If you're reading this blog, you, like me, love high school wrestling.
But the sport is in serious trouble, at least from a team standpoint, something Open Mike has been documenting for years, and something needs to be done ... soon. And it's not going to be an easy fix. Instead of worrying about uniforms and tape on the headgear, it's long overdue for the National Federation and the NJSIAA to get real and start addressing the real problems.
Forfeits and more forfeits. Where do we start? This nothing new, but take a look at the box scores on Track Wrestling on any given evening and just try to find more than one or two on each page that has contested bouts at all 14 weights. Good luck.
Locally, Newton traveled to Vernon on Wednesday night for a mandatory Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference Freedom Division match, which lasted approximately 15 minutes. The match started at 6 p.m., and the Braves were back on the bus and heading home by around 6:45. Vernon, which has been struggling with low numbers for several years, forfeited nine weights.
And it isn't limited to the struggling programs. How about this result on Wednesday night at Phillipsburg, which received five forfeit wins and won 13 bouts in a 66-6 rout of Voorhees in the Skyland Conference Raritan Division finale for both teams. The Stateliners (11-2, 5-1 division), now 26-0 all-time in this series dating to 1981, also locked up second place in the division. It's highly likely to be the last dual, at least for the foreseeable future, between these teams, which will be in different divisions next season when the new two-year conference realignment kicks in.
220 -- Jr. Sam Huff (21-6), V, p. Fr. Gage Horvath (0-3), 2:38.
285 -- Sr. Patrick Sharpe (15-12), P, forfeit.
106 -- Fr. Logan Maczko (13-11), P, md. So. Josh Rich (12-15), 9-0.
113 -- Sr. Cullen Day (20-7), P, p. Sr. Colby Koshinski (16-11), 1:35.
120 -- Fr. Jason Tino (3-0), P, forfeit.
126 -- Jr. Travis Jones (25-4), P, forfeit.
132 -- Jr. Thomas Abode (3-6), P, d. Jr. Hunter Rinehart (17-7), 5-3.
138 -- Jr. Kyle Tino (14-7), P, tf. So. Joe Swiston (8-19), 17-2, 5:26.
145 -- Jr. Cody Harrison (21-2), P, tf. So. Garrett Loescher (7-20), 21-6, 4:35.
152 -- Jr. Jayson Zinsmeister (14-9), P, md. Jr. Jacob Baytoff (9-18), 12-0.
160 -- Sr. Brian Meyer (23-2), P, p. Sr. Brad Kalinchak (13-14), 1:06.
170 -- Sr. Lance Wissing (26-3), P, forfeit.
182 -- Jr. Austin Roth (13-8), P, forfeit.
195 -- Sr. Shamyr Brodders (10-12), P, d. Jr. Charlie Eberle (7-11), 11-8.
According to Stateliner Sports Network's Mike Moore, Vikings coach Eric Hall sat three of his best wrestlers -- junior Aidan Taylor (18-9 at 120), senior Scott Fernandes (24-3 at 195) and junior Lewis Fernandes (27-0 at 220/285) -- due to 30-match limits. Hall also weighed in just 10 wrestlers total. Voorhees (16-8, 2-4) will host Hasbrouck Heights on Friday night and will wrestle its final two regular-season matches at the Red Devil Duals on Saturday at Hunterdon Central's Field House.
The major problem is too many weight classes. This ridiculous experiment of 14 needs to end. It's three too many for me. Make it 11, and then you eliminate the criteria to break dual-meet ties. Also, there are too many upper weights. How may times have fans and media members lamented not seeing the premiere individual matchups? Coaches need to make sure they win the dual meets first, but the lack of depth leaves little margin for error, necessitating the need to bump or forfeit in order to get favorable matchups.
Do yourself a favor and review the minutes from last year's NJSIAA rules committee meeting to see what are the chief concerns in this state. Some are valid, but others seem to be out of left field. Here are some of the highlights:
No third-place bouts in districts or team titles
Paulsboro coach Paul Morina submitted this and another to allow three additional wrestlers per team to be entered into the district tournaments. Not sure I see the need for any of these changes. Why not wrestle to third place? In any event, all of these changes were unanimously not approved.
Team sectionals as advancement
State rules interpreter Roy Dragon offered a proposal to run the sectionals as an advancement tournament, which would require wrestlers to weigh in at the same weight class each day of the event. I remember there was a lot of talk about this around this time in 2017. Most of the people I spoke with, mostly coaches, thought it was a bad idea. After all, it takes away the strategy element if coaches can't weigh in their wrestlers at a different class if need be. It was unanimous to keep that flexibility.
What they need to do is eliminate Group 5. As we predicted in 2014, it's been terrible for the sport, and it's ruined what used to be a smooth-running and highly competitive day in Toms River. Now, we're lucky if we get one or two finals with any juice. Group 2 will be fun this season.
Two sessions on Friday in AC
This one sounded like a good idea. Last year, the tournament started earlier and proved to be a long day with no breaks. The proposal called for the first round to be held from 12:30 to 4 p.m., and then a two-hour break. The evening round would run from 6:30 to 8:30. But former NJSIAA executive director Steve Timko cited the additional cost as a reason not go with two sessions, taking ticket prices into account as well since they've been capped by the state. The cost factor was to be reviewed by the committee, so this change has not been ruled out for 2019 and beyond.
Power points
This one has actually come up in conversations over the years. What will the NJSIAA do to calculate power points without Larry McMillan at the helm? Apparently, McMillan uses an old DOS program that no one else has access to or knowledge of how to run it. You can't make this up, folks. So the committee advised that Track Wrestling be involved in the process for this season on a trial basis to see if the site can accurately produce the numbers. We all know that Track is generally missing information and a majority of coaches don't know how to use it properly or quite simply don't care to learn. It will be interesting to see where this one goes.
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