Bulls Open Up 2015 At The Southern Scuffle On Thursday
12/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
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BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo, State University of New York wrestling team (4-5, 0-2 MAC) will open up 2015 on New Years day at the most prestigious tournament in the country, the Defense Soap and Flips Wrestling Southern Scuffle. The 12th annual, team-scored event, will take place on January 1-2 at McKenzie Arena on the campus of UT-Chattanooga.
TEAMS
Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Iowa State, Missouri, Michigan, Lehigh, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Cornell, Virginia, North Carolina, Boise State, Appalachian State, Army, Penn State, Bucknell, Campbell, Central Michigan, Chattanooga, The Citadel, Cleveland State, Drexel, Duke, Gardner Webb, George Mason, Kent State, Navy, Northern Colorado, Stanford and Wyoming.
SETTING THE SCENE
- The Bulls head to the prestigous Southern Scuffle for their first tournament in over a month on Thursday, January 1 and Friday, January 2.
- The two-day, team-scored event, will be held at UT-Chattanooga and it will feature 32 of the best teams in the country.
- UB will be bringing their starting 10 grapplers along with four others to compete in one of the best tournaments in the country.
- Buffalo is coming off of back-to-back MAC dual losses to Kent State and Central Michigan at Alumni Arena.
- This will be the Bulls first appearance in the Southern Scuffle.
- The Penn State Nittany Lions have won the last four Southern Scuffle titles.
BULLstrong
The University at Buffalo, the State University of New York wrestling team has already surpassed their win total from a season ago just one month into the season. The Bulls picked up three wins in the opening weekend of the season after compiling a 3-17 overall record last season in a rebuilding year under first-year head coach John Stutzman. This season the Bulls started out strong as Stutzman has instilled his way of wrestling into the youthful squad. Entering this year, the Bulls had 17 freshman on the squad with many of them contributing towards the Bulls 4-5 start.
BULLS HEAD TO THE PRESTIGOUS SOUTHERN SCUFFLE
The Bulls are set to hit the road for their first tournament in over a month and it will be their biggest test yet as they will head to the most prestigous tournament in the country, the Southern Scuffle. UB will be heading down to Chattanooga, TN for their first ever Southern Scuffle and they will be joined by 31 of the premier wrestling institutions in the country. The Bulls will be tested by some of the best grapplers in the country, only helping the youthful UB squad gain valuable experience for the rest of the season.
UB DROPS CLOSE DUAL AGAINST CENTRAL MICHIGAN
Last time on the mat, the UB wrestling team jumped out to a quick start at Alumni Arena in their dual against MAC foe Central Michigan but it was not enough, falling 21-10. Max Soria continued to give the Bulls a jump start at 125-pounds as he totally dominated his opponent to earn the 10-0 major decision victory and four points for UB. Freshman Sean Peacock was next at 133-pounds and he impressed with his best match of the young season as he picked up a 12-6 win and three more points for the Bulls, extending their early edge to 7-0. UB could not hold on however, as they lost seven of the last eight matches, the Bulls only win coming at 165-pounds as Rrok Ndokaj continued to stay hot for UB.
SORIA MAINTAINS NATIONAL RANKING AFTER VICTORY
Choosing to stay at Buffalo for his fifth season, Max Soria seems to have made the right choice as he improved to 15-1 overall and 7-1 in dual meets on the season after a decisive major decision victory against Central Michigan last time out. Soria completely dominated his opponent as he earned a teakedown in each period en route to the 10-0 victory, his third straight win following his lone loss of the season to the 12th ranked grappler in the country. Soria stayed in the national rankings on Tuesday as he came in at #13 in the Open Mat rankings. Soria leads all active Bulls in career wins (75), dual wins (31), takedowns (89) and riding time points (19). The team captain will aim to rise in the rankings as the Bulls head to the best tournament in the country on Thursday.
