Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Wrestling: Skyland opts to break up super division

All good things must end. This seems even more applicable to the high school wresting scene in New Jersey.

The Raritan Division, comprised of the top seven programs in the Skyland Conference and some of the best in the state, is finished after the 2017-18 season. The divisional realignments -- recently approved by conference officials for all sports the next two school years -- scatter these seven programs across three divisions.

Hunterdon Central and Bound Brook move to the Delaware Division, while North Hunterdon and Phillipsburg remain in the Raritan. Delaware Valley, Voorhees and Warren Hills drop down to the Valley Division. The Mountain Division stays in tact from previous seasons. There will be mandatory crossover matches (Delaware vs. Raritan or Valley vs. Mountain) that will count in the standings, locking teams into a minimum of nine conference matches.

P'burg won a Group 4 title and 21st division crown in 2017.
"To be honest, I thought the way we did it the last few years actually made sense," said Phillipsburg coach Dave Post, whose team won the Raritan title last season. In fact, the Stateliners are 146-3 overall in division matches and have won 21 titles (missing only once in 2009-10 when Hunterdon Central won the old Delaware West) since joining the Skyland Conference for the 1995-96 school year.

This is a major shakeup for wrestling, unlike field hockey, for example, where just two teams (Ridge and Watchung Hills) swap places in the Delaware and Raritan. The new two-year alignments were based largely on enrollment size, sans the non-public schools that were placed in divisions. Bound Brook shifts to the large school Delaware based on strength of program, another criteria used if the committee felt a school was grossly misplaced, though Hillsborough, which is larger than Watchung Hills, is somehow in the Raritan. The base alignment for the Skyland Conference puts Group 4 schools in the Delaware and Raritan, Groups 2 and 3 in the Valley and Group 1 in the Mountain -- all spread out over four divisions when it's 19 or more teams.

The big question is: Why mess up a good thing for a sport that needs all the positives it can get?

While it's true that most of these teams will still face each other in dual meets and in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament -- which will be held for the first time at the palatial Phillipsburg High School gym on Jan. 13 -- but winning the Raritan Division as currently constructed is quite a big deal in this age of watered down conferences with trophies awarded to multiple division winners. And what about some of the struggling programs? At least with one strong division, the others can compete on a more level playing field.

There are other issues such as maintaining longstanding traditional rivalries as single dual meets and power point totals. Remember when Voorhees and Warren Hills once wrestled in a quad, one where in some years was held in South Jersey and no one up here could see it without committing to a two-hour-plus drive? The crossovers help to keep rivalry matches, but there's no guarantee they stay as single duals in this era of endless tri-meets and quads.

"I'm OK with splitting up [the divisions], but I don't like the crossovers," said Delaware Valley coach Andy Fitz, whose team has made back-to-back appearances in the Group 2 final (winning the title last season) but has finished third, tied for third (2015-16) and fifth (2014-15) in the current Raritan Division.

"There's never going to be a perfect setup. But there are too many quads, and marquee matchups are what fans want to see. We want to keep traditional rivalries as single duals."

Post, who is not a fan of this new setup, is very concerned about power point numbers, which he believes could be reduced enough to prevent the 'Liners from hosting in the sectional rounds.

"In order to maintain historical rivalries, Warren Hills and Delaware Valley must become independents," he said. "We will be forced to eliminate traditional state public school powers from our schedule."

Seems the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference will finally get this right for wrestling over the next two years as High Point and Kittatinny will likely be in the same division, which will look more like the old Sussex County Interscholastic League, starting in 2018-19. According to Wallkill Valley AD Daryl Jones, NJAC officials will meet in February to iron out the final details. Strength of program was factored in the construction of divisions. Newton, Jefferson and Lenape Valley will likely join High Point (four wins shy of 700 overall) and Kittatinny, while Hackettstown, Wallkill Valley, North Warren, Hopatcong and Vernon will likely form another division. Sparta and Pope John will be housed in a division that includes the bigger Morris County schools.

