Hopewell Valley wrestling sees off Robbinsville to win 16th CVC division title in 18 years
Jan 21, 2025
HOPEWELL TWP. — When Robbinsville pulled off a bit of a surprise by pinning in the third bout at 190 pounds and then took the lead at 215, there was the brief thought there just might be an opening for the Ravens to make a run at Hopewell Valley on Tuesday night in the battle for the Colonial Valley Conference Valley Division wrestling championship.
Forget about it because it was here where first a freshman and then a senior slammed the door on the Ravens with pins to propel Hopewell Valley to a comfortable 42-22 victory, its 16the league championship in 18 years and its 41st straight victory against CVC opponents.
After starting fast on a major decision by Jett Branagh at 165, Hopewell Valley made the decision to bump up its lineup. All seemed well when Scott Mangan pinned at 175, but then Robbinsville’s Anthony Inverso recorded a fall after giving up the first takedown to Ethan Barker at 190.
Next up for Hopewell was Ethan’s little brother Gavin, who also fell in a 3-0 hole before the freshman twice put his opponent on his back and then finished him off at the 3:49 mark to end any Robbinsville momentum.
This led to Hopewell Valley’s Jon Trainor storming on the mat and aggressively taking care of business as the team’s normal 215 pounder flattened Dominic Cataldo in 3:27. Although there were still nine bouts to go, Hopewell now had a 22-6 lead and this match was basically already history.
“We didn’t plan that, but it just kind of lined up that way,” said Hopewell coach Mario Harpel of his decision to bump up three upperweights.
In addition to putting his team in control in terms of the team score, Trainor also had the satisfaction of beating Cataldo for the third straight time after losing to him three years ago.
In their first match three years ago, Cataldo won in triple overtime and Robbinsville won the match on criteria in what was the last CVC loss for Hopewell Valley.
“It was nice to beat him after what happened three years ago, but I thought all of our wins tonight were big,” said Trainor.
There were plenty of other Hopewell wrestlers delivering the goods as well.
Said Jan Rahmani held Robbinville’s Vincent Grippa to a regular decision at 106, Thomas Davila won by the score of 4-0 at 120 pounds and Dean Meissner dominated the second half of 113-pound bout to top Lucas Messinger, 6-2. Meisser took control with a Peterson Roll that resulted in a four-point near fall.
In addition, Dylan Hersch won by technical fall at 126 and red-hot Luke Caldwell pinned at 138. Caldwell will be shooting for a Colonial Valley Conference gold medal this weekend at Robbinsville after finishing second the previous three years.
“I’m excited for this weekend,” said Trainor. “I think we might have lost our focus a little bit lately, but our whole team is looking forward to it.”
Should it win, it will mark Hopewell’s 15th county tournament title in 17 years..
Hopewell Valley (15-1) 44, Robbinsville (12-7) 22
165: Jett Branagh (HVH) over Taylor Adams (ROBB) (MD 18-5) 175: Scott Mangan (HVH) over Kyle Dan (ROBB) (Fall 2:51) 190: Anthony Inverso (ROBB) over Ethan Barker (HVH) (Fall 5:36) 215: Gavin Barker (HVH) over Tony Migliaccio (ROBB) (Fall 3:49) 285: Jon Trainor (HVH) over Dominic Cataldo (ROBB) (Fall 3:27); 106: Vincent Grippa (ROBB) over Said Jan Rahmani (HVH) (MD 15-6) 113: Dean Meissner (HVH) over Lucas Messinger (ROBB) (Dec 6-2) 120: Thomas Davila (HVH) over Alexander Viscido (ROBB) (Dec 4-0) 126: Dylan Hersh (HVH) over Michael Panzer (ROBB) (TF 17-2 3:24) 132: Ethan Neagle (ROBB) over Sebastian Soto (HVH) (Dec 8-3) 138: Luke Caldwell (HVH) over Justin Cecil (ROBB) (Fall 1:26) 144: Andrew O`Reilly (ROBB) over Max Lawruszkiewicz (HVH) (TF 15-0 4:00) 150: Alex Messinger (ROBB) over Max Pollara (HVH) (MD 12-0) 157: Konrad Haugeto (HVH) over Tyler Shane (ROBB) (Dec 10-4).