ANNANDALE — It was a vintage performance by a special kind of wrestling program.
In the battle for No. 1 in The Trentonian’s Area Ratings, Delaware Valley (11-0) was on fire Tuesday night and the result was a resounding 41-27 road victory in front of a big crowd at North Hunterdon.
A milestone was also reached with the impressive triumph because the Fitz family now has 600 career wins as current coach Andy Fitz raised his victory total to 316 to go along with the 284 wins previously recorded by his father Vince Fitz.
What’s more, Delaware Valley did this by using its trademark strength of taking it to the opposition from the top position. North Hunterdon won the takedown battle, 31-17, but it didn’t matter as DelVal recorded five pins while the best North Hunterdon could muster was four technical falls.
“It’s not something we necessarily work on, but we were dominant on top,” said an elated Andy Fitz. “I was really happy with the way the whole team wrestled. Even in some of those bouts we lost our guys did not get pinned.”
In a match that started in a great spot for DelVal at 120 pounds where Tristan Fawthrop pinned in the first period with a cradle, North Hunterdon moved out to a 14-6 after four bouts.
North Hunterdon won the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament over the weekend in which DelVal finished third, but the Lions had no answer for Delval in the next seven weights. As a result, this one was over early as DelVal built a 41-14 lead with three bouts to go.
A key moment occurred in the 157-pound bout that was scoreless after the first period. Seemingly from out of nowhere, DelVal’s Hunter Taffera slipped in a deep half and stuck his opponent in 3:32.
After a major by Marcus Gary at 165, DelVal then got three straight pins by Olivier Paul (175), Matthew Sencher (190) and Luke Cyphert (215), Sencher’s pin with a cradle came at the 3:58 mark and resulted him being named his team’s Outstanding Wrestler, which is an award named in honor of former Delval wrestler Dan Hutchins. (Kieran Raley (138 pounds) was named the “O.W.” for North Hunterdon).
“I knew if I got the cradle I could get the pin,” said Sencher. “I really wanted it (the pin) because it kept our momentum going.”
And how as Cyphert followed with a fall in 1:40 to make it three DelVal falls in the first period. The other two were by Fawthrop and Paul for a team that has now clearly established itself among this year’s elite public school teams in the state. Next up for DelVal is a big match at Phillipsburg Friday night,.
Interestingly, DelVal’s victory over North Hunterdon marked the the third time in the last four years Delaware Valley has beaten the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament champion in a dual match.
Delaware Valley (11-0) 41, North Hunterdon (4-7) 27
120: Tristan Fawthrop (DVR) over Dan Snyder (NOHU) (Fall 0:51); 126: Reid Buzby (NOHU) over Tanner Donaruma (DVR) (MD 16-4)132: Aidan Yarussi (NOHU) over Julian Bednar (DVR) (TF 0-0 0:00); 138: Kieran Raley (NOHU) over Tye Falkenstein (DVR) (TF 19-4 0:00)144: Michael Hasson (DVR) over Matthew Esposito (NOHU) (MD 15-6); 150: Sebastian Dobak (DVR) over Ian English (NOHU) (Dec 10-4)157: Hunter Taffera (DVR) over Luke Charbonneau (NOHU) (Fall 3:32); 165: Marcus Gary (DVR) over Sebastian Santos (NOHU) (MD 13-4)175: Olivier Paul (DVR) over Nicholas Romaniello (NOHU) (Fall 1:00); 190: Matthew Sencher (DVR) over Owen Dandeo (NOHU) (Fall 3:58)215: Luke Cyphert (DVR) over Dajinder Dhillon (NOHU) (Fall 1:40); 285: Anthony DeSimone (NOHU) over Luken Alberdi (DVR) (Dec 4-1)106: Cayden Wadle (NOHU) over Vincent Rainey (DVR) (TF 21-5 0:00); 113: Owen Fol (NOHU) over Jaxon Bingert (DVR) (TF 19-4 0:00)
