NJWWA WRESTLING TOP 20 RANKINGS

There is no doubt Delbarton has earned the final No. 1 ranking in the New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association Top 20.

The Green Wave not only avenged a defeat to No. 2 St. Joseph (Montvale) from last year’s

NJSIAA Non Public A final with a 30-22 win in this year’s final, they also beat No. 3 St. Peter’s Prep 66-0 in a Catholic Schools Duals semifinal on Jan. 6, No. 4 Christian Brothers Academy 49-13 in a Non Public A semifinal and No. 5 and Group 5 champion Southern 53-9 on Jan. 24.

There is also no doubt Southern is the top public school team for the second straight season after it repeated Group 5 champions with a 45-21 win over No. 9 and previously unbeaten Phillipsburg. It was the third straight time over the last two seasons, including two state championship matches, the Rams have beaten the Stateliners by at least 24 points.

Southern, whose only defeats are to Delbarton and CBA, also defeated No. 12 Hunterdon Central and No. 14 Kingsway in the state tournament.

Nine of the top 11 teams in the final Top 20 are Non Public Schools. Seven of those are Non Public A teams.

The second half of the final top 20 underwent some changes from the way it had been most of the season after Paulsboro won its 34th Group 1 title with a 33-25 win over two-time defending champion Delaware Valley and Ridge won its first group championship since 1986 with a dramatic come-from-behind 3533 win over Mount Olive in the Group 4 final.

Both Paulsboro and Ridge had not been ranked all season.

Here is the final rankings with records followed by first place votes in parentheses and point totals.