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Jake Blowers

BUFFALO, NY - Every team needs a clutch performer, someone who can hit the jumper with time running out or get the game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth.

For the University at Buffalo wrestling team, that clutch performer is sophomore Jake Blowers (Johnstown, NY/Broadalbin-Perth).

During a season that's featured more than its fair share of growing pains with six first-year starters, Blowers provided two momentum-changing moments that now have the Bulls (3-10 overall, 1-4 Mid-American Conference) ready to surprise everyone at the MAC Championships at Kent State next Friday and Saturday.

"Two of the matches we've won this year, he played a very large role in those victories," head coach Jim Beichner said. "When we needed him, he stepped in as a back-up and went out there and pinned a kid from North Dakota State. Then he comes in against Kent State, throws a headlock and pins a kid at a very crucial point in the meet."

The first of Blowers' two moments came in Hampton, VA. With the Bulls staked to a 16-3 lead against North Dakota State at the Virginia Duals, Blowers wrestled the 165-pound match against Andy Pickar. Blowers entered the third period down 6-4. If he lost the match, the Bison, a team that had a 24-match winning streak going into the Virginia tournament, could climb back into the meet with four matches remaining. Then Blowers scored a takedown out of the neutral position, and just as quickly, pinned Pickar, only 13 seconds into the final stanza. Blowers had practically clinched the 25-15 win for the Bulls, their first dual meet win of the year.

His second moment came against Kent State in Buffalo's final MAC dual meet of the year. With Kent State leading 16-9 after eight matches, it looked like Buffalo was doomed to its first winless conference season since joining the MAC. Blowers did what every clutch performer does. He delivered the pin, just 2:03 into the match, against Nick Brenner, bringing Kent State's lead to 16-15. When freshman Nate Rock (Ephrata, PA/Ephrata) won the final match to give Buffalo the 18-16 win, UB had finally turned a corner that saw them drop three conference meets in the final match.

"I didn't really understand how close the team score was, that if I got a pin and the next guy won, we'd actually win the match," Blowers said. "I just went out there to win and get it done. I wasn't looking to go out there and get a big thrill."

Jake Blowers

Blowers, who is from a small town at the Southern edge of the Adirondack mountains, came to Buffalo with a simple goal: to stick on the wrestling team.

"I knew that I could do it if I wanted to," Blowers said of wrestling in college. "I came here and decided to wrestle. There aren't too many other great programs in New York. I knew UB was my best choice for wrestling and school."

At Broadalbin-Perth High School, he was a star, setting the school record for wins and pins during his senior year. He finished second in Section II as a junior and senior, but that wasn't good enough to draw much interest from college coaches.

Still, Blowers said he believed he could do the work and be a successful Division I wrestler without an athletic scholarship. He made the team and wrestled in a few open tournaments, finishing 3-7 during his freshman year.

In his second year in Buffalo, Blowers took a redshirt and finished 4-4 in open tournaments. He said he stayed in Buffalo over the summer, working out and getting ready for his third year with the team. Blowers pointed to the summer work with his teammates as one of the things that has led to the Bulls turning the corner as the MAC Championships approach.

"It's really more of what you do in the off-season," he said. "I know (sophomore) Mark Budd (Orrville, OH/Orrville) and I worked out all summer and (junior) Harold Sherrell (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) stayed up here all summer and worked out every day. When you do that, it starts to show up now (late in the season)."

Blowers started the season second on the depth chart at 165 pounds after losing a wrestle-off with freshman Mickey Moran (Pittsburgh, PA/Shaler Area) by one point. When freshman Mike Ragusa (Foxboro, MA/Foxboro) finished sixth at the Oklahoma Gold Classic, it seemed Blowers might end up third on the depth chart.

In late November, though, Ragusa went down with a season-ending injury. When Rock, the lone true 174-pounder on the Bulls, also was forced from the lineup with an injury at the Virginia Duals, Moran moved up to fill the gap and Blowers took the starting role at 165.

"It turns out stuff happens," Blowers said. "People get hurt. It's never exactly set in stone at the beginning of the year. The starting lineup always changes. It's more than just who is a better wrestler on the mat. It's all-around, who stays in there and who works out harder."

After starting his first dual meet against Northwestern at the Buckeye Duals on Jan. 8 in the final of three dual meets on the day for Buffalo, Blowers next stepped onto the mat hoping to end Buffalo's six-meet slide against North Dakota State. His pin was just the start, as he also beat Eastern Michigan's Ben Best, 17-9 and posted a second-place finish at the New York State Championships. Since earning his slot in the starting lineup, Blowers has gone 6-5 and even earned a ranking of fourth in the MAC in the final coaches' poll released Tuesday.

"All of a sudden, he's come in here and turned into a pretty productive wrestler in a very short period of time," Beichner said. "Jake is like a lot of guys on our team. He's not a blue-chip wrestler. He's a blue-collar wrestler with a big heart and a great work ethic and good attitude. As a result, he's becoming more productive on our team."

For Beichner and Blowers, nothing would be better than that production continuing next weekend at Kent State.

"I think I have a lot of potential that's just starting to come out the second half of the year that even I haven't realized," he said. "I've wrestled longer than most other people. There's no reason I can't do a lot better than I have been. I'm looking to get into the finals and wrestle (David Bolyard) from Central Michigan, who is ranked in the country and see what I can do."

- Written by Joe Guistina, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant