A pair of former John Carroll wrestlers, now coaching for the Mount Union Purple Raiders, came back to the Tony DeCarlo Varsity Center Tuesday night and came away with a hard fought 22-12 victory.
Trouble was, it came at the expense of the current John Carroll wrestling program.
Led by former JCU All-Americans Mark F. Hawald (head coach), Mark J. Hawald (assistant coach) and Rich Eslich (assistant coach but not in attendance this evening), the Purple Raiders -- ranked #16 in the latest Division III coaches poll -- kept their faint hopes alive of repeating as Ohio Athletic Conference regular season champions by winning six of the ten matches contested.
There were valiant efforts put forth by both sides.
Coming out of the gate strong with a rare opening match at 133 pounds, junior
Kevin Nycz earned a decision over Mount Union freshman Bryant Robyby a final of 11-4. Nycz used several take downs and amassed enough riding time to get the job done. This put the Blue Streaks ahead at the beginning of the match, but would be the last time John Carroll would own the advantage on the scoreboard for the remainder of the evening.
John Carroll freshman
Jake Rininger got overtaken by nationally ranked Josh Malave, who is currently ranked #9 at 141 for the Purple Raiders. Blue Streak junior
Greg Ryan also was defeated after a strong start to the match at 149.
Hopefully trying to turn the match around that John Carroll trailed 11-3, senior
Sean Gill held off John Piechuta at 165 pounds in what was the most competitive bout of the night. Gill, who began the year with 27 career victories, won his 21st match of theseason.
The momentum was short lived, as Mount Union wins at 174 and 184 put the visitors on top by an 18-6 score with just three matches remaining.
Jim Neumanitis gave JCU a glimmer of hope with a 12-5 win against Darin Lyles at 197.. The two had a number of long back-and-forth exchanges, but Neumanitis several third period takedowns to gain control of the match.
At 285 lbs,
Collin Vozar went the distance but lost to gentle giant Derick Hesson, who improved to 32-1 on the season.
The final match was a showdown between
John Cobos and Brad Kress at 125lbs. The two kept the crowd alive with a number of lead changes. Cobos used a decisive third period take down to propel himself to an 8-4 triumph.
John Carroll is now 2-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and 5-5 overall. Mount Union moves 2-1 in the OAC and 8-4.
Mount Union 22, John Carroll 12
133:
Kevin Nycz (JCU) dec. Bryant Roby (UMU), 11-4; 141: Josh Malave (UMU) maj. dec.
Jake Rininger (JCU), 17-7; 149: Kevin Shadrach (UMU) dec.
Greg Ryan (JCU), 7-2; 157: Jon Garrison (UMU) maj. dec.
Mauricio Gonzalez (JCU), 12-2; 165:
Sean Gill (JCU) dec. John Piechuta (UMU), 7-4; 174: Lambert McElrath (UMU) dec.
Connor Suba (JCU), 9-3; 184: Andy Jenkins (UMU) maj. dec.
Bryan Steinmetz (JCU), 18-8; 197:
Jim Nemunaitis (JCU) dec. Darin Lyles (UMU), 12-5; 285: Derick Hesson (UMU) maj. dec.
Collin Vozar (JCU), 17-6; 125:
John Cobos (JCU) dec. Brad Kress (UMU), 8-4
