Hunterdon schools poised to dominate short season
You know it’s far from an ideal situation when the general consensus about high school wrestling in New Jersey this year is it’s better than having no season at all.
There are no sectionals or groups. There are no county tournaments. The regular-season has been crammed into less than six weeks, and a plethora of attractive non-league matches that you would normally see are not going to happen.
Furthermore, there are no districts and instead committees are going to vote on which three wrestlers from each district will advance to regions. Since it’s only human nature for people to have their own agendas, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the region selection process is going to be full of politics and controversy.
Putting all of that aside, along with the fact that what the NJSIAA has basically done is cater to the state’s top five percent of the wrestlers, it is correct to say at least there is some kind of season. No matter how lacking this season may be, it is important for programs to have some sort of continuity from year to year.
With all of that out of the way, it’s time to trot out the first installment of The Trentonian’s Area Ratings and took a quick look at what’s coming up in a season that will be over before you even know it.
Yes, believe it or not, the end of a season that just got started is already just one month away.
Sitting in the top spot of our ratings is once again North Hunterdon, and the only area team that looks even remotely capable of challenging the Lions is arch-rival Hunterdon Central. Those two will meet on April 6 at North.
Coming off its undefeated season and the top public school ranking in the state, North Hunterdon has returned nine starters from last year’s lineup. And in a year in which so many of the top teams in the state have had their non-league schedules drastically reduced, the Lions have managed to put together a pretty good slate of matches.
At the top of this list is the Kingsway at North Hunterdon match on April 9, which will be a rematch of last year’s Group IV final. Loaded with young talent and bolstered by Cherokee transfer Cooper Pontelandolfo, Kingsway, believe it or not, already has a common opponent with North Hunterdon less than one week in the season.
Namely, Christian Brothers, which lost to Kingsway, 38-23. North Hunterdon, meanwhile, beat CBA, 36-32, on Saturday, in kind of a bizarre match in which it only won six bouts. It started with North recording a quick 18 points, CBA rebounding with eight straight wins and North rebounding at the end with 18 points on a forfeit and two quick pins.
Kingsway against North Hunterdon might very well have happened again this year at the groups if they
hadn’t been canceled, but don’t forget Phillipsburg is also in the Group IV mix. You know the Liners have still got to be smarting following the brutal beating it suffered against North in last year’s sectional final. As such, revenge will be very much on Phillipsburg’s mind when it travels to North Hunterdon this Tuesday night.
Although Hunterdon Central is not particularly stacked in the upperweights, the Red Devils are very solid from 106 through 170 and have 10 starters back. There are some Shore Conference teams, including defending champion Southern, that would have stood in Central’s way, but the Red Devils would have certainly been a threat to end their long and well-documented group-title drought.
The next three spots in our ratings are occupied by Burlington County teams Cherokee, Shawnee and Moorestown. Burlington County seems to have some
pretty good depth this year with Cinnaminson also off to a strong start.
Look for some good action in the BCSL Liberty Division. Among this group is Northern Burlington, which has already suffered an 11-point loss to Cinnaminson after suffering a big blow when a key lighter weight transferred to Christian Brothers.
On the Colonial Valley Conference front, the biggest match this week pits Hightstown at Robbinsville Tuesday on a night in which Ram coach Mike Russo will attempt to become just the third Mercer County coach to reach 300 victories. The first two to do it were Notre Dame’s Gary “The Brain’’ Dambro and Lawrence’s Chris Lynne.
It won’t be easy for Russo to accomplish it against the improved Ravens as Robbinsville should be able to pile up significant points in the lower and middle weights. Furthermore,
Hightstown’s two biggest guns (upperweights Bryan Bonilla and Brenden Hansen) occupy weight classes where Robbinsville usually loses anyway.
Hightstown did manage to end Hopewell Valley’s 50-match CVC winning streak last season, but as usual Hopewell Valley remains the team to beat.
While it’s true the Bulldogs suffered a key loss for the year because of an injury to Jacob Venezia (96 career wins), it appears to have enough to get through its season unblemished. (The CVC teams this year have been limited to league matches only.)
Robbinsville could make things interesting against Hopewell Valley, but its problem projects as an upperweight bonus blitz for Mario Harpel’s Bulldogs. The Robbinsville at Hopewell Valley match is scheduled for April 8.
Hopewell Valley is ranked sixth and Delaware Valley is seventh. Their annual
collision against each other is a classic example of the type of matches that had to be cancelled this year.
Delaware Valley is very young, but coach Andy Fitz is very high on his freshman class. While Hopewell Valley would have gone into the DelVal match as a slight favorite, it probably would have been close and is one of many matches that falls into the category of we will never know.
Trentonian Area Wrestling Ratings
1. North Hunterdon (3-0)
2. Hunterdon Central (3-0)
3. Cherokee (2-0)
4. Shawnee (1-2)
5. Moorestown (3-0)
6. Hopewell Valley (3-0)
7. Delaware Valley (3-0)
8. Cinnaminson (2-0)
9. Northern Burlington (2-1)
10. Rancocas Valley (2-1)
11. Robbinsville (3-0)
12. Hightstown (3-0)
13. Delran (3-1)
14. Seneca (2-1)
15. Lenape (1-1)
Highlight Matches
Tuesday: Hightstown at Robbinsville; Phillipsburg at North Hunterdon. Wednesday: Delran at Northern Burlington.
Saturday: Hunterdon Central at High Point.