Projecting the dual meet team championships
It’s the biggest week of the New Jersey dual match wrestling season with the sectionals that got underway Monday night and the groups set for Sunday in Toms River.
Unfortunately, so much of what is about to happen is predictable it takes away some of the fun. You can blame the disastrous addition of Group V and the lack of quality dualmatch depth in the state for the lack of drama.
It’s especially bad when it comes to the opening round massacres involving the low seeds. How funny would it be if a coach held practice in his wrestling room for the varsity while the JV was hammering some No. 8 seed in the main gym.
On the local front, for the first time in memory not one Trentonian area team is favored to win a sectional title despite the fact a record 27 of them were competing in the opening round.
As they say, the show goes on and the following is a brief breakdown of what wrestling fans can expect by group: is the perfect example. Central has Hunter Graf, but Howell has Kyle Slendorn. And if you run Graf up to 138 he will be up against a quality wrestler in Daniel Esposito.
Furthermore bumping up a lot of weights against Howell could really backfire, although Central might do it anyway knowing it needs to roll the dice. Also keep an eye on to see if Howell brings down Darby Diedrich go to against Jack Bower at 120. It could very well afford to do this because it would have Luke Rada at 126.
In arguably the deepest section in the state, South Jersey Group V will also have some good action. Especially if Kingsway can arrive at Southern with a full line-up, which has rarely been the case this year.
A capable Williamstown team will meet Southern in one of the semifinals if it was able to duplicate its earlier 31-28 win over Rancocas Valley in the opening round Monday night.
If form holds up, it will be Howell against whatever team emerges from the awful North Jersey Section 1 field and Watchung Hills against Southern in the group semifinals. The atmosphere would be excellent for an all-Shore Conference final, although much like Hunterdon Central it appears Southern doesn’t match up well with Howell. Much of Southern’s strength is in the middleweights where Howell, of course, is formidable.
It all adds up for the second straight and second state title in the history of the Howell program. of the year blaming the other for not being able to arrange a regular-season dual match.
West Morris, Long Branch and Cherry Hill West look like the other sectional winners. A.k.a. Wrong Branch, Long Branch lost to Raritan, which posted a one-point win over North Hunterdon, which got ripped by P-Burg.
You do the math. Phillipsburg fans travel better than anyone in the state, but you have to wonder how many will make the long ride to watch this. Park, which is well aware it doesn’t match up great against High Point because of the Hillbilly strength down below. A Hanover Park-High Point match could very well be determined by both team’s largely unheralded upperweights.
Delaware Valley is the defending state champion, but it’s a real stretch to think the Dogs could win a semi at Raritan. Robbinsville is in the lower and less strong half of the bracket. If things break right and Isaiah Gonzalez is healthy, perhaps the Ravens could make it to Friday night. If they won their opener their semifinal opponent would probably be Holmdel. Holmdel?
Yes, the Holmdel team that beat both Ewing and Nottingham by a whopping four points.