High school wrestling: Clearfield finally adds another wrestling title

After 17 years, it's time once again to make room in Clearfield's wrestling trophy case.

In the highly competitive Region 6 tournament Thursday night, Clearfield edged host Highland 348 to 338 to claim its first region title since 1993.

"It feels good. It's been a while for Clearfield High School. It's pretty exciting, not only for us but for our whole school. We by far had the most fans here and we traveled the farthest to come here, so it was really good for our community and our fans and our school to have our kids work so hard and reach their goals," said Clearfield coach Dustin Rock, who was doused with water from a dozen or so water bottles after the trophy presentation.

Clearfield finished with four individual champions and qualified 12 wrestlers to next week's 4A state tournament as it denied Highland a third straight region championship.

Cyprus finished third with 302 points, followed by Bountiful (249.5), Woods Cross (143) and East (44).

The Falcons owned a two-point lead heading into the championship matches, and both coaches knew it could go either way. Clearfield had six wrestlers in the finals, including a head-to-head match-up at 220 pounds. Highland, meanwhile, advanced seven to the finals including a head-to-head match-up at 152.

Clearfield won four of its five possible title matches, while Highland won just two.

"We had an opportunity, but we got outwrestled. You got to step on the mat and take care of business, and we didn't do it enough times," said Highland coach Ted Sierer.

Despite the frustration of coming up short, Sierer said he was particularly pleased with the way his kids wrestled in the consolation rounds after the semifinals.

"We thought we were going to be completely out of the tournament after the semifinals. I'm actually quite proud that they battled back and made a showing at the end. They could've easily tucked it in and wrestled for themselves," said Sierer.

Clearfield won the first three matches of the night, with Colton Thiel prevailing at 106 pounds, Christian Kodele at 113 pounds and Zeth Porter at 120 pounds. Thiel has placed in every tournament this year, including the Richardson Memorial at Box Elder.

The three early victories helped the Falcons open up a 20-point lead, but the Rams were still very much within striking distance with all their championships still to come.