Wrestling: Region 1 individual rankings

106 pounds

1. So. Brandon Paetzell, Phillipsburg

2. So. Garrett O’Shea, Morris Knolls

3. So. Troy Stanich, Roxbury

4. Jr. Mojahed Hamdeh, Wayne Hills

5. Jr. Dominic Koert, Pope John

Notes: No changes here. Stanich decked West Morris freshman Shane Metzler (14-4) last week and recorded 10 falls among his first 15 victories. Stanich's only loss is by technical fall to Delbarton state title contender Ty Agaisse, who beat Paetzell, 1-0, last season at The Pit. Pequannock freshman Steve Pocze (13-1) looking to break in here. Hopatcong's Joe Aumann (14-2) has a loss to Hamdeh and has split with Koert, so he deserves a mention. Also keep an eye on Sparta sophomore Garrett Gerndt (12-3), along with Mount Olive freshman Shane Murphy (14-2) and Wayne Valley's Brandon Davis (13-4).

113 pounds

1. Sr. Austin Sisco, Pope John

2. Fr. Matt Valli, Warren Hills
3. Jr. Kyle Flynn, Pompton Lakes
4. Fr. Richard Reimers, Roxbury
5. Jr. Trevor Morales, Newton

Notes: Shaking things up here as Morales dropped a 7-2 decision to unranked Roxbury freshman Richard Reimers last Saturday. Morales looked good at Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex with a 6-2 win over Delaware Valley's Matt Kolonia before a 4-2 loss to Sisco in the semifinals. Reimers' 7-6 loss to West Morris' Kade Loughney had been keeping him out here. But the win over Morales puts Reimers in for now. Valli has beaten Loughney twice, 11-0 and by technical fall this past Saturday. Morris Knolls freshman Daniel Percelay (14-3) has mostly been at 106, but will likely be here for the postseason. He's out for now. 

120 pounds

1. Jr. A.J. Vindici, Randolph

2. Jr. William Kui, DePaul

3. Jr. Dom Gallo, High Point

4. So. Nick Klinger, Kittatinny

5. So. Joe Renne, Hackettstown

Notes: Vindici (16-0) holding steady at the top with early-season wins over Klinger and Renne. Gallo missed Saturday's match against Phillipsburg with an undisclosed injury. His return will be big for the Wildcats this Friday, when they take on the Kittatinny Cougars. A Gallo-Klinger matchup could play a major role in determining the outcome of that one. Renne picked up a couple of nice wins over former District 1 medal winners last week -- 8-2 over West Morris' John Schade and 14-4 over Warren Hills' John Fluck. Another to watch is Jefferson freshman Mark Bohn (16-5).

126 pounds

1. Sr. Bryan Damon, Jefferson

2. Jr. Matt Noble, DePaul
3. Sr. Tyler Hrycak, Wayne Valley

4. Jr. Dylan Luciano, West Morris

5. Sr. Matt Ritchie, North Warren

Notes: Lots of talk about whether Damon (18-2) drops to 120 at some point. Hasn't happened yet, in fact, all but one of his bouts have been at 126, as he bumped up to 132 for a bout on Saturday. Damon, a state semifinalist last season, also took his second loss that day -- getting decked by Hackensack's Taylor Shea. Noble (19-2) holding tight at No. 2 with the head-to-head win over Hrycak (17-1). High Point sophomore Jared Kobis is still out with a broken hand and will re-enter here upon his return. You can bet that Kittatinny coach John Gill is convinced that will be for Friday's big showdown in Wantage, though it seems unlikely. Ritchie was decked by West Morris' Dylan Luciano in a dual on Saturday. Luciano (14-3), who has a double loss to North Hunterdon's Ryan Pomrinca, enters at No. 4.

132 pounds

1. Jr. Mike Derin, High Point

2. Sr. Devon LaFranco, Roxbury

3. So. Austin Scrivani, Kittatinny
4. Jr. Ian Burke, Sparta

5. Jr. Steve Friedman, Phillipsburg

Notes: Derin knocked off Friedman, 7-4, on Saturday in High Point's 52-13 loss to Phillipsburg. Scrivani is wrestling extremely well right now, majoring Wallkill Valley's Steve Siek, who was fourth in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament, 14-4, last Tuesday. Looking forward to a potential Derin-Scrivani matchup on Friday. Burke is still up at 138 for the most part, so we will see where he goes in a few weeks. Entering the week, he had pinned 14 of his last 16 opponents.  