Skyland Conference wrestling for 2018-19 and 2019-20

Delaware

Hunterdon Central
Bridgewater-Raritan
Bound Brook
Franklin
Watchung Hills

Raritan

North Hunterdon
Phillipsburg
Hillsborough
Montgomery
Ridge

Valley

Delaware Valley
Voorhees
Warren Hills
Bernards
Somerville

Mountain

Belvidere
Manville
North Plainfield
Pingry
Rutgers Prep

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Wrestling: Section alignment KO's 'Cats vs. Cougars

High Point vs. Kittatinny. It's one of the best high school wrestling rivalries in all of New Jersey.

But thanks to sectional realignment for the 2017-18 season, there will be no regular-season dual meet. And if things don't shake out in the postseason, there will be no dual matchup at all for the first time since the series began in 1976. And what a shame that would be.

Kittatinny celebrates its 21st sectional title. (Courtesy Kittatinny wrestling)
Kittatinny, which has won back-to-back North 1, Group 1 titles, jumps up to join High Point in North 1, Group 2 this season for the second time in four years. By mutual agreement, the teams decided in '15 and beyond to not wrestle during the regular season if both are in different divisions in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference and housed in the same section.

High Point coach John Gardner confirmed the independent dual meet, which was scheduled for Friday, Feb. 2 in Wantage, has been cancelled. The sectional tournaments will get underway three days later on Monday, Feb. 5.

"It is what it is," Gardner said as his team prepares for the start of "official" practices on Monday. "Our dual meets are always a big deal. I hope it doesn't happen [that we don't wrestle] -- teams wrestle on that Saturday [after the sectionals]. I'm not sure if Kittatinny has something scheduled for that day or not."

As of now, Saturday, Feb. 10 is an open date for both High Point and Kittatinny.

Luckily in 2015, the teams met in the North 1, Group 2 quarterfinals -- a 32-31 win for the Wildcats that continued the series. That remains the only postseason matchup in series history, one in which High Point owns a 27-14-1 edge. Kittatinny has won the past two meetings and three of the last five -- including a 36-25 victory at home last season. Unlike in '15, when the sectional pairings had already been released before the regular-season dual was scrapped, it will be a roll of the dice to see if they will match up in '18.

It's understandable that teams would not want to potentially meet twice within a week's time, but why not schedule this rivalry in early to mid-January to avoid that scenario? That way, we aren't robbed of one of the season's most anticipated dual meets. We get so few good ones in this awful age of tri-meets and quads.

"Probably going forward, that's what we're going to have to do," Gardner said of scheduling this rivalry match earlier in the season. "It's silly to not have that dual meet, regardless of what kind of season you're having. We certainly want to get that match in."

In other big news, Pope John moves out of the rugged Non-Public North A section, which contains state powers Bergen Catholic and Delbarton. The Lions are now in North B, where they will be sectional and state title favorites this season.

Phillipsburg, which has won an area-best 36 sectional titles overall, will seek its fifth in a row in North 2, Group 4. The Stateliners, who have won four consecutive Group 4 titles, will be led by senior state placewinner Brian Meyer, a Lehigh recruit who needs eight wins to become the 24th wrestler in program history to record at least 100 in a career.

Hunterdon Central, which won the Central Jersey, Group 5 title last season, is now in the same section with Howell. The Rebels, who were housed in the South Jersey section, handed the Red Devils a 28-27 loss in a classic Group 5 final in 2017.

Delaware Valley celebrates its Group 2 title win.
Delaware Valley, last season's Group 2 champion, is seeking its 18th sectional title and fourth in a row in Central Jersey, Group 2. The Terriers, who own a 9-5 edge in the all-time series vs. Raritan, beat the Rockets for a third straight year in last season's sectional final en route to capturing the program's eighth Group 2 title and first since 1999.

Here's the breakdown for sections involving teams from the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area:

North 1

Group 3

Local team: Sparta.

Rest of the field: Bergenfield, Demarest, Dwight Morrow, Garfield, Indian Hills, Montville, Paramus, Pascack Valley, Ramapo, River Dell, Teaneck, Tenafly, West Milford.

Group 2

Local teams: High Point, Kittatinny, Newton, Vernon.

