Putting a final bow on Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex

The third annual Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament was a tough one to handicap. The brackets seemed ever-changing leading up to the event and a lot of teams were missing starters. There was a lot of great action as I've covered in previous posts.

Here's one last look at some of the highlights and key stats:

First in line
Lenape Valley's Peter Lipari became the first freshman to win a HWS championship with an 8-3 win over Warren Hills' Max Nauta. It also was the first ever all-freshman final.

Repeat the feat

Voorhees' Jadaen Bernstein, North Hunterdon's Beau Vrancken and Phillipsburg's Brandon Hull all won their second straight titles -- joining Del Val's Cody Barbiche and North Hunterdon's Jack Delia as the only two-time HWS champs. Bernstein will have a chance to become the first three-time winner in 2013.

Sussex supreme
Sussex County was the big winner on the individual side -- despite a tough championship round --  with 20 wrestlers placing in the top four spots at their respective weight classes. Lipari, Hopatcong's Joe Cruz (120) and Newton's Jake Connelly (195) all won titles and were among 12 finalists from the county. Hunterdon County was next with 19 placers, including a tourney-best eight champs. Warren County had 17 wrestlers place, including three champions. Team-wise, Kittatinny was the highest Sussex finisher as the Cougars took fourth place with 154 points. High Point was next with an eighth-place finish.

Pare's rare pin

Phillipsburg senior Anthony Pare closed out the finals by decking Vernon's Jon Gemeinhardt in 5:27 to claim the 285-pound title. In the tourney's three-year history, it was just the third pin in 42 championship bouts. There also have been only three major decisions and one technical fall in the title round. The Stateliners, with five champs, trail only Delaware Valley and North Hunterdon, each with six, for most HWS winners. P'burg also claimed its second straight team championship with six wrestlers in the top four spots.

Site management
The tournament will be held in Sussex County next year and it's believed that Hopatcong will host for the second time. The school certainly did a fantastic job with the 2011 tournament. Wallkill Valley athletic director Todd Van Orden expressed interest to me in possibly hosting one or both days, so we'll see what happens. Wallkill is a great host for all events and has provided its spacious gym for the Region 1 Tournament since 1983.

Fearless forecaster

Open Mike correctly picked 10 of the 14 champions, missing on 106, 113, 120 and 138. Three of my picks (Nauta, North Hunterdon's Ryan Pomrinca and High Point's Mike Derin) lost in the finals. I was right on seven of the second-place finishers, but only had four each in the third and fourth spots. The 152- and 220-pound classes were dead-on one through four. Hey, some good, some bad.