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Cerminara Wins School-Record 25th Match at Northern Illinois

Kyle Cerminara

Cerminara pinned Dave Herrera in the meet's final match at 197 pounds to close the gap to two points, as the senior set the school-record for consecutive wins, breaking John Stutzman's mark of 24 consecutive wins, set in 1996-97. Cerminara has started the season 25-0, winning the Slippery Rock Open, Oklahoma Gold Classic, Mat Town USA Invitational, Las Vegas Invitational and UB Open along the way to breaking the school's career record for wins and dual meet takedowns, which was also held by Stutzman.

This is the second year in a row Buffalo (5-2 overall, 0-1 MAC) has lost to Northern Illinois (4-2 overall, 1-0 MAC) in a manner where the outcome of one match could have led to a UB win, as it dropped a heartbreaking 20-15 decision on Jan. 8, 2005, after going into the final match down just one point at 16-15.

Harold Sherrell

The Bulls started off the match with the biggest upset of the meet, as senior Harold Sherrell (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) put himself back on the national scene with his 23rd win of the year against the NWCA/InterMat/NWMA's 19th-ranked Joe Sapp. Sherrell fell behind 2-1 in the first period, but quickly turned the match around with five three-point near falls to take a 17-2 technical fall and give the Bulls a 5-0 lead.

After a Huskies' pin at 125 pounds, junior Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville) posted a 17-7 major decision against Andy Hiatt, whose brother, Sam, beat Budd twice last season, once in the fateful match that decided the dual meet and once in the true second-place match at the MAC Championships, which earned Sam Hiatt an NCAA bid. Budd's win put UB up 9-6, but Northern Illinois' nationally-ranked mid-weight duo of Josh Wooten and Mike Grimes each came through with major decisions to give it a 14-9 lead.

Junior John Cummings (Bay Shore, NY/Bay Shore/Nassau CC) earned his fifth straight NCAA win with a 5-1 decision against Aaron Owen at 157 pounds, closing the gap to 14-12.

The match that turned the tide back in favor of the Huskies turned out to be at 165 pounds, as 2005 NCAA Qualifier Johnny Galloway earned an escape in the second sudden-victory overtime to clinch the win against W.I.N. Magazine's 18th-ranked sophomore Mickey Moran (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler Area). In the next match, Danny Burk offered up a meet-clinching pin in the second period to give the Huskies a 23-12 lead, meaning Buffalo needed pins in the final two matches to provide the upset.

Garrett Hicks

The Bulls almost pulled off the feat, too, as senior Garrett Hicks (Chautauqua, NY/Chautauqua Lake) fell behind Nick McClone, 6-4, at the end of the second period, but turned the match around by earning a reversal and then almost pinning McClone in a three-point near fall to take the 10-6 win before Cerminara pinned Dave Herrera in 1:13 in the meet's finale.

Buffalo returns to the mats after a nine-day layoff on Sunday, Jan. 15 with a dual meet against Southern Conference power North Carolina-Greensboro (5-0 overall) with a 1:00 pm dual meet. Head coach Tom Shifflet, now in his fourth year at UNC-Greensboro, is an Amherst native and Sweet Home High School graduate.

Northern Illinois 23, Buffalo 21
HWT: Harold Sherrell (UB) tech. fall Joe Sapp, 17-2
125: Pat Castillo (NIU) fall Evan Veney, 5:25
133: Mark Budd (UB) maj. dec. Andy Hiatt, 17-7
141: Josh Wooten (NIU) maj. dec. Dana Gingerich, 11-1
149: Mike Grimes (NIU) maj. dec. Pat Lloyd, 13-4
157: John Cummings (UB) dec. Aaron Owen, 5-1
165: Johnny Galloway (NIU) dec. Mickey Moran, 2-1, SV-2
174: Danny Burk (NIU) fall Mike Ragusa, 3:11
184: Garrett Hicks (UB) dec. Nick McClone, 10-6
197: Kyle Cerminara (UB) fall Dave Herrera, 1:13