Rest of the field: Glen Rock, Hawthorne, Jefferson, Lakeland, Mahwah, Pascack Hills, Pequannock, Ramsey, Waldwick-Midland Park, Westwood.

Group 1

Local teams: Hopatcong, North Warren, Wallkill Valley.

Rest of the field: Bogota-Weehawken, Boonton, Butler, Cedar Grove, Cresskill, Emerson-Park Ridge, Hasbrouck Heights, Kinnelon, Mountain Lakes, New Milford, Pompton Lakes, Saddle Brook.

North 2

Group 4

Local teams: North Hunterdon, Phillipsburg.

Rest of the field: Barringer, Colonia, Irvington, JFK-Iselin, Kearny, Linden, Middletown North, Millburn, Montgomery, Sayreville, Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Woodbridge.

Group 3

Local teams: Voorhees, Warren Hills.

Rest of the field: Chatham, Cliffside Park, Cranford, Governor Livingston, Leonia-Palisades Park, Lyndhurst-North Arlington, Morris Hills, Nutley, Orange, Parsippany Hills, Summit, West Essex.

Group 2

Local teams: Hackettstown, Lenape Valley.

Rest of the field: Caldwell, Dover, Dumont, Elmwood Park, Fort Lee, Hanover Park, Lodi, Madison, Manchester Regional, Parsippany, Ridgefield Park, Rutherford.

Group 1

Local teams: Belvidere.

Rest of the field: Becton, Bound Brook, Glen Ridge, Manville, Metuchen, Newark Collegiate, New Providence, Roselle Park, Secaucus, Shabazz, Verona, Weequahic, Whippany Park, Wood-Ridge.

Central Jersey

Group 5

Local teams: Hunterdon Central.

Rest of the field: East Brunswick, Edison, Freehold Township, Hillsborough, Howell, Manalapan, Marlboro, Monroe Township, New Brunswick, North Brunswick, Old Bridge, South Brunswick, Trenton Central.

Group 2

Local team: Delaware Valley.

Rest of the field: Bernards, Brearley, Carteret, Holmdel, Johnson, Manasquan, Matawan, Middlesex-Dunellen, Monmouth, North Plainfield, Raritan, Robbinsville, Rumson-Fair Haven.

Non-Public

North B

Local team: Pope John.

Rest of the field: Bishop Ahr, Christ the King, DePaul, Morris Catholic, Newark Academy, Pingry.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Field hockey: Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex standings

  (Final)
Skyland Conference
Delaware Division
Overall
Division
xz-Bridgewater-Raritan
(19-6)
(12-2)
Hunterdon Central
(15-7-1)
(9-4-1)
Pingry
(12-8-1)
(8-6)
Ridge
(9-12)
(5-9)
Hillsborough
(5-13)
(4-10)
Raritan Division
Overall
Division
xyz-Warren Hills
(24-3)
(15-0)
Voorhees
(14-6)
(12-3)
Phillipsburg
(10-11-1)
(6-8-1)
Montgomery
(8-12)
(6-9)
North Hunterdon
(2-17)
(1-14)
Watchung Hills
(3-17)
(1-14)
Valley Division
Overall
Division
xy-Bernards
(19-2-1)
(10-0)
Delaware Valley
(14-4-1)
(8-2)
Somerville
(10-10)
(5-5)
Franklin
(5-12-1)
(1-8-1)
Mountain Division
Overall
Division
x-Belvidere
(14-6)
(8-2)
South Hunterdon
(6-10)
(5-5)
Mount St. Mary
(4-12-1)
(1-8-1)
North Plainfield
(1-12-3)
(0-8-2)
Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference
Freedom Division
Overall
Division
x-Hackettstown
(15-5)
(5-1)
Vernon
(10-6-3)
(2-1-3)
High Point
(7-8-3)
(1-3-2)
Lenape Valley
(6-11-2)
(1-4-1)
American Division
Overall
Division
x-Mount Olive
(12-7)
(8-0)
Jefferson
(10-8-1)
(5-2-1)
Sparta
(5-13-2)
(3-3-2)
Pope John
(4-13-3)
(2-5-1)
Morris Hills
(0-19)
(0-8)
Colonial Division
Overall
Division
xz-Wallkill Valley
(21-3)
(6-0)
Newton
(9-8)
(4-2)
North Warren
(5-14)
(2-4)
Kittatinny
(2-18)
(0-6)
x-division champion
y-county champion
z-sectional champion

