There are days in the sporting world when sports take a back seat to more serious real world issues.
On Sunday at Alumni Arena, the wrestling team took on Ohio (3-5, 2-3 Mid-American Conference) but wrestling was nothing but a backdrop for the rest of the day's events.
Buffalo hosted the third annual Takedown Cancer event. The match was the final home event for three of Buffalo's seniors. Despite the large crowd and intense emotions that filled Alumni Arena, the Bulls (5-12, 0-2 MAC) were unable to pull out the victory, falling 22-18.
Prior to the meet, the Bulls honored their three seniors, Tyler Golba, Tyler Peter and Kevin Smith. The Bulls helped raise $21,500 to help combat cancer.
The Bulls got off to a slow start in the first half, losing four of the first five matches, including one pin, to fall behind 3-16 at halftime.
The Bulls came roaring back in the second half, led by outstanding performances from junior Mark Lewandowski (15-0), freshman Jake Waste (15-3) and senior Kevin Smith (4-0), but the first half deficit was too much to overcome.
Lewandowski, who leads the team with 29 wins this season, and is ranked No. 25 in the nation and No. 3 in the MAC, dominated Ohio's Miles Chapman. The junior jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Although he was dominant, there was a scary moment in the first period when Lewandowski's knee got twisted up and he had to take a major injury time out. But he got it taped up and finished the match by technical falling Chapman 11 seconds into the final period.
"He's had a little bit of a bad knee and he went out there and dinged it up," said head coach Jim Beichner. "Instead of quitting he went out there and tech falled a guy with a knee that was hurting him pretty bad. There are not a lot of guys who would have gone out there and continued wrestling the way he did."
To compliment Lewandowski, Kevin Smith put on a strong performance in his final match at Alumni Arena. Wrestling against Darrin Boing, the 3rd ranked 141-pounder in the MAC. Smith, ranked second in his weight class, played out the first period to a draw before mauling his opponent over the last two periods to win, 4-0.
"Unfortunately we didn't have enough of a team effort to come out and win this match," Smith said. "It would've been nice to come out with a victory but I thought our guys wrestled tough and we just have to keep moving forward."
Although Smith was encouraged by some of the stronger performances, Beichner was discouraged by some of the early matches.
"We were pretty upset. We went back there and gave it to them [after half time]," Beichner said. "The performances were not good performances [before the half], we had too many problems."
Beichner was upset that the intense emotions of the Take Down Cancer event had not affected his team in a more positive way, while questioning some of his own decisions.
"They weren't trying to get the take down, and in my opinion when you go out there and you are not trying to get the take down and be aggressive, you aren't trying to win," Beichner said.
The Bulls have four dual meets remaining before the MAC Tournament, and Beichner hopes that his team can be prepared in time. In spite of the poor performances this season, the team has a young core of wrestlers.
The future does appear bright for the Bulls. Although they bid farewell one of Buffalo's best ever in Smith, there were strong gritty performances by Jake Waste and fellow freshmen Blake Roulo and Justin Heiserman.
The hope for Beichner is that the younger wrestlers can continue to put forward strong performances, allowing them to be competitive in the MAC.
That trek begins with Kent State (10-4, 3-0 MAC). The Bulls will take on the Golden Flashes on Feb. 3, at 7 p.m.
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