'The standard’s there to win': Delaware Valley advances to wrestling Group 1 final

ALEXANDRIA TOWNSHIP – All the big moments, the chanting of names, the hand raises are, well, sort of expected for the Delaware Valley wrestlers these days.

Don’t get them wrong – it’s not taken for granted and it doesn’t get old. Simply, they start in grade school and come up through the ranks, pushing one another and then they’re ready to go under the bright lights.

Delaware Valley has dominated of late and scored another big victory by topping Hanover Park 55-16 in Friday’s Group 1 semifinals for the second straight season.

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The Terriers closed by winning seven of the final eight bouts all by bonus points.

Next up, top-seeded Del Val (20-1) looks to three-peat as Group 1 champions in Sunday’s 11 a.m. final at Rutgers against third-seeded Paulsboro (21-2), which beat Kittatinny, 40-24, in the other semifinal.  It will be a rematch of last season’s final won by Del Val.

Friday’s semifinal had the feel of a business meeting for the Terriers. No wild celebrations afterward, just high-fives and then thoughts on the Saturday morning practice before the final.

“The standard’s there to win and we’re just trying to make it and achieve it like we’ve been talking about all year, put another picture up on the wall,” senior Kyle Cooke said, “and every day we look up there and we can just see the picture because we know it’s coming. So we just go out there and do what we do.”

There is still a buzz around school and within the team led by longtime head coach Andy Fitz.

“One thousand percent,” senior Matt Roche said. “I feel like by this point, this is our third year doing it, so kids kind of know at this point. Like they have the idea that we’re just kind of heads and shoulders above most teams we wrestle. I feel like we’ve kind of separated ourselves from the other sports teams, as well. I don’t know, I feel like there’s a conception of us just being great.”

He’s not bragging.

Consider how dominant Delaware Valley has been in its sectional run. The Terriers won 41 of 42 matches with scores of 75-0, 72-6 and 81-0. They’ve also beaten bigger schools and are ranked No. 12 in the state by the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association.

The momentum continued Friday. However, it didn’t mirror the dual meet on Jan. 20 won by Del Val, 50-18.

Then, Hanover Park’s Vincenzo LaValle pinned Anderson Olcott at 215 in a meeting of high-level wrestlers. Friday, the Hornets put LaValle out first in the opening bout at 190 and he scored a pin.

Delaware Valley used Olcott at 215 and he won 10-1, followed by Cooke pinning at heavyweight.

At 106, Del Val’s Tristan Fawthrop pinned Hanover Park’s Gabriella Conte after Conte won the dual, 6-3. Fawthrop was chosen to flip the program’s all-time win total to 858 on the sign in the wrestling room, always a big honor.

However, at 113, Giovanni Conte won 13-4 against Lucas Beyers after Beyers won the dual 6-4 in SV. Hanover Park also won at 120 as Delaware Valley held a 16-13 lead.

Boom, the Terriers finished strong.

Jaden Perez (126) kicked it off with a pin. The coaches put in sophomore Tye Falkenstein at 132 – and he delivered with a pin in 48 seconds. Del Val then bumped up the next two stars. Roche (138) had a pin in 29 seconds and Jackson Bush (144) won 10-1. Ben Levy (150) also pinned and Mitchell Sutter (157) cranked a 15-0 technical fall. Kevin Roman closed the show with a pin at 175.

And the winning never gets old.

“Never,” Roche said with a smile. “Always a new fun every night … We’re very driven. We’re very determined. Everyone wants to get better. Everyone. I feel like it’s a competitive nature within our team. We just want to strive to wrestle better than we did the last match and I think that a bunch of us achieve that. It’s fun watching my teammates do it.”

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Wrestling: Delaware Valley advances to third-straight Group 1 final