Where: Mount Olive High School, Flanders.
Teams: Belvidere, Hackettstown, Mendham, Mount Olive, North Warren, Phillipsburg, Warren Hills, West Morris.
Friday schedule: Quarterfinals, 5:30 p.m.
Saturday schedule: Semifinals, 11 a.m., third-place consolations, 3 p.m., championships, 4:30 p.m.
Returning champions (2012 weights): So. Matt Ritchie, North Warren (113); Sr. Dylan Thorsen, Belvidere (132); Jr. Tyler Kozimor, Hackettstown (138), Jr. Nick Matthews, West Morris (138); Sr. Joe Moyer, Phillipsburg (160); Sr. Ryan Harrington, Mendham (170); Sr. Brandon Hull, Phillipsburg (220).
Predictions: The top three finishers in each weight class advance to the Region 1 Tournament that begins on Wednesday at Wallkill Valley Regional High School in Hardyston.
106 -- 1. Max Nauta, Warren Hills; 2. Steve Friedman, Phillipsburg; 3. Dylan Luciano, West Morris.
Notes: Nauta has defeated Friedman twice and beat Luciano, 5-4, early in the season at the John Goles Invitational. Friedman is coming on of late, as evidenced by his recent win over North Hunterdon's Matt Moncourtois, a Region 5 qualifier in 2011.
113 -- 1. Zach Fisher, Phillipsburg; 2. Cory Fleming, West Morris; 3. Tai Adetula, Warren Hills.
Notes: This is one tough weight class to call. Fisher is really on a roll right now and should win his first title after missing last year's tournament. Fleming is a solid wrestler and has two wins over Mendham's Vince Pallone, a 2011 runner-up and state qualifier who is seeded fourth here. Great 4-5 matchup on Friday between Pallone and the wide-open Adetula. And by the way, North Warren's Matt Ritchie, the No. 3 seed, is a returning champ. He lost to Fisher, 6-2, at HWS.
120 -- 1. Andrew Kaluzny, Phillipsburg; 2. David Migliaccio, West Morris; 3. Cory Cohn, Mendham.
Notes: Kaluzny is another Stateliner who is red-hot after his huge win in the Group 4 final. He's the choice here over Migliaccio, who just got by Belvidere's Aaron Castner (No. 3 seed) in an ultimate tiebreaker on Feb. 4. Watch out for Warren Hills freshman John Fluck, the No. 6 seed, who is replacing the injured Chris Greenwald. Fluck is really a 113-pounder but is plenty capable of an upset. He gets Castner on Friday.
126 -- 1. Joe Kratochvil, Warren Hills; 2. Max Elling, Phillipsburg; 3. Eric Friedman, Mendham.
Notes: Kratochvil has been impressive of late and is benefiting from having competed up at 138 earlier in the season. He's split a pair of bouts with Elling, a good-looking freshman who always looks for the pin. Kratochvil finished fourth a year ago and looks ready to take the next step. Friedman owns two wins over fourth-seeded Matt Messina of Mount Olive and makes the trip to Wallkill.
132 -- 1. Dylan Thorsen, Belvidere; 2. Jimmy Schuitema, Phillipsburg; 3. KC Wanamaker, Warren Hills.
Notes: Thorsen gunning for his second title after two runner-up finishes in 2010 and '09. I feel he's a little notch above here in what is arguably the toughest weight in the district and at Region 1. Keep an eye on Schuitema, who is lurking in the bottom half as the No. 3. Could be the best final of the tournament. He pinned Wanamaker in a wild dual meet bout that went to sudden-victory OT. Wanamaker has to get by West Morris' Brandon Carcuffe in another tough 5-4 match on Friday, but does and gets his second D1 bronze medal.
138 -- 1. Nick Matthews, West Morris; 2. Tyler Kozimor, Hackettstown; 3. Mason Ryzoff, North Warren.
Notes: Should be a battle of returning champs here in the final. Kozimor, a two-time winner, recently pinned Matthews in a dual meet. Until that point, Matthews was having a strong junior season. Ryzoff was third last year and fourth as a freshman. He'll have a tough one against P'burg's Anthony Johnson for the bronze.
145 -- 1. Dylan Offerding, Mount Olive; 2. Jacob Aloia, Mendham; 3. Jake Kocsis, Phillipsburg.
