Long-time head coach Andy Fitz made sure the Delaware Valley wrestling team remembered how and why it lost to rival North Hunterdon in agonizing fashion last winter.
“We lost to them by a point last year and we got pinned four times,” Fitz said, referencing the Terriers’ 34-33 defeat to North Hunterdon. “It was the last thing I said to them in the tunnel. We had nobody get pinned tonight. That was the difference in the dual meet, we just weren’t giving up huge bonus.”
During its trip to North Hunterdon Tuesday night, Delaware Valley earned five pins to the Lions’ none, including a run of three in a row that sealed the rivalry win.
“We didn’t give up a single pin,” echoed Delaware Valley sophomore Hunter Taffera. “Our team is established on ‘Win big, lose small.’ It was great we could accomplish that in a very big match.”
The Terriers’ 41-27 victory over their rivals also meant that Fitz and his father, Vince, who led the team from 1972-90, have now combined for 600 wins with the program.
“The kids looked great. The kids were absolutely great,” said Fitz, who now has 316 victories to his father’s 284. “Another noteworthy stat, three of the last four years we have now beaten the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex champion in a dual.”
Del Val (11-0) remained unbeaten while the Lions, who were coming off their first H/W/S tournament title since 2020, dropped to 4-7.
“They (Del Val) were hungry, they wrestled harder than we did and they wanted it more than we did. Simple as that,” North Hunterdon coach Dave Bell said. “They outwrestled us, all the credit to them.”
Taffera tilted the momentum back in the Terriers’ favor when he pinned Luke Charbonneau with 32 seconds left in the second period of their bout at 157 pounds.
After a scoreless first period, Charbonneau escaped about 50 seconds into the second. Taffera chained together a takedown a bit later and worked quickly from there to get the fall.
“It was really just a window that I had to exploit. Early on, nothing was happening. Nothing on the feet, obviously no points,” Taffera said. “It was just hard work. I just caught him in a bad position.”
That pin gave Del Val a 19-14 lead. Junior Marcus Gary and senior Olivier Paul upped the Terriers’ advantage to 15 points thanks to a methodical 13-4 major decision at 165 and a pin in 60 seconds at 175, respectively.
North Hunterdon senior Owen Dandeo took down Del Val junior Matt Sencher in the final seconds of the first period of their bout at 190.
Sencher, who was pinned by Dandeo in 2:50 when they faced in the dual last season, took the senior down right in front of the Terriers’ bench halfway through the second to take a 4-3 lead.
“I lost to this kid last year, I thought about it all year,” Sencher said. “I wanted this win… I was one of the kids that got pinned last year, partially my fault. I really took that personally. I knew that I had to get extra points to help secure the win.”
When Sencher caught Dandeo in a cradle in the middle of the mat, he made sure to lock up the fall with just two seconds left in the second, leading to a passionate celebration from his teammates and coaches.
“I knew that, if I got that cradle, I was going to pin him,” Sencher said. “I just had to break him. I had to work him to that point to where I could get him; I got him.”
Senior Luke Cyphert (215) then sealed the win with Del Val’s fifth and final fall when he pinned fellow senior Dajinder Dhillon in 1:39.
Senior heavyweight Anthony DeSimone scored a takedown in the third period to earn a 4-1 decision and snap a run of seven straight losses in the match for North Hunterdon.
Junior Cayden Wadle and sophomore Owen Fol, two of the Lions’ four H/W/S individual champions, earned back-to-back tech falls at 106 and 113 to close the match.
Fitz credited sophomore Tanner Donaruma (126) and senior Julian Bednar (132) for holding North Hunterdon’s two H/W/S champs, senior Reid Busby and junior Aidan Yarussi, to a major decision and tech fall.
“We started at the right spot. I was very pleased with 120,” Fitz said of the starting weight, where senior Tristan Fawthrop earned a pin for the Terriers. “Tanner and Bednar not getting pinned by two of their Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex champions, those are wins for us. We were very excited when those matches ended.”
Bell, who said “the writing was on the wall,” when the Lions were held to a major at 126, was direct when asked about the improvements his team needs to make moving forward.
“We have to fight harder,” Bell said. “We have to fight harder and we can’t just surrender those points like that.”
North Hunterdon, which is ranked seventh in the region by lehighvalleylive and 16th in the state by NJ.com, travel to Hunterdon Central Wednesday night.
“Their performance was less than expected. It hurt to see them not be able to perform the way they can,” Bell said. “Being a rivalry really plays into that, but they have to step up to the challenge and wrestle hard… They had everything working in their favor. Being in their own gym, having a raucous crowd; it seems like Delaware Valley fed off the energy more than we did.”
Del Val, which has not cracked into either the lehighvalleylive.com top 12 or NJ.com top 20 so far this season, travels to Phillipsburg Friday night.
“If we keep doing our job, the kids keep performing the way that they are, they’re going to get noticed,” Fitz said. “They know there’s opportunity there… I think we turned some heads tonight.”
“This is a huge match for us, hometown rivalry,” said Sencher, who was awarded the Dan Hutchins Memorial Award for Outstanding Wrestler Trophy. “They’re a highly-ranked team, a talented team. It felt great to beat them.”
Junior Kieran Raley, who earned a 19-4 tech fall in 5:29 over senior Tye Falkenstein at 138, was named North Hunterdon’s Outstanding Wrestler.
