The UB wrestling team suffered a tough loss Saturday at Alumni Arena, finishing 28-9 at the hands of the Central Michigan Chippewas. The day had its ups and downs as Ben Cooper, Dave Guarino, Bill Jacotout, and Charlie Voorhees were honored during the Bulls' Senior Day, while the team dropped to 4-7 in dual matches and 1-3 in the conference with the loss.
Guarino was the lone victor of the four, posting a 4-0 shutout. While Ben Cooper was out with injury, his cousin Gary Cooper suffered a severe lower-back injury on what seemed to be a potentially dangerous move by Chippewa Tony Gansen.
In the 174 pounders' match, Gansen wrenched on Cooper's leg badly and severely injured his lower back injury, resulting in a trip to the medical center for Cooper. The referee apparently didn't see anything wrong with the move, and did not penalize Gansen.
In the opening match, Ryan Bentley suffered a 12-2 loss to Central's Jason Mester in the 141-pound weight class. Bentley could only manage two points in the entire match on an escape.
Following that, Ty Morgan of Central Michigan squared off with Bill Jacotout of UB, who according to Buffalo Assistant Coach Sean Gibbs, "is enjoying his best season as a Bull." Jacotout, however, fell behind early and could not recover late despite his aggressive movement throughout the match. It wasn't enough, and Morgan held on for the 6-2 victory.
The third match featured freshman Dave Edwards of UB pitted against freshman David Bolyard of Central Michigan at 157 pounds. In the intense, aggressive match, Bolyard led 4-3 heading into the third period and steamrolled into an 8-4 decision in favor of Bolyard, as he scored three near-fall points early in the third.
At 165 pounds, senior Dave Guarino shutout Central Michigan's Joe Ray Barry 4-0 for Buffalo's first win of the afternoon. Guarino scored a two-point reversal in the second and picked up one point for a Barry violation to go up 3-0 at the end of two periods. He suffered a minor knee injury in the period, but continued on for the victory.
The next match, at 184 pounds, came after about a half-hour delay caused by Cooper's injury. It featured UB's Garrett Bontempo against the Chippewas' Jeff Pangborn. Bontempo, referred to as "a potential All-American" by Gibbs, wrestled an error-free match, and exacted some measure of revenge for his teammate wounded in battle. He had a two-point takedown in the first followed by an amazing sequence where Pangborn never made it out of the down position. Bontempo then had an early escape in the third and was awarded one point for riding time to cap off the 4-1 victory.
Freshman Kyle Cerminara continued the comeback going against Central Michigan's freshman Billy Stouffer. Cerminara had a large cheering section on hand and responded well with an 8-3 victory. It was all knotted at 2-2 heading into the third when Kyle took over with an escape and a quick takedown. Stouffer responded with an escape of his own, which was then countered immediately by another Cerminara takedown.
"My conditioning is getting better with two-a-day practices," said Cerminara as he attributed that to his third-period domination of Stouffer.
The heavyweight bout featured freshman Mike Cooper vs. Central Michigan's senior captain Jack Leffler. The more experienced Leffler had little trouble with Cooper, pinning him with 22 seconds left in the first.
At 125 pounds, senior Charlie Voorhees faced freshman Jason Borrelli of the Chippewas. Voorhees had some nice shots early, but Borrelli always seemed to have an answer for them as he scored a 9-2 victory over Voorhees.
The final match of the afternoon didn't get any prettier for UB as the Chippewas' Jordan Webster dominated UB's Brian Sebaly from the get go. Webster scored three first-period takedowns on his way to an 11-3 win.
The Bulls' next match will be Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Slippery Rock, Pa., at Slippery Rock University.
Photo: Breadchastick / Wikimedia Commons