Notes: This weight class will likely be re-seeded on Friday with Warren Hills junior Kevin Bundschuh, fourth last year, entering here due to an injury to sophomore Nate Detrick, who was the No. 7 seed. Bundschuh would assume the No. 3 seed, bumping Hackettstown's Brandon Rothman to 4 and Kocsis to 5. If that does happen, I'd like Bundschuh for third.
152 -- 1. Michael Staufenberger, North Warren; 2. S. Button, Mendham; 3. V.J. Delmonico, Phillipsburg.
Notes: I think this is another case where wrestling up a weight most of the season pays off. Staufenberger dropped from 160 at the beginning of the month and is 5-0 at 152, including a 3-2 OT win against Offerding, my choice at 145. Button has the easier road to the finals, as Delmonico looms as the No. 3 seed and can keep it close with most opponents.
160 -- 1. Nathan Dow, Belvidere; 2. K. Button, Mendham; 3. Joe Moyer, Phillipsburg.
Notes: Think Dow evens the score here after a 5-4 loss to Button in the semifinals of the Kittatinny Tournament in December. That was a long time ago and Dow has lost only twice more, to Voorhees state runner-up Jadaen Bernstein and Kittatinny's Kieran Gerrity. Keep an eye on Moyer, who beat Gerrity and lost 6-4 to Dow in the HWS. Good top three here and will be a battle. If Dow does get past Moyer in the semis, it will be the Belvidere wrestler's 100th career win.
170 -- 1. Ryan Harrington, Mendham; 2. John Sickles, West Morris; 3. Devin Grade, Phillipsburg.
Notes: Easiest pick of the tournament as the state champion from Mendham repeats as district champion. I recall being at the 1993 seeding meeting and seeing former Delaware Valley coach Jody Karam fill in his wrestlers' credentials on a form. Karam simply wrote "state champ" on Brent Conly's sheet that year. What else needs to be said? in Grade, a No. 4 seed, majored North Warren's Dillon Torppey, the No. 5 seed, at HWS.
182 -- 1. Evan Bray, Belvidere; 2. Shaun Maloy, Phillipsburg; 3. Ryker Kern, Warren Hills.
Notes: Bray topped Maloy, 5-3, at HWS so expect another battle here. The second-seeded Maloy split with Kern, the No. 3 seed, losing 3-2 at HWS before a 3-1 reversal in the dual meet. These three are head-and-shoulders above the rest in this field.
195 -- 1. Dan Hauck, North Warren; 2. Jim Conte, Mendham; 3. Derek Pierson, Phillipsburg.
Notes: Too close for comfort here as Hauck beat Conte, 2-0, on Jan. 7. Pierson is the X-factor since he's been more out of the lineup than in of late. He's placed third twice and is certainly capable of getting to the finals or even winning the whole thing. I like Hauck's body of work -- he's up from 182 -- this season and he lost a close one against Bound Brook's Ronald Picado, who I was very impressed with in the Group 1 semifinals as he majored Kittatinny's Dylan Wunder. All that time rolling around with assistant coach Dave Sbriscia, the former two-time Warren Hills D1 champ pays off here.
220 -- 1. Brandon Hull, Phillipsburg; 2. Dan Smith, Warren Hills; 3. J.B. Lawson, Belvidere.
Notes: Second easiest pick here as Hull owns a pair of wins over Smith, who will have his hands full in the semis with Lawson. Smith beat Lawson, 9-4, in the opening match of the season but the score is a bit deceiving as each wrestler took turns on their back in that one. I'm actually excited about the upper weights for a change as this is a solid group. I'm going on record right now as saying that Hull ends the P'burg state champion drought this year.
285 -- 1. Anthony Pare, Phillipsburg; 2. Zach Krulan, West Morris; 3. Chris Longyhore, North Warren.
Notes: Another tough class as any one of these guys is capable of grabbing the gold. I've seen all three in person this year and have been impressed at times. Pare, second at 189 last year, is having a great season and really helped solidify the upper weights. He can move for a big guy and that's always a plus. Krulan has 21 pins in 25 bouts and has really come on after an ankle injury suffered in the John Goles finals. Jermaine Eluemunor is the only one to beat him since that time and he recently pinned Pompton Lakes' Andrew Grosser who just beat Longyhore in the sectionals. By the way, I wasn't touching that 5-4 matchup between Belvidere's Ryan Appleby and Warren Hills freshman Andrew Pacheco. Don't miss it. Pacheco won their first meeting, 5-4, at HWS.
Team champion: Phillipsburg.
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