Cerminara handed first loss

The electrifying atmosphere in Alumni Arena on Sunday was the most excitement a Buffalo wrestling match has generated since powerhouse Oklahoma hit the mats in Clark Hall 30 years ago.

The newfound attention was well deserved, as the No. 6 Central Michigan Chippewas brought eight nationally ranked wrestlers to clash with the Bulls, but the main event was Buffalo's undefeated All-American Kyle Cerminara versus No. 1 Wynn Michalak.

Amid shrieking fans and a coach gone wild, the Cerminara-Michalak match came down to the wire, but the visiting Chippewa emerged with a controversial 3-2 decision, handing Cerminara his first loss of the season.

Although Central Michigan beat Buffalo 30-3, six of the matches the Bulls lost were by one or two points. The contest also saw two matches forced into overtime.

In the highly hyped showdown between Michalak and No. 4 Cerminara, Michalak scored a two-point takedown with a minute remaining in the third period after both grapplers recorded one-point escapes from the down positions. With 15 seconds to go, Cerminara managed what the Bulls' fans and coaches thought was a reversal, as both of wrestlers tumbled out of bounds.

A heated and red-faced head coach Jim Beichner hotly contested the officials' decision not to give Cerminara the two points, but the no-call stood. Beichner was so upset about the call that he and assistant coach Brandon Newell continued to voice their disgust to the quickly departing referee, even after the match was over.

"I can't say what I want about the official," Beichner said after the match. "Kyle should have gone into overtime. It just didn't end how we would have wanted."

Cerminara did achieve an escape after the referee restarted the match, but with just five seconds to go, he couldn't get the takedown in as time expired, resulting in the Michalak victory.

After the match, both combatants didn't feel they wrestled their type of match.

"The match was a little slower paced," Michalak said. "Kyle changed it up. He wrestled his match more than I liked to. He had a lot of heart in the fight. It's going to be a real good (Mid-American Conference) final."

Cerminara also said he was unhappy with his performance.

"I didn't push-stance hard enough," said Cerminara, a senior. "I just got out-wrestled. "

With only one individual win, Beichner said the 27-point defeat wasn't as lopsided as the score may have it appear.

"It went the way we thought it would," Beichner said. "We didn't expect to win in all the matches. Almost every single match was hard fought."

Buffalo's sole win of the afternoon was courtesy of 174-pound sophomore Mike Ragusa. Ragusa upset the 13th-ranked Brandon Sinnott in overtime. This was Ragusa's first win over a nationally ranked wrestler.

As the Cerminara-Michalak match was moved to the end of the card to give the match more of a main-event appeal, the heavyweights faced off in the first match of the day. The heavyweight match featured two ranked wrestlers, and was the only match in which a Buffalo grappler out-ranked his opponent. However, the 15th-ranked underdog Bubba Gritter from Central Michigan's posted a 5-3 decision over the 14th-ranked senior Harold Sherrell.

Buffalo's 13th-ranked 133-pound junior Mark Budd then squared off against No. 11 Jason Borelli in a match that went into overtime. Borelli pulled an escape out in the third overtime, ending Budd's 14-match winning streak.

Senior Cliff Smith then lost to Central Michigan's Brandon Carter by an 8-2 decision at 141 pounds, which was followed by the 149-pound match-up between junior Pat Lloyd and sixth-ranked Mark DiSalvo. At one point in the match, Lloyd trailed by as many as four points, but came back to tie the score. However, the junior ended up losing by decision 6-5, after a riding-time point was added for DiSalvo.

Central Michigan (10-4, 2-0 MAC) then took the next two matches by decision as 157-pounder Andy Keller beat senior John Cummings by a 10-8 decision and 165-pounder Trevor Stewart won 3-2 over sophomore Mickey Moran.

Following Ragusa's win, senior Garrett Hicks, in the 184-pound weight class, fell to the 20th-ranked Christian Sinnott 11-4.

Although they lost Sunday, the Bulls (9-4, 2-2 MAC) notched a milestone win on Saturday as they beat Eastern Michigan (5-8, 0-4 MAC) in front of a home crowd. The victory gave Beichner his 100th dual-meet win. Ed Michael is the only other Bulls coach to reach the century mark, as he tallied 213 wins in 21 years with Buffalo having coached the Bulls at the Division I, II and III levels.

"It feels good to meet the 100 win milestone," Beichner said on Saturday. "I have tons of people to give credit to, including Sean Gibbs, coaches Newell and Catrabone. They played an important role."

After falling behind 12-3 to start the meet against the Eagles, the Bulls swept the remaining six matches to win 29-12.

Buffalo's next match will come against the Kent State Golden Flashes as they travel to Ohio for a match this Friday at 7 p.m.