138 pounds

1. Jr. Max Nauta, Warren Hills
2. Jr. Corey Zinsmeister, Phillipsburg
3. Jr. Anthony Fano, Montville
4. Jr. David Migliaccio, West Morris
5. Jr. Eric Friedman, Mendham

Notes: Nauta maintains the top spot, despite getting pinned for the first time in his high school career by Delaware Valley's Codey Leh on Friday. Nauta rebounded with a 2-0 win over West Morris' David Migliaccio on Saturday. Migliaccio, fourth in the region at 126 last season, moves in at the No.4 spot after recently dropping from 145, where he was ranked fifth last week. Along with Friedman, that makes a total of four wrestlers from District 1 here. Freshman Brandon Kui of DePaul, who was No. 5 last week, is out for now. Fano (14-1) got his first loss on Saturday -- 7-3 to Delbarton's Travis Vasquez. Roxbury's Jake Legotte (13-5), who has two losses to Kui, is still on the outside looking in. Lenape Valley junior Glenn Haines, who has been out with a shoulder injury, returned for one bout last week against Newton. We'll check on his status moving forward.

145 pounds

1. Jr. David McFadden, DePaul
2. Jr. Jimmy Schuitema, Phillipsburg
3. Jr. Jason Gaccione, High Point

4. So. Craig Roumes, Roxbury
5. Jr. David Zeppetelli, West Milford

Notes: McFadden locked in at No. 1, but we had a flip-flop of 2 and 3, as Schuitema scored a 5-3 victory over Gaccione on Saturday in a battle of Region 1 champions. Schuitema converted a takedown in the final seconds to win. Roumes, who has lost twice to McFadden, moves up one spot with Migliaccio dropping to 138. Enter Zeppetelli, a region quarterfinalist at 126 last season, at No. 5. We're expecting Pope John's Tommy Murphy to compete this week after sitting his required 30 days due to transfer rules. He'd be in line to enter the rankings next week. 

152 pounds

1. Jr. Max Elling, Phillipsburg

2. Sr. Nick Romyns, Kittatinny
3. Jr. Luke Bohn, Jefferson
4. Sr. Chris Auer, High Point
5. Sr. Ron Spera, Mount Olive

Notes: Elling bumped to 160 and rallied to pin High Point's Tommy Hooker in a wild bout on Saturday. Elling trailed, 6-5, when he hit a chin whip for the fall in 5:37. Bohn went up to 160 on Saturday and dropped a 5-2 decision to Morris Knolls' Dean Drugac. That won't hurt Bohn here. Spera came up short in a 3-1 loss to JFK-Iselin's Carl Buttitta on Saturday. Auer, who was No. 3 last week, dropped to 145 against P'burg and lost a 13-7 decision to Stateliners backup Garrett Wolfinger. With the return of Romyns, Auer drops a spot. Romyns, a finalist at 145 last season who had been out with a knee injury, enters at No. 2 despite an earlier UTB loss to Morris Knolls' Luke Drugac, who has losses to Auer and Spera. DePaul sophomore Spencer Carey (18-4) is on the cusp here as well.

160 pounds

1. Sr. Broderick Bupivi, Phillipsburg

2. Sr. Steven Acevedo, Morris Hills
3. Sr. Tommy Hooker, High Point

4. So. Dean Drugac, Morris Knolls
5. Sr. Nick Carey, DePaul

Notes: Bupivi and Hooker did not meet on Saturday, as the Stateliner weighed in at 170. Kilroy, who was No. 3, dropped a 6-4 decision in sudden-victory overtime to DePaul's Nick Carey, who was unranked. Kilroy had pinned Carey on Jan. 4. Kilroy, who also has a 2-1 loss to Acevedo, is out for now. Acevedo bumped to 170 on Saturday and decked Sparta's Al Falco, a region qualifier last season. Drugac scored a nice win over Jefferson state qualifier Luke Bohn, No. 3 at 152, on Saturday. 

