Hopewell secures victory over Allentown in final bout
ALLENTOWN » In the end it played out pretty much as was predicted earlier in the week.
The Hopewell Valley wrestling team has now won 24 matches in a row in the Colonial Valley Conference, but its margin for error is among the smallest it has been in a decade.
In the type of match unfortunately rarely seen on the upper level of the CVC, Hopewell Valley just held off Allentown by the score of 31-24 Wednesday night.
There were a lot of pivotal moments in this match, but in the end it came down to the last bout at 145 pounds with Hopewell Valley nursing a 28-24 lead.
Needing a major to send it to criteria, Allentown’s Drew Romein came out strong and took the early lead against Justin Venezia with a first-period take down. But as it became apparent there was not going to be any kind of bonus between the two evenlymatched wrestlers, Venezia started to carry the action as the bout went along.
The result was Venezia was able to record a takedown and backpoints in the final 15 seconds to post a 7-3 win and provide the final seven-point victory.
“Not to get pinned,” replied Venezia with a smile when asked what Hopewell coach Mario Harpel told him before the bout. “He (Romein) is a good wrestler, but I think I wanted it more. We knew Allentown would is very good, but we were able to get it done as a team.”
Although it’s impossible to say how it would have played out, in hindsight Allentown (11-8) might have been better off sending Liam McDermott out at 170 instead of 182. McDermott pinned in his bout to counter the major Tyler Sobel posted at 170, but it allowed Hopewell to bump up in the upperweights.
As a result, the Bulldogs were able to send Tim Coleman out at heavyweight instead of 220. Coleman lost by the score of 1-0 to Harrison Hill, but the fact it was only a three-pointer was big.
Dropping down to 106, Hopewell freshman Jacob Venezia then posted a 10-3 victory when a last-second reversal by Sebastiano Nini avoided a major. This lost point for the Bulldogs almost proved to be critical until Hopewell’s Aaron Longo was able to avoid giving up a tech fall or worse in a 13-2 loss to Matt Paglia at 130 pounds.
That set up the last bout with Justin Venezia knowing his team had four-point cushion.
Another key effort for Hopewell was turned in by Christian Micikas, He’s a 106-pounder, but he posted a crucial 6-0 victory at 113 pounds in a bout in which he dominated from top.
In the feature bout of the match between two of the top wrestlers in the entire county. Allentown’s Joe Lamparelli then recorded a takedown in the final seconds to nip Chris Lanciano, 3-1 at 120 pounds. The victory left Allentown still in the hunt, but Heath Trainor’s win at 126 left Hopewell up by 13 points and in the driver’s seat with three bouts to go.
“Allentown looked good; this was good for county wrestling,” said Harpel. Stay tuned.
In order to record yet another undefeated season in the CVC, Hopewell (134) must now get past Robbinsville Tuesday night. On paper, Hopewell appears to not match up with the Ravens all that great, so you can expect more dual fireworks again next week before the county tournament.
Hopewell Valley 31, Allentown 24
152: Amos Barnes (HVH) over Isaiah Saiz (ALLE) (Dec 6-0) 160: Nolan Pecci (ALLE) over Ray Lauricella (HVH) (Dec 4-3) 170: Tyler Sobel (HVH) over Paskal Miga (ALLE) (MD 13-4) 182: Liam McDermott (ALLE) over Brian LaCross (HVH) (Fall 0:35) 195: Maxwell Ronollo (HVH) over Jared Carpenito (ALLE) (Fall 1:36) 220: Ben Markulec (HVH) over (ALLE) (For.) 285: Harrison Hill (ALLE) over Tim Coleman (HVH) (Dec 1-0) 106: Jacob Venezia (HVH) over Sebastiano Nini (ALLE) (Dec 10-3) 113: Christian Micikas (HVH) over Kolin O`Grady (ALLE) (Dec 6-1) 120: Joseph Lamparelli (ALLE) over Chris Lanciano (HVH) (Dec 3-1) 126: Heath Trainor (HVH) over Kevin Marks (ALLE) (Dec 8-2) 132: Nicholas Golden (ALLE) over Daniel Amon (HVH) (TF 16-1 6:00) 138: Mattew Paglia (ALLE) over Aaron Longo (HVH) (MD 13-2) 145: Justin Venezia (HVH) over Drew Romein (ALLE) (Dec 7-3)