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By LORI SHONTZ; Times Leader Sports Writer
Monday, March 07, 1994     Page:

HAZLETON — Hazleton Area’s Chris Clifford’s ribs cracked less than two
minutes into his final Class AAA District 2 wrestling tournament.
   
He had shot a routine single-leg takedown, and he ended up with Kevin
Eiden’s knee in his chest. Then Clifford felt pain, the same pain he felt last
summer when he broke his sternum in a freestyle tournament.
    He thought his high school career was over. Then he thought of the mornings
he had awakened at 5:30 to run, the hours of practice after school. He decided
to keep wrestling and eventually pinned Eiden of West Scranton in 2:16.
   
Clifford’s decision to stay on the mat paid off even bigger Saturday night
as he came back from a 6-3 deficit for a 9-7 overtime victory over Brian
Hoffner of Scranton in the 152-pound semifinals. Clifford earned his first
berth in the regional tournament.
   
“I’m a senior — I have nothing else left,” Clifford said.
   
Clifford will be joined in today’s finals by two teammates, 103-pounder
Mike Weston and 119-pounder Heath Pursell.
   
Clifford’s father, Joe, called his son the Dan Jansen of High School
Wrestling.
   
“He had 70-some wins, but in these tournaments he always comes up a point
or two short,” said Joe Clifford.
   
Not this time.
   
Hoffner led Clifford 6-3 entering the third period. Clifford took down
Hoffner, let him escape, and took him down again with 40 seconds left in
regulation to send the match into overtime.
   
“I didn’t know how long I could last out there,” he said.
   
Clifford took down Hoffner again 33 seconds into the sudden-death overtime
to earn the win. He leaped into his coach’s arms, then exhausted, he retreated
to the lobby of Hazleton Area’s gym, where everyone from friends to
grandparents stopped to congratulate him.
   
“I thought I was going to have a heart attack,” his grandmother said. Then
she assured her grandson she would be back for the finals.
   
If Clifford is cleared to compete today, he will face Pittston Area’s Tony
Barbrie, the top seed.
   
After Pursell won his semifinal match, he ran outside without stopping for
even a T-shirt.
   
“I couldn’t catch my breath,” said Pursell. “I was so hot.”
   
Pursell, the defending 119-pound champion, was two pounds over weight when
he went to sleep Friday night, but he “floated” two pounds over night to make
weight.
   
“If I was still over weight, I had no energy to work out,” said Pursell.
   
He major decisioned West Scranton’s Jim Kasiewicz 13-4 in the first full
six-minute match he wrestled at his new weight. Despite his exhaustion,
Pursell was confident that he could beat Pittston Area’s Tom Gale in the
finals.
   
Weston pinned Wyoming Valley West’s Ryan Shumbris in 1:59. In the finals,
he will face Pittston Area’s Dave Krantz, who decisioned him early this
season.
   
Valley West has five finalists, four expected and one a surprise.
   
Rob Trotter advanced at 125 pounds, J.J. Vassello at 145, Doug Giza at 171,
and Chad Coslett at 189. All four were top seeds in their weight class. Mike
Hando, unseeded at 130, pinned second-seed Brad McCutcheon of Hazleton Area in
5:53. Hando will face Coughlin’s Shawn Wright, the top seed, in the finals.
   
Coughlin has one other finalist, Corey Luce, a 4-3 winner over Berwick’s
Brent Yates at 112 pounds. Berwick’s Tim Mason upset top-seeded Chris Matello
of Valley West, 8-6, at 135 pounds.
   
Nanticoke’s J.H. Sheruda increased his undefeated record to 26-0 with a 4-3
win over Valley West’s Steve Williams in a 140-pond semifinal. He will be
joined by teammate Dave Yokaconis, who decisioned second-seed Tim Meagher of
Honesdale 4-1 at 145.
   
Two Tunkhannock wrestlers won semifinals by fall over Coughlin wrestlers to
move to