The losses John Carroll could ill afford piled up early on, and the upper weights could not make up the difference as visiting Mount Union prevailed by a 31-13 score in an Ohio Athletic Conference bout held Tuesday at the Decarlo Varsity Center.

Former Blue Streak All-American Mark Hawald, now in his third year as the Mount Union head coach, earned his second consecutive win over his alma mater as the Purple Raiders won the first four bouts and never looked back.

The keys to the match were a pair of one point Mount Union wins at 125 and 141 that were sandwiched around a forfeit by JCU at 133. Riki Reynolds edged John Cobos, 5-4, in a 125-pounf bout that was decided by a point awarded to Reynolds when Cobos picked up a third caution on the restart at the beginning of the third period. Both wrestlers had a takedown and two escapes to their credit.

Down 9-0 after the six points the Purple Raiders received from the forfeit, John Carroll needed a win at 141, buta  first period takedown held up for Josh Malave as he got past Blue Streak freshman David Malkus, 3-2.

Senior Richie Clark delivered a blow to John Carroll's chances when he scored an 8-2 win at 149 pounds, picking up takedowns in each period to give the Purple Raiders a 16-0 advantage through four matches.

Connor Suba finally stemmed the tide with an impressive 17-0 technical fall over Kody Severino at 157 pounds in which he picked up more than half his points on near falls.

In a match with ominous overtones, the 165-pound bout ended with a 15-7 win for Mount Union's John Piechuta over Andrew Schafer, and a team misconduct point assessed to the JCU coaching staff for arguing a controversial call that could have helped Schafer close the deficit.

Mike Manypenny built a 6-1 lead but the match would end when Travis Hammer could not overcome a leg injury and defaulted the match at the 6:01 mark. The six points awarded gave Mount Union an insurmountable 25-4 lead.

John Carroll picked up a quick nine points when Ben Adams scored a 12-3 major decision at 184 pounds, and Jim Nemunaitis followed witha  16-1 technical fall at 197. But Derick Hesson put an exclamation point on the victory with a pin at 285.

Mount Union improves to 5-2 and 2-0 in the OAC, while John Carroll falls to 1-3 and 0-2 in league action.

125 - Reynolds (M) dec. Cobos, 5-4;  133 - Arnone (M) wins by forfeit;  141 - Malave (M) dec. Malkus, 3-2;  149 - Clark (M) dec. Gonzalez, 8-2;  157 - Suba (J) technical fall Severino, 17-0 (6:20);  165 - Piechuta (M) maj. dec. Schafer, 15-7;  174 - Manpenny (M) wins by inj, def over Hammer, 6:01;  184 - Adams (J) maj. dec. Jenkins, 12-3;  197 - Nemunaitis (J) tech, fall Hagen, 16-1 (6:37);  285 - Hesson (M) pinned Barker, 2:25