way at 10:30 this morning and the finals are set for 2:30 p.m.
“Last year, I felt really defensive because everyone was a lot older than me,” said Clutter. “Most of my competition were juniors and seniors last year. It’s still like that, but I’m doing better against them.”
Clutter said he worked on strength in the offseason and wanted to be more open on the mat.
“I’m being a little more aggressive with my takedowns,” said Clutter. “I’m trying to get the first takedown in each match.”
Clutter came within a round of qualifying for the state tournament. It’s a motivating factor to not let that happen again.
“My mentality wasn’t where it needed to be,” he said. “I was getting tired. This year, my mind is more straight.”
If Clutter gets to the finals today, he is expected to meet top-seeded Kyle Homet of Waynesburg.
Gavin Teasdale, a two-time undefeated state champion from Jefferson-Morgan, received a first-round bye for being top seed at 126 pounds. Teasdale then pinned Dylan Swarrow of Beth-Center in 1:01. Teasdale will wrestle Tony Mastrangelo of Canon-McMillan in the semifinals. The No. 2 seed in the weight class is Fort Cherry’s Nick Candelore and he had a challenging quarterfinals bout with South Fayette freshman Ed Brinsky. Candelore emerged with a 12-4 win and gets third-seeded Jett Pattison of McGuffey in the semifinals.
“This is a pretty big tournament for me,” said Candelore, a junior who was third at 120 last year. “I’m pretty comfortable on the mat. I’ve been working hard to reach my goal, which is to make it to states. I’ve been working a lot on the bottom and on my feet.”
Mapletown’s Seth Shubert got off to a strong start, pinning Julious Dotson of Albert Gallatin in 1:23 in the first round and taking a 9-4 decision from Dante Cecchine in the quarterfinals.
“I wrestled him at Tri-CADA two years ago and he beat me in overtime,” said Shubert, a senior. “I got him this time. It’s nice to wrestle here and get a chance at wrestling these Triple-A guys.”
Shubert will have his hands full in the semifinals, drawing another Triple-A guy, Gerritt Nijenhuis of Canon-McMillan, the top seed in the weight class.
The first day had a few notable upsets. The biggest might have been Dimitri Pihiou of Canon-McMillan edging top-seeded Darrell Bails of Burgettstown, 7-6, in the 145-pound quarterfinals.
One weight class back, Colby Morris of Waynesburg, the No. 2 seed at 138, was decisioned, 2-1, Thayne Lawrence of Frazier in the quarterfinals. Lawrence gets Josh Kuslock of Chartiers-Houston in the semifinals
Colton Jezioro of Peters Township upset the No. 3 seed at 132, Austin Riffle of Burgettstown, winning by fall in 3:02. Jezioro gets second-seed D.J. Long of Trinity next.