It’s a very familiar outlook for Mercer County wrestling in general and the Colonial Valley Conference’s Valley Division in particular as the teams prepare to get the action underway at the end of the week. As usual, Hopewell Valley leads the way after capturing its 16th league title in the past 18 years and its 15th Mercer County Tournament (now called the CVC Tournament) in the past 17 seasons. With a solid cast of returning starters, Hopewell enters the season riding a 42-match winning streak against Colonial Valley Conference competition (its last CVC loss was on criteria against Robbinsville in 2022). The team that has the best chance to end Hopewell’s latest winning streak is Robbinsville. The Ravens are clearly at least the second best team in the league and will be a major force at the CVC Tournament. ALLENTOWN Coach: Bruce Allen. Last year: (14-6), C.J. Group III qualifier, No. 10 ranking in the area. 106-Dominic Baldino (Fr.), Weston DuBrul (So.), Liam Gallagher (Fr.), Hamza Voglic (Fr.) 120-Vincenzo Baldino (Fr.),  Ariel Garcia (So.), Giuseppe Ruela (So.) 126-Aiden Deal (So.), Dustin Wilson (So.) 132-Evan D’Andrea (So.), Justin Nguyen (Sr.) 138-Mike Walukiewicz (Fr.), Adley Angelidi (Jr.), Christopher Creighton (So.), Anderson DuBrul (Sr.), Tamas Hilsberg (Sr.), Ben Mojta (So.) 144-Chisom Ezennia (Fr.), Matteo Frisina (Jr.) 157-Mikah Gallagher (So.),  Kaiden Krupinski (Fr.), Jordan Rey (Sr.) 165-Christian May (Sr.), Stephen Moore (Jr.), Michael Malfettano (So.) 175-Nate Geddis (Sr.), David Schneider (So.), Christopher Doyle (So.) 190-Nate Schnedier (So.), Chase Toporek (So.) 215-Michalel Kavula (Sr.) Hvy-Nicholas Laquara (Sr.), Mason Leon (So.), Abe Rabah (Jr.) Strengths: The Redbirds have a large group of underclassmen in the room who have potential to contribute. Anderson DuBrul was 26-13 and third in his district. Geddis was 24-9 and also a region qualifier. Rey and Moore were in double digits for wins. Outlook: Allentown got hammered by graduation, including six wrestlers who had over 20 wins. Its inexperience will show, but the team has enough talent to win its share of matches and improve as the season progresses. EWING Coach: Dennis Zedalis. Last season: (4-21). 106-Makai Hill (So.) 113-Bryce Wittkop (Jr.) 120-Joshua Grose(Jr.) 126-Gibril Huq (So.) 132-Romaninsky Nicolas (Jr.) 138-Joey Lichtmann (Fr.) 144-Tyler Sandyck (Sr.) 150-Amos Horton (So.) 157-Chris Reeves (So.) 157/165-Elijah Savage (Jr.) 165-Aahan Hossain (Jr.) 175-Danny Umana De La Rosa (Jr.) 190-Aden Vega (Jr.) 215-Luke Weigle (Sr.) Hvy-Cephus Horton (Sr.) Strengths: Lichtmann and Horton are looking good and have the potential to be impact wrestlers. Wittkop and Horton were in double digits last year for wins. Weigel will hold his own after going 9-9. There are several other returning starters and it looks like there’s a little more depth. Outlook: Ewing will struggle against quality teams but should be improved. Another bright spot is the Blue Devils’ girls program is booming with a bunch of wrestlers who have already experienced success. HAMILTON Coach: Gerardo Belviso. Last year: (9-14). 106-James Russo (Fr.) 126-Alan Sanchez (Sr.) 132-Darius Arientil (So.) 138-Jacob Jimenez (Jr.) 144-Carmine Todaro (So.) 150-Johan Sanchez (Jr.) 157-Daniel Figueroa (Sr.) 165-Emerson De Pena Velez (Jr.) 175-Carlos Rueda (Sr.) 190-Cristian Eagleton (Jr.) 215-Matthew Brescio (Sr.) Hvy-Alan Perez (Jr.) Strengths: Russo is a promising freshman 106-pounder. Figueroa (25-7 last year) is a two-time region qualifier and Eagleton was 17-14. Outlook: The Hornets have shown gradual improvement of late, but they graduated a bunch of productive wrestlers who will be difficult to replace. If things come together quickly, a .500-type season could result. Look for good things for its strong girls program as well. HOPEWELL VALLEY Coach: Mario Harpel. Last year: (24-5), CVC Valley Division champion, CVC Tournament champion, Central Jersey Group III finalist, No. 3 ranking in the area. 106–Jan Rahmani (Jr.) 113–Ali Rahmani (Jr.) 120–Thomas Davilla (Sr.), Luca Schiavon (Fr.) 126–Parker Humphrey (Fr.) 132–Sebastian Soto (Jr.), Dylan Somma (So.) 138–Dylan Hersh (Sr.), Oliver Hauck (So.) 144–Isaac Miller (Sr.), Jace Kalina (Sr.) 150–Tyler Ansari (Jr.), Louis Decibus (Sr.) 157–Max Pollara (Sr.), Luke Mutschler (Jr.) 165–Ethan Valenza (Jr.), Gavin Seibold (Sr.) 175–Ethan Barker (Sr.), Preston Horvath (So.) 190–Scott