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Mickey Moran

BUFFALO, NY - After 35 years of New York State Collegiate Wrestling Championships, two schools have taken more than half: Army and the University at Buffalo.

Halfway through the 36th championship, it looks like that one of those schools will add to its already impressive number of championship, as Army, in first place with 101 points, seeks its 10th championship, and Buffalo, in second with 97, looks for its ninth on Saturday.

On Friday, nine Buffalo grapplers reached the semifinals by winning at least one match.

Sophomore Mark McKnight (McDonald, PA/South Fayette) (125 pounds) beat Jake Pessia, 22-5, earning the tech fall as time expired in the match to advance to the semifinals. McKnight was the only UB wrestler to be ranked No. 1 in his weight class.

Sophomore Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/ Orrville ) (133 pounds) beat Oswego's Josh LeVea , 8-2, in the quarterfinals, after earning a first round bye as the No. 2 seed.

Freshman Dana Gingerich (Spring Grove, PA/ DeLone Catholic) , the No. 5 seed at 141 pounds, fought No. 4 seed Dean Kinports of Columbia to a tie through regulation in the quarterfinals before finishing the match by earning his third pin in four matches 12 seconds into overtime.

Sophomore Pat Lloyd ( Middletown , NY/Valley Central) (149 pounds)fought through two matches to reach the semifinals, pinning Maritime's John Nolan in 1:44 in the first round before earning a 3-1 decision against Niagara Community's Larry Aceti in the quarterfinals. The pin was Lloyd's 40th career win.

Freshman Scott Rendos ( Brockway , PA/ Brockway ) (157 pounds) also won two matches to make the semifinals, beating Alfred State's Greg Davis, 7-0, in the first round and Niagara Community's Jeremy Stopa , 8-5, in the quarters. Rendos faces No. 1 seed Devin Mesanko of Columbia in the semifinals.

Jake Blowers

Sophomore Jake Blowers ( Johnstown , NY/ Broadalbin -Perth) (165 pounds) continued to be a big surprise for the Bulls in the second half of the year. As the No. 6 seed, Blowers pinned RIT's Tom Schwarting with 41 seconds remaining in the first round. Then Blowers earned a tech fall against No. 3 seed David Post, 19-1, in the quarterfinals.

Freshman Mickey Moran (Pittsburgh, PA/ Shaler Area) (174 pounds) also reached the semifinals. Coming in unranked because he normally wrestles at 165 pounds, Moran beat No. 2 seed Kyle Jauptfleisch of Oneonta , 4-2, in the first match, then pinned Niagara Community's Kyle Schmelzle 2:32 into the quarterfinal match.

Junior Garrett Hicks ( Chautauqua , NY/ Chautauqua Lake) also advanced to the semifinals at 184 pounds, beating Lee Dugan of NYU , 9-4 in the first round and pinning No. 7 seed Hunter's Shintaro Higashi with one second left in the first period.

Junior Harold Sherrell (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) reached the semifinals as the No. 4 seed at 197 pounds, beating Cornell's Jim March, 8-0, and then earning a tech fall against Alfred State's Tyler Shephard , 16-0.

The Bulls will look to take their second state title in three years starting at 11:00 am on Saturday. To do so, they will have to displace last year's champion Army. Budd , Gingerich and Moran each have matches with Cadets in the semifinals and could help bring the title back to the Nickel City.