Buffalo Bulls 10; Northern Illinois Huskies 26; Wrestling Falls in Season Finale

In a season full of growing pains, the Buffalo Bulls (5-14, 0-8 MAC) wrestling team finished off their season against the Northern Illinois Huskies (10-11, 2-5 MAC) in another very close MAC dual.

UB started the match off at 133 pounds with Sean Peacock losing an uncharacteristic 13-5 major decision; he dug himself a hole early and was never able to fight his way back against a quality opponent. Then, Colt Cotten, in true Colt Cotten fashion had an excellent 9-4 decision over senior Tyler Argue. Cotten showed off how good he is on his feet with a pair of beautiful takedowns on the senior.

Then, looking to avenge his narrow 2-0 loss against EMU, Jason Estevez came out with a purpose and took a commanding 9-3 victory over Ausitn Culton. Which, its worth mentioning that Estevez bumped up to 149 pounds and Culton dropped down from 157, and Estevez still dominated. Then, NIU captain Andrew Morse dropped a major decision on Ryan Kromer to give NIU an 8-6 lead heading into the pivotal 165 pound match before halftime.

Rrok Ndokaj came back from a 5-1 deficit after the 1st period to tie the match 7-7 late in the 3rd, only to allow an escape to give Shaun'Qae McMurty the 8-7 decision. Head Coach John Stutzman challenged that Ndokaj had a takedown but the referee didn't find conclusive evidence.

Wally Maziarz then took to the mat for his final collegiate match, and after the match being 2-2 for most of the final stanza, a late takedown and back points gave Trace Englekes the narrow victory. Maziarz finshes his UB career with a 55-72 record.

Joe Ariola would come out and give UB it's final points of the night as he dominated Quinton Rosser in a 13-5 major decision in which Ariola had 6 takedowns!

Later on, Max Soria then took to the mat for his final collegiate match against Derek Elmore. Elmore got a tight headlock on Soria and took him straight to his back, pinning the senior in his final match. Being on the wrong end of those types of headlocks in my own wrestling career, and they are one of the most difficult moves to get out of if you get taken to the mat. Soria ends his UB career with a record of 81-54.

And with that, wrestling season is over.

It's a disappointing end for the two seniors, but there have been a lot of positives to take away from both this match and from the season on the whole. I'll have more on the takeaways from this season in the season recap which will be coming in the next few weeks.

Thank you to Max Soria and Wally Maziarz for all you've done for the UB Wrestling program, and thank you for finishing your careers in the blue and white, you will be missed!

Go Bulls!

Full Results:

125: Derek Elmore (NIU) pinned Max Soria (UB), 1:00

133: Jordan Northrup (NIU) maj. dec. Sean Peacock (UB), 13-5

141: Colt Cotten (UB) dec. Tyler Argue (NIU), 9-4

149: Jason Estevez (UB) dec. Austin Culton (NIU), 9-3

157: Andrew Morse (NIU) maj. dec. Ryan Kromer (UB), 13-0

165: Shaun'Qae McMurtry (NIU) dec. Rrok Ndokaj (UB), 8-7

174: Trace Englekes (NIU) dec. Wally Maziarz (UB), 6-2

184: Joe Ariola (UB) maj. dec. Quinton Rosser (NIU), 13-5

197: Shawn Scott (NIU) dec. James Benjamin (UB), 9-5

HWT: Arthur Bunce (NIU) dec. Mike Silvis (UB), 2-0

Updated Season Records: