Clarion’s NCAA Division I Wrestling team will have a busy weekend as the Golden Eagles host #12 ranked Lock Haven on Friday, January 11^th, then travel to the University at Buffalo on Saturday.

Friday’s match against the Bald Eagles will start at approximately 7:30pm at Waldo S. Tippin Gymnasium as the second half of a wrestling doubleheader.

Starting the wrestling action off on Friday night will be a dual meet between Clarion Area High School and Redbank Valley High School starting at 6pm. Clarion Area, led by coach Randy Cathcart, enters the matchup with a 2-2 overall record. The Bobcats are on a two match win streak having defeated Keystone (54-21) and Rocky Grove (40-21) in the last week.

Redbank Valley, led by coach Mike Kundick, has the Bulldogs coming in with a 4-1 record including wins over Curwensville (52-15), Johnsonburg (43-16), Kane (51-9) and Kittanning (44-24). The lone loss was a 31-22 decision to St. Marys.

Tickets will be available at the door.

Clarion University travels to Buffalo for a 1pm matchup at Alumni Arena on Saturday to complete a busy weekend.

All three matches can be heard on WWCH-AM (1300) with Rich Herman and Bob Bubb bringing the play by play and color commentary. The Clarion University matches can also be heard at www.redzonemedia.com.

"We’re very happy to be hosting the high school match on Friday night," said coach Nellis. "It’s an opportunity for our fans to see some great high school wrestling, and likewise for the high school fans. Lock Haven will be favored here on Friday, but we’re looking forward to the match. There will be some really good individual matches that will have a big affect on the EWL seedings. We’re just going to take Friday one match at a time and go from there."

The Golden Eagles enter Friday’s dual with a 2-7 overall record and an 0-1 mark in the Eastern Wrestling League. Clarion’s two wins came last Sunday in the Central Michigan duals against Findlay (25-15) and Citadel (32-8). Other losses to ranked teams include a 23-13 loss to #10 WVU, 26-9 to #20 Penn State, 45-0 to #7 Ohio State and 34-9 to #22 Central Michigan. Fifth year head coach Ken Nellis has a career record entering Friday of 27-39-2. The Golden Eagle lineup will feature #8 ranked Rad Martinez (17-2) at 133 and #9 ranked John Testa (18-5) at heavyweight. Also ready have quality seasons are Eric Mausser (18-6) at 197 and Dom Surra (8-8) at 149, while Peter Derstine (11-6 at 125), Jeremy Reitz (8-6 at 157) and Todd Schuchert (6-1) at 174 have re-joined the team in January. Also in the lineup will be Stephen Stremple (4-4) at 141, Jamie Durkin (1-12) at 165 and Marcus Surin (1-13) at 184.

Lock Haven, under the direction of 12^th year head coach Carl Poff, enters Friday with a 10-1 dual meet record. The Bald Eagles are ranked #12 in the latest NWCA Poll and 13^th by Intermat. Lock Haven has defeated Ohio University (28-9), Rider (25-13), Pitt-Johnstown (22-15), Kent State (23-13), Virginia (29-12) and Virginia Tech (23-18). The only loss came against Ohio State (28-11) at the Clarion duals. The Bald Eagles lineup features #2 ranked JaMarr Billman (17-0) at 149, #5 ranked Mike Maney (12-1) at 141, #17 Josh Millard (85) at 184 and #18 Trap McCormack (10-2) at 125. Featuring a very balanced lineup, LHU also will have Chris Spealler (10-4) or Victor Jackson (11-5) at 133, Jason Gilligan (7-6; Brookville) at 157; Charlie Brenneman (7-8) at 165, Ed Pawlak (5-6) at 174, Avery Zerkle (5-3) at 197 and Tim Boetsch (3-7) at heavyweight.

Buffalo is coached by former two-time Clarion All-American Jim Beichner who is in his seventh season. The Bulls are 3-3 overall including wins over Eastern Michigan (33-6), Binghamton (29-10) and Eastern Illinois (21-16). The three losses are against Northern Illinois (22-13), Ohio State (25-9) and Indiana (30-10). Top wrestles in the Bulls lineup include Garrett Bontempo (16-4; DuBois) at 184, Bill Jacoutot (17-4) at 149, Dave Guarino (10-4) at 165, Dave Edwards (13-8) at 157, Ryan Bentley (15-7) at 141, Kyle Cerminara (12-6) at 197 and Charlie Voorhees (9-7) at 125.

CLARION NOTES: Clarion lost to Lock Haven 28-9 last year, while defeating Buffalo 25-9... Clarion has an EWL record of 12-11-2 against the Bald Eagles and an overall record of 17-16-2 ... Clarion tied LH 18-18 in 1995 with the last win coming in 1994 (35-6) ... LH has won 6 straight coming into Friday ... In returning head to head matches from last year Zerkle defeated Mausser 2-1 at 197, McCormack pinned Derstine and Billman majored Surra (18-10) ... In the Buffalo series Clarion leads 5-4 ... Comparing last year’s match Derstine majored Voorhees 12-4 and Surra decisioned Jacoutot 6-1... Clarion will travel to Bloomsburg for a 7:00pm match on Friday, January 18^th, then travels to Rider for a 1pm match on Saturday January 19^th... The PSAC’s are set for January 25-26 at Kutztown.