Hopewell still the favorite, but CVC more up for grabs
Unlike the vast majority of the last 10 or so seasons when the Hopewell Valley wrestling team usually rolled through the Colonial Valley Conference and Mercer County Tournament with only minimal resistance, what’s going to happen this year isn’t nearly so clear.
It’s a three-team race this time around on both the MCT and CVC fronts and it all gets underway Wednesday night with Hopewell Valley traveling to Allentown. After that will come matches with Hopewell traveling to Robbinsville on Jan. 23 and Robbinsville hosting Allentown on Jan. 31.
Although Hopewell Valley is currently on a 23-match CVC winning streak — the last loss was to Robbinsville in 2016 — and it remains in the favored role at this moment against both of those teams, it isn’t by much.
And the reason is because although Mario Harpel’s Bulldogs still have some obvious strengths and remain solid when it comes to not giving up bonus, Hopewell does have more holes than usual.
As such, it’s going to be very interesting to see what transpires this week against Allentown in a match that is difficult to predict for a couple of reasons.
For openers, Allentown’s lineup has been fluid all year with the Redbirds rarely — if ever — having all their projected starters available at the same time. One would assume Allentown would have all available hands on deck for Hopewell, but who really knows if they are all ready to go.
Furthermore, it’s a little bit difficult to assume how the teams will line up. There are some obvious match-ups both teams are hoping for, but a surprise or two could easily be in the works. As such, the flip could prove to be big and it all could come down to a swing bout in the middle.
No matter what happens Wednesday, the battle for CVC dual match bragging rights will be far from over because Robbinsville should also give these teams all they can handle.
In addition to a couple of quality lightweights, Robbinsville has the best mid- dle in Mercer with Brent Grocott, Blair transfer Tyler William, Jack Milazzo and state-ranked Garrett Bilgrav. For the first time in a while the Ravens also have all the upperweights filled, an area where neither Hopewell Valley nor Allentown are at their best.
With the MCT now just a couple of weeks ago, adding to the intrigue is the fact Robbinsville may very well have the most first-place potential and Hopewell Valley can no longer count on scoring points in nearly every weight.
DUAL MATCHES
Robbinsville 71, Hamilton 0
220: Eric Hill (ROBB) over (HAWE) (For.) 285: Mateo Cruz (ROBB) over TAHIR CLARK (HAWE) (Fall 3:52) 106: Shailen Savur (ROBB) over (HAWE) (For.) 113: Drake Torrington (ROBB) over Silvio Aparicio (HAWE) (Fall 4:47) 120: Jeremy Murray (ROBB) over (HAWE) (For.) 126: Isaiah Gonzalez (ROBB) over Colin Mallery (HAWE) (Fall 1:20) 132: Vincent Truong (ROBB) over Andrew Nixon (HAWE) (Fall 5:25) 138: Cameron Witt (ROBB) over (HAWE) (For.) 145: Tyler William (ROBB) over Ryan Bennett (HAWE) (TF 17-2 4:00) 152: Jack Milazzo (ROBB) over Peter Meehan (HAWE) (Fall 4:33) 160: Double Forfeit 170: Garrett Bilgrav (ROBB) over Ashombre Ortiz (HAWE) (Fall 0:34) 182: Double Forfeit 195: Brian Nodine (ROBB) over (HAWE) (For.)