170 pounds

1. Sr. Dillon Artigliere, Roxbury

2. Sr. Jake Kocsis, Phillipsburg
3. Sr. Kieran Gerrity, Kittatinny

4. Jr. Kevin Merle, Belvidere

5. Sr. Zach D’Apolito, Wayne Valley

Notes: It's lonely at the top, where last season's 160-pound state champ resides. Have a feeling that Kocsis is going to make some noise this postseason. Rematch with Gerrity is looming next week, as they'll battle for the No. 2 spot. Round 1 went to Kocsis, 5-3, in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex finals. Three of Merle's five losses are to Gerrity. Both Merle and D'Apolito have split with Sparta's Al Falco. D'Apolito majored Falco, 15-3, on Dec. 21 and lost the rematch, 5-4, on Saturday. Better body of work leaves Falco (9-9) out for now, but he's in the conversation. Pequannock junior Brett Lobdell (12-3) also is in this mix.

182 pounds

1. Sr. Sam Button, Mendham

2. Jr. Nick DePalma, DePaul

3. Jr. D.J. Barrett, Lenape Valley

4. Sr. Dylan Wunder, Kittatinny

5. Sr. Jose Delgado, Morris Hills

Notes: Not a whole lot happening here. Button (17-1) firmly entrenched at the top spot. DePalma recorded five wins last week, including four pins. Delgado (12-1), whose only loss is a 7-1 decision to Roselle Park's Phil Woods on Jan. 11. Another wrestler to watch here is Warren Hills senior Steve Cleaver (12-1), who decked Delaware Valley's Luke Zehnbauer on Friday. Cleaver did not compete at Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex so he didn't get to face Barrett or Wunder. Pequannock's Patrick Daly (11-3) is on the bubble.

195 pounds

1. Sr. Kyle Stoll, High Point

2. Sr. Anthony Landberg, Wayne Valley

3. Sr. Garrett Armstrong, Kittatinny

4. Jr. Gus Protogeropoulos, Newton
5. Jr. Joe Maso, Phillipsburg

Notes: Stoll and Armstrong on a collision course for Friday, provided Kittatinny plays it straight up in the upper weights. Stoll earned a 5-1 win when they met in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex finals on Jan. 11. Armstrong racked up four first-period pins last week. Maso enters this week after an impressive 3-2 win over High Point's Bobby McDonnell up at 220. Maso also hung with Stoll in a 3-2 loss at the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament. Also keep an eye on Mendham's Aaron Flitcroft, Morris Knolls' Luke Nappi, Jefferson's Tyler Zimmerman and Sparta's Gavin Lally, who lost 12-6 to Landberg on Saturday, and 3-2 to Maso at HWS.

220 pounds

1. Sr. Bobby McDonnell, High Point

2. Sr. Justin Walker, Wayne Valley

3. Sr. Jesse Windt, West Morris

4. So. Scott Lavelle, DePaul

5. Sr. Andrew Simpson, Kittatinny

Notes: McDonnell is having a tough time with 195-pounders this season, dropping a 3-2 decision to Phillipsburg's Joe Maso on Saturday. This after a 4-3 loss to Newton's Gus Protogeropoulos in the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex finals. Until one or both commits to 220, McDonnell maintains the top spot. Walker (16-1) dropped a 6-3 decision to Bergen Catholic's Christian Jenco last Wednesday for his first loss. Lavelle had five pins last week, while Windt decked Warren Hills' Ryan Witner, a District 1 runner-up, on Saturday. Simpson could meet McDonnell on Friday, looking to avenge a loss by fall at HWS.

285 pounds

1. Sr. Noa Merritt, Pope John
2. Jr. Andrew Pacheco, Warren Hills

3. Sr. Gunny Wassong, High Point
4. Sr. Austin Behrens, Wayne Valley

5. Jr. Will O'Connell, North Warren

Notes: Merritt (14-0), the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex champion, is still unbeaten. Pacheco avenged an earlier loss to Delaware Valley's Marek Tomanek with a 3-2 win on Friday. They went 1-2-3 in the tri-county tournament. O'Connell decked Kittatinny's Tom Smith last week, for the second time this season, so he moves in at No. 5. Pacheco pinned O'Connell in under a minute on Saturday. Wassong was idle on Saturday night against P'burg. He could tangle with Smith, who was ranked at No. 5 last week, on Friday. Wassong posted a 4-0 win in their meeting at HWS.