Mangan (Jr.), Ben Franco (So.) 215–Gavin Barker (So.), David Johnson (Jr.) Hvy-Ken Pineda (Sr.) Strengths: Starting with the lower weights, Davilla was 23-17 and third at district. Hersh was 34-8, a region qualifier and enters the season with 90 career wins. He was also a CVC Tourney champion. The middleweights will be formidable as well. Miller was injured for much of last season but posted an 11-6 record. Pollara was 22-7. The Barkers are both capable upperweights. Ethan Barker was 31-8 and a region qualifier. Gavin Barker won 23 bouts. The Hopewell JV team was strong a year ago and there are newcomers ready to step right and make their mark. Outlook: Hopewell Valley is favored to repeat as both a league and CVC Tournament champion. Because defending C.J. III champion Brick Memorial lost a lot to graduation, winning a first ever sectional title is a possibility. LAWRENCE Coach: Chris Lynne. Last year: (18-10). 106-Sara Siva (Sr.) 113-Andrew Farmer (Sr.) 120-Mazin Shuja (Sr.) 126-Edwin Urias (Sr.) 132-Luke McFarland (Jr.) 138-Steven Ham (Sr.) 145-Justin Ciemis (Sr.) 150-Josh Jordan (Sr.) 157-Elliot Weeks (Jr.) 165-Malik Montgomery (So.) 175-Vinnie Zimmaro (Jr.) 190-James Lyons (Jr.) 215-Ali Ebraham (So.) Hvy-Zane Spencer (Sr.) Strengths: Ham is easily one of the top wrestlers in the county. A year ago he was 35-9, a district champion and a state qualifier after a third at regions. Siva missed most of last year with an injury, but still managed to advance to regions when he returned. Ciemis was 10-4 and Urias was 16-10. Lawrence will be tough in the upperweights with Lyons (29-10), Ebrahim (11-12) and Spencer (13-4). The team has 58 boys in the program to go along with 18 girls. Outlook: Winning 18 matches again will be a challenge, but another successful season is in the works. It will be also be a historical season. Lawrence needs just five wins to reach the 500 mark in the history of its program. Lynne. who is the all-time winningest coach in Mercer history, needs just three victories to reach 400. NOTTINGHAM Coach: Marc Jordine. Last year: (8-22). 120-Jude Wolak (So.) 126-Jeremy Pruitt (Jr.). Christian Morolda (Jr.) 132-Lincoln Samonski (Sr.) 138-Kurt Falzini (So.) 144-Andrew (Fr.), CJ Manning (Sr.) 150-Elion Mejia (Jr.) 157-Andy Martinez (Jr.) 165-Austin Kaye (Jr.) 175-Alberto Giron (Jr.) 190-Emilio Roman (So.) 215-Osmar Garcia (Fr.) Hvy-Malcom Louissaint (Jr.) Strengths: The lightweights will be anchored by Samonski, who was 32-7 a year ago and a district finalist. Louissant will be one of the top heavyweights in the county after going 26-11 and advancing to regions. Wolak (9-10), Morolda (11 wins) and Falzini (16-16) are among the returning wrestlers. Outlook: Although it hopes to fill these spots when the hydration plan allows them to go down, Nottingham will start the season forfeiting the first two weights. One thing with the Swamprats is you know they will come to scrap. If some of the newcomers can be in the .500 range, the team should up last year’s win total. ROBBINSVILLE Coach: Dan Hughes. Last year: (17-10), C.J. III sectional qualifier, No. 9 ranking in the area. 106-Alex Viscido (Jr), Pierce Cicero (So.) 113-Lucien Amato (So.) 120-Vincent Grippa (Jr.) 126-Lucas Messinger (Jr.) 132-Mikey Panzer (Jr.) 138-Ethan Neagle (Jr.) 144-Colin Yuncza (So.) 150-Luca Cannuli (So.), Daniel Dechnik (So.) 157-So. Jude Cohen (So.), Logan Barrios Robles (Jr.) 165-Taylor Adams (Sr.) 175-Tyler Shane (Jr.), Matt McRoberts (So.) 190-Tony Migliaccio (Sr.) 215-Anthony Inverso (Sr.) Hvy-Nicco Cuevas-Gould (Sr.) Strengths: The Ravens are very solid in the lower weights. Viscido was 22-5. Grippa went 34-4, was first at the CVC Tournament, second at districts and has 63 career wins. Messinger (25-13) also won a CVC Tourney title and was second at districts. He finished sixth in his region. Panzer was 24-19 and fifth at regions after taking a second at districts. Neagle (eight wins), Adams (19-16), Shane, Migliaccio (nine wins) and Inverso (18 wins) are other returning starters. Shane was 27-16, second at districts and fifth at regions. Outlook: If some of the newcomers can wrestle at least .500, watch out. The team is capable of making a run at Hopewell Valley and a sectional berth will be no problem. Another real plus is the Ravens are still relatively young with no seniors in the first nine weights. As such, next year should be even better. ...read more read less