Mike Vukovcan Thus far the 2026 Hopewell High School football season has been one of ending streaks and showing improvements as a program.
Things started with Week 1 34-14 win over perennial power and defending WPIAL champion Avonworth. This was noteworthy because Hopewell had never beaten Avonworth.
Last week on the road against Propel (Imani Christian), Hopewell lost 28-21. However, that was a tightly contested game for 4 quarters against a team that was in the WPIAL championship game the last 2 years and has a handful of D-1 players. When these two teams met in the playoffs last season, Propel blew Hopewell out 59-21 as they were never really in the game, that obviously wasn’t the case this season.
All of that takes us to last night’s matchup against rival Central Valley.
As I wrote earlier this week, this game would be a measuring stick for HC Matt Mottes’ program because Central Valley is a measuring stick for any team to see how good you really are.
The results on the field have shown how good Central Valley has been over the year as HC Mark Lyons, one of the best high school coaches in Pennsylvania, always has that program in contention for both a section and WPIAL championship.
Despite players graduating, despite players transferring, CV never rebuilds, they just reload.
The question was would this be the year Hopewell got the money off their back and beat Central Valley, who had won 13 consecutive games against the Vikings, with Hopewell’s last win coming in 2010.
That question was answered in a definitive way as Hopewell played well in front of a large crowd at Tony Dorsett Stadium and walked out with a 34-6 win.
The game was still competitive at halftime with Hopewell holding just a 13-6 win. CV had a clear time of possession advantage in the first half as Hopewell only had the ball three times but scored two touchdowns. However, the second half was a different story as Hopewell’s talent took over and outscored CV, 21-0.
HOPEWELL/CV SCORING PLAYS:
1st Quarter: James Armstrong 17-yard TD run, (PAT blocked). Hopewell 6-0
2nd Quarter: Ethan Bosco 2-yard TD run (2-point pass failed). Game tied at 6
2nd Quarter: James Armstrong 39-yard TD run, Hopewell 13-6
3rd Quarter: James Armstrong 12-yard TD pass to Avery Bokor, Hopewell 20-6
3rd Quarter: James Armstrong 4-yard TD pass to Nasir Wade, Hopewell 27-6
4th Quarter: Nasir Wade 13-yard TD run
Here’s a look at the team and individual stats for Hopewell, who once again showed balance on offense.
TEAM STATS
Rushing First Downs: Hopewell 9 CV 2
Passing First Downs: Hopewell 5 CV 6
Rushing: Hopewell 30 attempts for 216 yards, Central Valley 36 attempts for 12 yards
Passing: Hopewell 9 of 12 for 161 yards, Central Valley 10 of 17 for 139 yards
INDIVIDUAL STATS
James Armstrong: 9 of 12 for 161 yards, 2 TD, 1 Int
Nasir Wade: 17 carries for 115 yards, 1 TD
James Armstrong: 8 carries for 65 yards, 1 TD
Brody Rock: 3 carries for 23 yards
Tamar Tisdale: 2 carries for 13 yards
Avery Bokor: 2 catches for 39 yards, 1 TD
Brody Rock: 3 carries for 38 yards
Tre Cameron: 2 catches for 54 yards
Tamar Tisdale: 1 catch for 26 yards
*One other area of the game that needs to be mentioned is the play of the Hopewell defense, particularly the D-line and linebackers. Defensive coordinator Wayne Tatalovich’s unit held CV to just 151 total yards. Brody Rock was a terror on defense and at times was unblock able as he recorded 4 sacks. DE Aris Haniotes led the way up front controlling the line of scrimmage and making it impossible for CV to get anything going on the ground, which they attempted to do early. Haniotes finished the game with 6 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 sack and 2 quarterback hurries.
The other standout on defense was senior linebacker Anthony Hage, who was making tackles all over the field.
The win improves Hopewell’s record to 3-1, and they’ll return to action next Friday when they host Western Beaver.
