By: centraljersey.com
The Hopewell Valley High football team lost 18 seniors to graduation, but coach Dave Caldwell isn’t too worried about it.
"I personally think those guys under-achieved," Caldwell said. "I think this group of (five) seniors and this group of juniors may not be as talented as those seniors but I think they’re a closer knit group.
"They truly do care about the team. They show it, they act it and I truly think that counts in high school sports."
HoVal is coming off a disappointing 2-8 season in which it lost two games by one point, one by four, one by six and one by nine. And in a 14-point loss, the Bulldogs were actually leading in the four quarter.
"We ate up the ground between the 10s last year," Caldwell said.
This season, there are a lot of new faces at key positions, starting with junior quarterback Ryan Mann.
"He looks good," Caldwell said. "He’s a great lacrosse player, he’s picking up the quarterback position. We run a Wing T system, a lot of play action pass, and he can do that. We have some three-step, five-step sprint out that he’s looking good at."
Another key performer will be junior running back/free safety Matt Pagano.
"He’s one of our fastest, more athletic players," Caldwell said.
Senior two-way linemen Carlos DelCastillo provides a strong presence up front at 6-2, 253 pounds.
"I personally think he’s one of the best defensive linemen in the county," said Caldwell.
Senior Tim Sutton is "another tough kid" who can play at A Back, tight end and linebacker.
"We feel good about our personnel," said Caldwell, whose team opens at 2 p.m. Saturday against Allentown in a game that has been moved to the Pennington School due to field conditions. "Even though they’re young, hopefully we can work our tails off and be in the games.
"So far the kids are working real hard. We’re light in our senior numbers, but we’ve got a lot of juniors and a lot of sophomores really stepping up. The kids are working their tails off, doing their part. We hope to really compete this year, hopefully squeeze out some wins."
In the newly formed West Jersey Football League, Hopewell is in the Colonial Division along with Allentown, Northern Burlington, Pemberton and Princeton.

