Wrestling: North holds steady in NJWWA Top 20

Fresh off beating two state-ranked opponents at the Patriot Duals, North Hunterdon remains at No. 4 in this week's New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association Top 20 released on Monday night.

The Lions (14-0), who claimed the Skyland Conference Raritan Division title for the program's first championship since the 1994-95 season with a win at home against Montgomery last Wednesday, scored an impressive 38-23 victory over No. 12 High Point -- winning eight bouts, including four pins and two major decisions -- in the final and a 35-28 win against No. 17 West Essex in the semifinals of the Patriot Duals on Saturday at North Warren Regional High School.

"West Essex wasn't our best performance. We wrestled OK," said third-year North coach Chris Hrunka, who said his team is improving with each match. "We wrestled them in the summer a little bit and we knew they had balance, and tough kids through the lineup. We put together a lot of good efforts [against High Point]. As the tournament went on, we wrestled better and better."

Against High Point, seniors Kyle Anderson (160), Nate Fossett (182) and Evan Klimas (145), along with sophomore Liam Akers (285) all had pins, while freshman Daniel Delusant (126) scored a key decision victory.

North will take on two county rivals this week as it hosts Delaware Valley on Tuesday before traveling to The Field House for a Skyland Conference cross-divisional match against Hunterdon Central on Friday.

High Point (6-3), which also has a 32-31 criteria loss (most first points) to No. 7 Howell, fell, 34-24 to No. 10 Phillipsburg at The Pit on Monday night. Coach John Gardner's Wildcats will travel to No. 9 Southern, which scored a 36-24 win over the Stateliners on Saturday, in a key independent clash on Thursday.

Phillipsburg (8-2), which gave up five pins in the loss to Southern, caps its week at home against Newton on Saturday -- the sectional tournament cutoff date.

Pope John (8-4), which suffered losses to No. 1 Bergen Catholic and No. 6 Kingsway on Saturday, checks in at No. 13 this week. The Lions will face No. 19 Montville in a key NJAC American Division clash on Tuesday and No. 5 St. Joseph-Montvale on Wednesday before taking on national power Wyoming Seminary on Saturday. 

Bergen Catholic (14-2) avoided its first loss to an NJSIAA school since 2012 with a 36-29 win over St. Joseph-Montvale last week.

Despite a loss, St. Augustine made the biggest jump this week -- moving up four spots to No. 8 -- with victories against No. 11 Toms River North (37-26) and No. 15 St. Peter's Prep (35-28) on Saturday. The Hermits dropped a 29-28 decision on criteria to Kingsway, which won eight bouts, on Friday. 

Rank	School	Record	Previous
1	Bergen Catholic	(14-2)	1
2	Delbarton	(12-2)	2
3	Camden Catholic	(12-2)	3
4	North Hunterdon	(14-0)	4
5	St. Joseph-Montvale	(4-3)	10
6	Kingsway	(12-2)	5
7	Howell	(18-1)	6
8	St. Augustine	(11-3)	12
9	Southern	(10-1)	9
10	Phillipsburg	(8-2)	7
11	Toms River North	(14-4)	8
12	High Point	(6-3)	11
13	Pope John	(8-4)	13
14	Paulsboro	(12-2)	14
15	St. Peter's Prep	(5-5)	15
16	Seton Hall Prep	(11-1)	16
17	West Essex	(13-2)	18
18	Brick Memorial	(13-3)	17
19	Montville	(10-1)	19
20	Mount Olive	(11-2)	NR

Others receiving votes: Williamstown.

NJWWA voting members listed in alphabetical order: Donald J. Brower (GardenStateHSWrestling.com); Frank D’Esposito (theshoreconference.com; Steven Falk (Asbury Park Press and APP.com); Sean Farrell (The Record of Hackensack and NorthJersey.com); Jane Havsy (Daily Record and DailyRecord.com); “Screwy” Louie Lazzari (New Jersey wrestling historian); John Lewis (Burlington County Times and phillyburbs.com); Ron Mazzola (NJWWA president and Region V ranking chairman); Tom McGurk (Courier Post of Cherry Hill); Andy Mendlowitz (Courier News and MyCentralJersey.com); Greg Tufaro (Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com); Michael Weilamann (Open Mike).