The anticipated showdown between the top two teams in Mercer County this season, Hopewell Valley and Hightstown, is only a week away now. This past week, both the Bulldogs and the Rams stayed on track for that battle as Hopewell Valley went 4-1 and Hightstown was 3-1.
Top performances
Hopewell, now 10-3, won two out of three at a Saturday quad. The Bulldogs defeated Lyndhurst 45-27 and Roxbury 42-24 and lost to Emerson Boro 37-33. Later in the week Hopewell picked up lopsided wins over a pair of conference foes, defeating Hamilton 64-10 and Steinert 72-9.
The Bulldogs came up one bout short in the loss to Emerson, winning six bouts. Emerson forfeited two weights to Hopewell, 182 and 285 and the Bulldogs picked up three pins from Jacob Venezia at 113, Brian Zeglarski at 152 and Christian Cacciabaudo at 220 as well as a 9-4 decision by Ben Shevlin at 160.
For one of the few times this year Hopewell was unable to run the table up top as Emerson's Cassey Allen had just enough to hold off Brian LaCross 7-5 at 195.
Hightstown also won two of three at its Saturday quad, defeating Spotswood 47-24 and conference opponent Princeton 57-20 but dropping a 35-31 verdict to Middletown South.
Unlike Hopewell, which came close in a key swing bout in its loss to Emerson, the Rams were likely a wrestler short. They won six bouts but didn't threaten in the remaining eight. A forfeit and pins by 285 pounder Brenden Hansen, Chris Stavrou at 195 and Nico Leaver at 160 got Hightstown close as did a 12-4 major decision by Alex Stavrou at 170 and Kether Thornton's 13-7 decision over South's Michael Holland.
Hightstown upped its record to 11-2 with a 60-12 win over Trenton Wednesday night.
While the year's most awaited CVC match is still a week away, the biggest match of last week was between Allentown and Robbinsville. While these two teams are still among the top five teams in Mercer County, in recent years they have represented the top two challengers to Hopewell Valley's Mercer supremacy. Their match Wednesday night reflected that rivalry.
Allentown defeated Robbinsville 38-37 in a match that was determined by the slimmest of margins, the six point swing at heavyweight when the Redbirds' Jacob VanDenBogart defeated Mateo Cruz 4-3. In a sign of the times in Mercer wrestling, there were five forfeits in the match as Robbinsville forfeited all the weights from 170 to 220 and Allentown forfeited the final bout at 132 to Drake Torrington after choosing to have Joe Lamparelli clinch the match with a technical fall at 126.
The match had a big time atmosphere as the Ravens set up a more intimate arena style layout in their auxiliary gym and Allentown coach Marc Cuniglio admitted afterward that he was happy to leave Robbinsville with a win. That's something few CVC teams have done in recent years.
For his part, Robbinsvile coach Sean Flynn recognized the effort that some of his younger wrestlers made to the near miss against the Redbirds. Freshmen Cole Cifrodelli (145) and RJ Stradling (160) and sophomore Michael Manieri (113) all got pins in what were considered toss up matches. Although the Ravens needed five team points to win the match, sophomore Aiden Weil was still able to move up a weight to earn a 7-2 decision over Allentown's Vincent Datello at 120.
While Nottingham isn't in the hunt to claim a divisional title or likely to challenge as a team at the Mercer County Tournament on Feb. 1, the Northstars flexed their muscles last week, picking up three conference wins in impressive fashion.
Last Saturday the Swamp Rats defeated Notre Dame 66-15 and blanked West Windsor-Plainsboro South 81-0. They followed those two wins up with a 52-26 win over Princeton on Wednesday. That moved Nottingham over the .500 mark with a record of 4-3 and it seems like Jason Morasco has his Northstars buying in to his aggressive, no holds barred approach.
Against Notre Dame, in a match that was considered a pick-'em going in, Nottingham collected three forfeits and got eight pins from Dennis Palencia (113), David Aboauso (132), Angel Romero (138), Anthony Mordoh (152), Kwanir Edwards (160), Manueal Roman (170), Dorian Henry (182) and Jonathan Jupiter (220).
A look ahead
Saturday, Jan. 18: Notre Dame at Princeton Quad, 10 a.m. The Irish will attempt to regroup from a tough week against a resurgent Princeton program.
Tuesday, Jan. 21: Trenton at Nottingham, 5:30 p.m. The Tornadoes invade the swamp for a battle between two physical teams.
Wednesday, Jan. 22: Robbinsville at Lawrence, 6:30 p.m. Both teams have had lineup problems but sparks should fly in a feature CVC match.
Wednesday, Jan. 22: Hopewell Valley at Allentown, 6 p.m. Jacob Venezia versus Joe Lamparelli. It could happen.