Monday, November 13, 2017

Field hockey: Final HWS scoring leaders

Minimum 10 points
(Underclass in bold)

Player
School
Goals
Assists
Points
Morgan Carr
Wallkill Valley
46
14
106
Rebecca Sigman
Warren Hills
34
15
83
Brittany Bill
Hunterdon Central
18
20
56
Samantha Dugan
Warren Hills
19
13
51
Tali Popinko
Warren Hills
18
14
50
Alyssa Appleby
Warren Hills
19
8
46
Kayla Cichar
Hackettstown
19
5
43
Fiona Blake
Wallkill Valley
13
16
42
Cassie Boyce
Voorhees
13
14
40
Erin Shaw
Voorhees
16
7
39
Madison Hoskins
Hackettstown
11
17
39
Laura Chen
Voorhees
14
8
36
Mikayla Dugan
Warren Hills
13
10
36
Abby Bronico
Belvidere
16
1
33
Melissa Kosar
Phillipsburg
15
3
33
Ashley Zellars
Hackettstown
13
6
32
Jordan Vandermark
Hackettstown
12
8
32
Megan Donnelly
Delaware Valley
10
12
32
Madeline Bill
Delaware Valley
9
13
31
Brooke Hyland
Voorhees
13
4
30
Katie Yarussi
Pope John
11
6
28
Gabby Dudek
Phillipsburg
11
5
27
Colleen Barrett
Hunterdon Central
10
6
26
Maddie Call
Belvidere
10
6
26
Emily Brandt
Hunterdon Central
12
1
25
Kelsey O'Connor
Delaware Valley
10
3
23
Carlie Van Tassel
Vernon
7
8
22
Lauren Barbato
Newton
7
8
22
Victoria Docherty
Newton
8
5
21
Rachel Stone
Hunterdon Central
9
3
21
Kali Huck
Hunterdon Central
8
5
21
Angie Santini
Belvidere
9
2
20
Olivia Zmyewski
Belvidere
7
6
20
Emilee Hamler
Vernon
10
0
20
Becca Baucom
North Hunterdon
10
0
20
Morgan Mendel
Newton
7
5
19
Kristen Bill
Delaware Valley
7
4
18
Kyleigh Dawson
Hackettstown
8
2
18
Brooke Tumler
South Hunterdon
8
1
17
Tara Brody
Wallkill Valley
8
8
17
Sarah Matyas
Voorhees
7
3
17
Hailey Minter
Vernon
7
3
17
Cameron Sacco
Pope John
7
2
16
Allison Devlin
Phillipsburg
6
4
16
Michaela Thiessen
High Point
8
0
16
Madison Scott
Delaware Valley
6
3
15
Emily Yanes
Phillipsburg
6
3
15
Megan Doyle
Hackettstown
6
3
15
Sarah Babcock
Delaware Valley
4
7
15
Chandler Storcella
South Hunterdon
6
3
15
Tori Waschek
Vernon
6
3
15
Hope Nafis
Sparta
3
8
14
Tyra Wingle
High Point
5
4
14
Sarah Korczukowski
Warren Hills
5
4
14
Lucie Wolfson
Sparta
6
1
13
Thalia Johnson
Lenape Valley
6
1
13
Emily Mizeski
Wallkill Valley
5
3
13
Jessalyn McKenna
Lenape Valley
6
1
13
Julia Kreider
South Hunterdon
4
4
12
Caitlyn Mizeski
Wallkill Valley
1
10
12
Ashley Moskal
Warren Hills
3
6
12
Lindsey Bicher
Lenape Valley
3
6
12
Sydney Janiero
North Warren
4
3
11
Lauren Cooper
Lenape Valley
5
1
11
Bella Tracy
Sparta
6
2
10
Jillian Ethern
Delaware Valley
4
2
10
Sammy Freeman
Hunterdon Central
3
4
10