HOPEWELL TWP. — The powerhouse Delaware Valley High School wrestling team appears to be right where it wants to be in pursuit of a fourth Group 1 state championship in five years.

Ranked fourth in The Trentonian’s Public School state rankings, Delaware Valley upped its record to 17-0 on Friday night when it beat Hopewell Valley, 61-12, in the so-called “Dawg Brawl in the Valley.”

The fact DelVal won easily was, of course, no surprise. What was a positive was the way it got the job done, particularly from 175 through 215 against three of Hopewell Valley’s better wrestlers.

“I felt really good about how we wrestled tonight,” said Delaware Valley coach Andy Fitz after his team handed Hopewell just its second loss of the year. “We  were (recently) off the mats for a week, but we are really rolling again.  We want to be our best in February and March. We wrestled very well against a well-coached team tonight. I was really happy with some of those results in the upper weights.”

Hopewell Valley held its own in the early going when Luca Schiavon had a nice 5-2 win at 120, Parker Humphrey prevailed, 4-3, at 126 and Dylan Hersh pinned at 138.

The problem for Hopewell was DelVal is stacked in the middle and four straight pins quickly gave the Hunterdon County team a 39-12 lead.

One of the best bouts of the night followed at 175 where Hopewell Valley’s Ethan Barker hit a Peterson Roll and led Olivier Paul, 7-6, after one period. From there, however, Paul wisely elected to wrestle mostly on his feet and the result was takedown clinic en route to a 20-10 major.

Hopewell Valley 190-pounder Scott Mangan has a record of 23-2, but he proved to be no match on this night for Matthew Sencher. The result was a Sencher pin in 1:31 with a cradle as the lead ballooned to 49-12.

DelVal’s Luke Cyphert then hammered home another victory when he pinned Gavin Barker in 2:52 at 215 pounds. This left Gavin Barker at 15-6 on the season afterolder brother Ethan Barker earlier fell to 21-3.

When Luken Alberdi pinned at heavyweight, it meant DelVal was able to record nine pins on the night.

With the regular season rapidly winding down, it’s reaching the point where DelVal’s focus will center on the sectionals, which get underway on the Monday of Feb. 16. DelVal’s biggest challenge in Group 1 could very well come from Manville (25-0) in its own Central Jersey section.

“We do a lot of with Manville during the summer and we are as familiar with each other’s opposing lineups as we are with our own,” said Fitz. “We also actually do a lot with Hopewell Valley too. Manville is a very well coached program. It should be a fun night (in the expected sectional final).”DelVal certainly looks ready.”

Delaware Valley 61, Hopewell Valley 12

f106: Vincent Rainey (DVR) over Said Jan Rahmani (HVH) (Dec 9-3)113: Jaxon Bingert (DVR) over (HVH) (For.)120: Luca Schiavon (HVH) over Tristan Fawthrop (DVR) (Dec 5-2)126: Parker Humphrey (HVH) over Tanner Donaruma (DVR) (Dec 4-3)132: Julian Bednar (DVR) over Dylan Somma (HVH) (Fall 2:42)138: Dylan Hersh (HVH) over Jacob Maddalena (DVR) (Fall 3:58)144: Tye Falkenstein (DVR) over Jace Kalina (HVH) (Fall 1:25)150: Michael Hasson (DVR) over Louis Decibus (HVH) (Fall 1:28)157: Hunter Taffera (DVR) over Max Pollara (HVH) (Fall 3:32)165: Kieran Sutter (DVR) over Ben Franco (HVH) (Fall 1:12)175: Olivier Paul (DVR) over Ethan Barker (HVH) (MD 20-10)190: Matthew Sencher (DVR) over Scott Mangan (HVH) (Fall 1:31)215: Luke Cyphert (DVR) over Gavin Barker (HVH) (Fall 2:52)285: Luken Alberdi (DVR) over Ken Pineda (HVH) (Fall 0:54)