RROK NDOKAJ IMPRESSES AGAINST CENTRAL MICHIGAN
After transferring to Buffalo last year following a season at Bloomsburg with head coach John Stutzman, Rrok Ndokaj has settled into a role with the Bulls that he looks comfortable with. Ndokaj has taken over the starting spot at 165 pounds and he has had a solid start to his redshirt sophomore campaign. He currently owns a 8-5 overall record to go along with a stellar 5-2 dual meet record following his best win of the season last time out. Ndokaj was impressive as he earned a 5-3 victory over Jordan Atienza of Central Michigan. Ndokaj earned a takedown and the 3-0 lead heading into the final period where he earned another takedown and the victory, his third straight dual meet victory.
PEACOCK SHOWS OFF IN FRONT OF HOME FANS
Leading the youth movement for the UB wrestling program, true freshman Sean Peacock has been a pleasant surprise for head coach John Stutzman. The Clifton Springs, NY native energized the home crowd last time out as he earned a 12-6 decision victory over his Central Michigan opponent, his best win of the young season. Peacock has been solid all year long for the Bulls at 133-pounds as he has earned a 13-7 overall record to go along with a dual meet record of 6-3. His six dual meet victories rank him second on the squad, trailing only team captain Max Soria's seven victories.
YOUTHFUL BULLS GAINING EXPERIENCE
With a starting lineup that features only two seniors, Max Soria and Wally Maziarz, along with three true freshman, the UB Bulls roster is loaded with young talent. The Bulls have 27 grapplers on their current 30-man roster that have two or less years of wrestling experience at UB under their belts. Sean Peacock (13-7), Justin Cooksey (6-8) and Brett Perry (6-9) have earned solid experience already as they are in UB's starting lineup. Jake Gunning has been a pleasant surprise so far as he has compiled 22 wins while Rocco Russo led all grapplers at the NYS Championships with four pins while earning eight wins so far on the year.
STUTZMAN'S SECOND YEAR SUCCESS
After a standout career on the mats in Alumni Arena, John Stutzman will begin a new era of Buffalo wrestling as its head coach. After eight seasons developing Bloomsburg into a national power, Stutzman begins season two at Buffalo. Stutzman has a great reputition for being a winner, earning double digit victories in six of eight seasons at Bloomsburg. In his second season at his previous school, Stutzman led the Huskies to a record of 12-9 while having multiple grapplers qualify for the NCAA tournament. UB has already surpassed their win total from season one under Stutzman as they now have four wins on the season.
ROOSA AND GRANT ADDED TO THE COACHING STAFF
Looking to add some more familiarity to his program, head coach John Stutzman added a pair of coaches for the 2014-15 season. Stutzman added Josh Roosa as an assistant coach and Justin Grant as a volunteer assistant. Roosa graduated in 2012 from Bloomsburg where he was a national qualifier while wrestling for Stutzman. Roosa will work with the Bulls lighter weight wrestlers. Grant joins after graduating last season from Bloomsburg where he also wrestled for Stutzman for three season. The two-time national championships qualifier will work with the heavyweights.
NEW YORK BULLS INITIATIVE (NYBI)
Entering its second year, the New York Bulls Initiative (#NYBI) continues to broaden the awareness of The State Univeristy of New York, Buffalo athletics in an effort to build America's next big time college athletics brand. Danny White, University at Buffalo Director of Athletics, joined by Pete Augustine, President of New Era, announced the launch of NYBI in 2013 and the formation of a volunteer Board of Advisors to provide strategic guidance to the Bulls Athletics leadership team. As a member of the elite Association of American Universities (AAU) and the largest public university in SUNY system, this initiative will position The State University of New York, Buffalo as the premier athletic department in the state. Bulls Athletics has seen immediate returns as they have announced several new exciting strategic media partnerships, including deals with ESPN3 to broadcast all basketball and football games and ESPN Radio 1520, 50,000 watt powerhouse. In addition, the athletics department continues to enhance the tailgate experience with a free concert series from major recording stars.
Competition begins Thursday at 9 a.m. from Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena. Action continues all day Thursday and Friday with the championship matches and medal rounds set for Friday at 7 p.m. Streaming video for every bout at the Southern Scuffle will be available through Flowrestling.org through their subscription-based FloPro package. Live scoring for all bouts will be available via Trackwrestling.com.
