DelVal, North Hunterdon go for state team titles
Two Trentonian area teams will be in action on Sunday competing for NJSIAA group state wrestling championships at Rutgers University’s Jersey Mikes Arena.
One is Delaware Valley, which will face Paulsboro for the Group I state title at 1:30 p.m. The other is North Hunterdon, which will take on Jackson Memorial at 11 a.m. for the Group IV championship.
This will mark the fourth meeting in the last five years between South Jersey champion Paulsboro and Central Jersey’s Delaware Valley. Paulsboro won the first two and Delaware Valley won last year when the two met in the group semifinals.
Ranked third in the state among public schools, Delaware Valley (17-3) enters this match as the favorite after recently beating Warren Hills and Phillipsburg in regular-season action.
So far, Delaware Valley has destroyed its four sectional and group opponents by a combined margin of 276-36. And 18 of those points surrendered were on three forfeits after DelVal had moved out to a 45-6 lead against Hanover Park in the group semifinals on Friday night.
Should it win, Delaware Valley would capture the 10th state championship in its illustrious history. Only three public schools have won more. One of them is Paulsboro, which has 33 group titles to its credit.
North Hunterdon (14-5), meanwhile, is shooting for a sixth group championship. The Lions’ match against Jackson Memorial is tough to call and could very well come down to match-ups.
Jackson Memorial had injury problems in the early part of the team, but is healthy now and has really come on of late. Jax crushed defending Group IV champion Mt. Olive in the semifinals and is shooting for a fifth group title.