Clarion (0-0, 0-0 MAC) vs. Navy (0-1, 0-0 EIWA)
Saturday, January 9 | 3 p.m.
Clarion, Pa. | Tippin Gymnasium

How to Watch
Golden Eagle home duals are all available for free viewing on your streaming device through the Clarion Golden Eagle Vision app, available on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku. You can also watch on your mobile device or desktop at portal.stretchinternet.com/clarion.

Mat 1 Stream | Mat 2 Stream

Ten Quick Points

• The Golden Eagle wrestling team will kick off its 2020-21 season on Saturday, January 9 when Clarion hosts Navy in a dual at Tippin Gymnasium
• This will be the third-ever meeting between the Golden Eagles and the Midshipmen, with Navy recording wins in both of the previous bouts
• Clarion finished their first season as an affiliate member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) with a 10-6 overall record and a 7-4 record in conference action, placing second in the conference's East division
• The Golden Eagles return two NCAA qualifiers from last year's squad, including NWCA All-American Greg Bulsak (197) and Ty Bagoly (285)
• 2018 NCAA qualifier Tate Ortz returns this year and will wrestle at 157 pounds
• Greg Bulsak enters the season in the 197-pound national rankings, including a high of seventh in the nation by TrackWrestling
• Ty Bagoly enters his second season as the starter at 285 pounds after qualifying for the NCAA championships last year, and is ranked 22nd by TrackWrestling
• Head coach Keith Ferraro enters his seventh year at the helm, and has led the Golden Eagles to three consecutive dual match seasons with a .500 record or better
• Clarion will likely feature a much different lineup that finished the 2019-20 season, with all but three weight classes expected to be manned by the same starter from last year's conference championships
• The Golden Eagles have gone 8-3 in home duals over the last two years 

The Lead
The Clarion wrestling team will kick off the 2020-21 season with a home dual on Saturday, as the Golden Eagles host the Midshipmen of Navy at Tippin Gymnasium. The main dual is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. and the afternoon will also include additional matches for other members of the two teams.

Series History
This will be just the third-ever meeting between the Golden Eagles and the Midshipmen, with Navy winning each of the previous two meetings in the series. The teams have not competed against one another in more than 40 years, having last met in back-to-back seasons in 1974-75 and 1975-76. The loss in the latter season was one of only three dual losses for the Golden Eagles that year, who finished 17-3 and saw both Don Rohn and Chuck Coryea earn All-American honors.

Adjusted Format
Matches during the 2020-21 season will look different to longtime Golden Eagle fans, as teams will also contest extra matches during and after the main dual. The main dual will occur at 3 p.m. while additional matches will occur on an adjacent mat in the main gym. After the conclusion of the dual, the teams will then feature wrestlers from the dual taking on counterparts from their opponents, though these matches will not impact the result of the original dual.

About the Coach
Keith Ferraro, a native of Brookville, is entering his seventh year as Clarion's head wrestling coach in 2020-21. He has been integral in elevating the Golden Eagles back into the national spotlight.

The Golden Eagle program has made tremendous strides under Ferraro's tutelage, with perhaps no more telling figure than the number of NCAA qualifiers the Golden Eagles have produced.  The team that Ferraro took over in 2014-15 went 1-16 in dual matches and sent no wrestlers to the NCAA Championships.  The Golden Eagles have produced multiple NCAA qualifiers in every year since then, including four in 2017-18, tied for the most in a single season since the Golden Eagles sent five wrestlers to the 2004 Championships. Clarion has had 13 NCAA qualifiers in the last six years.

Clarion has enjoyed dual match success as well as individual, with the Golden Eagles turning into a formidable presence in a dual setting.  They improved by six wins from Ferraro's first year to his second, and in 2017-18 the Golden Eagles recorded their first winning dual season since the 2002-03 season.  Clarion recorded a 10-6 dual match record in 2019-20 to mark their third straight season with a .500 record or better, the team's longest such stretch since a nine-year stint that started in the 1970's.

Finally, the Golden Eagles have rebounded to become leaders in the classroom as well as the wrestling room.  Clarion was recognized by the NCAA as being in the top 10 percent of the Academic Progress Rate (APR) report in both 2018-19 and 2019-20, the only wrestling program in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) to earn recognition in either year.  The Golden Eagles also led all of their former Eastern Wrestling League compatriots in number of EWL Scholar-Athletes in 2019, with 17 athletes on the list.

Bulsak, Bagoly Crack National Rankings
Clarion returns two NCAA qualifiers from a season ago, and both find themselves in the national conversation as the team readies for its first match of the year. 

• Three-time NCAA qualifier Greg Bulsak ranks among the best in the nation at 197 pounds, coming in at seventh according to TrackWrestling, 11th according to InterMat and ninth according to FloWrestling.

• First-time NCAA qualifier Ty Bagoly ranks 22nd in the nation at heavyweight, according to TrackWrestling. Bagoly would have competed in his first NCAA Championships last year, starting in the "pigtail" round.

Ortz Moves Up
After initially coming to Clarion as a 133-pounder in 2016-17 and qualifying for the NCAA Championships at 149 pounds in 2018, Tate Ortz found a home at 157 pounds last year and will look to lock that spot down for the 2020-21 season. The redshirt senior boasts a 42-25 career record spread out over three varsity weight classes, including the aforementioned trip to the NCAA Championships at 149 pounds and an injury-shortened stint at 141 pounds in 2018-19.

The Butler Did It
Redshirt senior Cam Butler will get the opportunity to spend a full season as the team's starter at 125 pounds after a promising junior campaign showed he was up to the task. Butler went 11-9 during the 2019-20 season, including a 6-3 mark in duals and a 3-2 record in MAC duals. His decision over Buffalo's Jordan Reyes helped the Golden Eagles to a criteria win over the Bulls on Jan. 17, 2020, and he majored Kent State's Wyatt Maturin in the 2020 home finale.

Seizing The Opportunity
While things are always subject to change, it seems right now that five new starters are set to crack the lineup for the Golden Eagles in 2020-21. Of those, a handful are upperclassmen with college experience, including junior Kolby Ho, redshirt junior Jalin Hankerson and redshirt sophomore Caleb Hetrick. Redshirt freshman Dylan Burnoski is expected to make his dual debut, while true freshman Kyle Schickel is anticipated to start the season at 141 pounds.

Golden Eagles on the Rise
With their win over Bloomsburg on Jan. 19, 2020, the Golden Eagles clinched a .500 or better season for the third straight year in 2020-21. It is the longest stretch of such dual match seasons since Clarion ripped off nine straight seasons at .500 or above from 1978-87.