Wrestler of the Week
Hopewell Valley Joacob Venezia has been truly tested infrequently in his matches this season. An anticipated December meeting with Northern Burlington's talented 113 pounder Garrett Totten never happened when both wrestlers missed weight. And he split another pair of challenging bouts when he defeated Monroe's Nick Stump 3-2 in the CBA Colt Classic and lost to Toms River North's Ryan Rosenthal, who was a single win from placing at last year's state tournament, 12-4.
Otherwise, Venezia has run the table and last week he improved his record to 14-1 with five more victories in Hopewell Valley wins over Roxbury, Lyndhurst, Hamilton and Steinert and a loss to Emerson Boro.
Venezia accepted a forfeit in the 72-9 win over Steinert but he made short work of his opponents the rest of the week, recording four pins, three of them in the first period. Only Franco Mazza of Roxbury could last longer than two minutes, losing to Venezia by pin in 2:25. His two other pins took less time combined as he planted Lyndhurst's Grayson Jurado in 1:03 and Hamilton's Ryan Burness in just 16 seconds.
Venezia was a District 19 champion and state qualifier, who went 37-8 last season. His next big test may well come this Wednesday, if things work out, against Allentown's two time region champion, Joe Lamparelli.
Team of the Week
For Allentown it has been a bit of a tough slog through the first half of the season as the Redbirds faced a series of lineup challengers. One projected starter transferred and was gone before the season started and senior 145 pounder Gino Giacolono was lost for the year due to injury. On top of that, heavyweight Jacob VanDenBogart, who missed some matches due to a holiday vacation, had to sit out several matches due to Allentown's own internal rules.
Still, Allentown was able to go 4-0 last week. It swept a trio of matches on Saturday against Steinert 60-17, West Windsor-Plainsboro North 46-36 and Hamilton 52-27. Allentown faced a tough test against the 5-4 Hornets, who seemed primed to take advantage of the holes in the Redbird lineup. But Allentown got three straight pins in the upper weights from Paskal Miga at 182, Walter Diebel at 195, and Daniel Schweitzer at 220. And Nick Golden preceded those three pins by handing Hamilton's Ryan Bennett only his second loss of the season with a 13-1 major decision at 170.
One match later VanDen Bogart was back in the lineup and not a minute too soon. His 4-3 win over Robbinsville's Mateo Cruz in a crucial toss up bout at 285 provided the margin of victory in Allentown's 38-37 conference win over the Ravens.
Individual Rankings
106
1. Shailen Savur (Robbinsville) 11-1
2. Ty Greenberg (Montgomery) 9-5
3. Nick Ricigliano (Steinert) 11-3
113
1. Joe Lamparelli (Allentown) 19-0
2. Garrett Totten (Northern Burlington) 11-0
3. Christian Micikas (Hopewell Valley) 9-5
120
1. Jacob Venezia (Hopewell Valley) 13-1
2. Colm Ermi (Bordentown) 12-3
3. Blake Geibel (Northern Burlington) 11-1
126
1. Drake Torrington (Robbinsville) 14-0
2. Gio Morina (Hightstown) 10-4
3. Alex Samayoa (Ewing) 7-7
132
1. Kether Thornton (Hightstown) 15-0
2. Chris Sockler (Princeton) 9-6
3. David Geibel (Northern Burlington) 7-3
138
1. Reece Schenck (Lawrence) 12-6
2. Mason Louderback (Notre Dame) 10-4
3. Aaron Mumford (Princeton) 12-3
145
1. Careem Frost (Lawrence) 7-1
2. Dominic Riendeau-Krause (Princeton) 8-7
3. Alejandro Lopez (Hopewell Valley) 8-9
152
1. Matt Paglia (Allentown) 16-2
2. James Romaine (Princeton) 4-3
3. Alex Reyes (Northern Burlington) 6-5
160
1. Nick Golden (Allentown) 17-1
2. Alex Stavrou (Hightstown) 14-1
3. Jake Dallarda (Lawrence) 15-1
170
1. Ryan Bennett (Hamilton) 12-2
2. Nico Leaver (Hightstown) 11-5
3. Tom Zovich (WW-P North) 10-5
182
1. Connor Verga (Lawrence) 14-3
2. Josh Beigman (Hopewell Valley) 16-2
3. Alex Ipeker (Montgomery) 12-3
195
1. Brian LaCross (Hopewell Valley) 14-4
2. Tim Glynn (WW-P North) 12-3
3. Chris Stavrou (16-0)
220
1. Bryan Bonilla (Hightstown) 16-0
2. Christian Cacciabaudo (Hopewell Valley) 12-4
3. Patrick Evanko (Northern Burlington) 7-3
285
Brenden Hansen (Hightstown) 16-0
Matt Moore (WW-P North) 10-4
Mooamen Nasr (Lawrence) 11-4