For the fourth time this season, a nationally ranked team squared off against the Buffalo wrestling team; the Bulls fell on the road to No. 14 Edinboro, 37-3.
Despite facing an Edinboro team that wrestled the night before, the Bulls fell behind early and had little success the remainder of the night. Buffalo lost its first seven matches of the meet, and nine of ten overall. Buffalo's only win came in the 184-pound weight class by junior Mickey Moran, who scored a 3-1 overtime victory over 16th-ranked Chris Honeycutt.
"We were beat pretty badly," said head coach Jim Beichner. "We lost a couple of close matches, but overall it was pretty disappointing."
Edinboro jumped out with two major-decision victories within the first three matches. In the first match, Edinboro sophomore Eric Morrill put the Fighting Scots ahead with a 13-4 win over Buffalo freshman Dylan Dabolt.
The second match saw Edinboro junior Ricky Deubel defeat Buffalo junior Joe Wilson. Sophomore Andrew Stella made it three consecutive losses, with a 10-2 defeat at the hands of freshman Torsten Gillespie.
Their lead soon reached 17-0 after Daryl Cocozzo earned a 10-5 decision victory over Buffalo senior Ryan Needle.
In the 157-pound weight class, Buffalo senior John Cummings matched up against Edinboro's Gregor Gillespie. Gillespie, the nation's top-ranked 157-pound wrestler, and defending national champion, defeated Cummings by technical fall, 18-0.
Following Gillespie, the Fighting Scots sent two more nationally-ranked wrestlers to the mats. In the 165-pound match, Buffalo junior Scott Rendos was forced to injury default against 15th-ranked Jarrod King. Senior Mike Ragusa then took on Edinboro's 18th-ranked Phil Moricone, but came out on the wrong side of a close decision, 3-0.
Finally, with Edinboro leading 31-0, Buffalo junior Mickey Moran earned the only win of the night for the Bulls. Facing the 16th-ranked Chris Honeycutt, Moran exchanged escapes and fought to a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation.
In the overtime period, Moran scored a takedown with 25 seconds left to complete the upset win. With the victory, Moran improved his season record to 29-7.
In response, Edinboro's Pat Bradshaw scored a close 4-3 victory over Buffalo freshman Jimmy Hamel in the 197-pound weight class.
In the final match, Buffalo heavyweight Jeff Parker squared off against Edinboro's 19th-ranked Joey Fendone. A 3-0 victory gave the Fighting Scots their ninth win of the night.
"We have a lot of work ahead of ourselves," Beichner said. "When you're down, you just have to look forward and try to improve."
The Bulls will look to improve heading to the Mid-American Conference Championships held March 7-8, in Kent, Ohio.
With the victory Edinboro improved to 9-3 on the season, and is now 12-0 against the Bulls all-time.
With the loss, the Bulls record fell to 8-7-1 on the season. Buffalo will host its final home dual of the season on Feb. 24 against the Binghamton Bearcats at 1 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
