By Tim Glon
Sophomore Cody Lovejoy posted a second-period pin in the final bout of the night to help No. 18-ranked Ohio Northern to a 21-17 victory over No. 30-ranked Mount Union in a battle of Ohio Athletic Conference wrestling unbeatens Tuesday evening at the ONU Sports Center.
The Polar Bears improve to 14-2 and remain undefeated and in first place in the OAC at 3-0, while the Purple Raiders fall to 6-3, 2-1.
Lovejoy got his team-best 16th pin of the season in 4:51 in the heavyweight class as ONU rallied from a 17-12 deficit to win its 13th consecutive OAC regular season dual match.
He was nearly pinned in the first period and trailed 5-0 early, but rallied with a reversal to pull within 5-2 after the first period. On top entering the second, he turned Nick Terifaj and got the pin with 1:09 left in the period.
Trailing 14-6, senior defending national champion, three-time All-American and No. 1-ranked Kyle Kwiat posted a pin in 2:43 in the 174-pound weight class to pull ONU within 14-12.
Kwiat is now a team-best 28-3 on the season.
Junior Jerry Pasquale got ONU off to a quick start, winning by a 12-7 decision at 125 pounds to improve to 21-7 on the season.
After MtU won major decisions at 133 and 141 to take an 8-3 lead, sophomore J.P. Hoopes won by a 7-1 decision at 149 to pull ONU within 8-6.
With the victory, Hoopes is now 11-4 on the campaign.
"Cody did a great job of staying with it," ONU head coach Ron Beaschler said. "He kept battling, kept wrestling and it paid off. I thought Kwiat and Hoopes wrestled with a lot of heart. This was a big win for us in the OAC."
At 197, junior Michael Pawlitz jumped out to a quick lead and held on for a 7-6 win, setting up Lovejoy's heroics. Pawlitz improves to 24-5 on the year.
The Polar Bears will return to action Friday and Saturday at the Wheaton (Ill.) Invitational.
