Wrestling: District recap for HWS by the numbers

Let's review what happened in the 12 districts that house teams from the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area. In all, there are 125 wrestlers from the HWS area still competing -- up seven from the previous two seasons since this ridiculous realignment was introduced for the 2016-17 season.

Here's the team-by team breakdown of qualifiers:

Phillipsburg (12); Hunterdon Central, North Hunterdon and Pope John (11); Newton (10); High Point and Warren Hills (9); Delaware Valley (8); Lenape Valley, Sparta and Voorhees (7); Kittatinny (6); Hackettstown (5); Belvidere (4); Hopatcong (3); North Warren and Wallkill Valley (2); Vernon (1).

We had four schools win team championships: Pope John (D2), Phillipsburg (D13), Hunterdon Central (D18) and North Hunterdon (D20).

Here's a closer look by the numbers:

North with the D20 trophy. (Courtesy of Chris Hrunka).

212 -- North Hunterdon, which matched the 1994-95 and 2008-09 teams with a school-record 20 wins during the dual meet season, won its third straight team title -- this time in District 20 at Red Bank after spending the previous two seasons in District 15 -- as sophomore Frank Diesso (113), senior Connor Robinson (120), junior Nathaniel Fossett (170) and senior Lorenzo Becerril (285) won their first titles for the Lions, who have won team titles in four of the last five years and now have 212 champions overall -- missing having at least one champ only once in 2008.

38 -- Hunterdon Central cruised to its fourth straight team title (with 254.5 points) and ninth in the last 11 years to raise the program's total to 38. Senior Jack Bauer (126) won his fourth title, only the fourth to do so at his school since 2000, as the Red Devils produced six champions for the third time in four years, including sophomore Brett Ungar (106) and senior Pasquale Vizzoni (145), who won their second titles. They were joined by first-time winners Colton Washleski (120), Tanner Peake (132) and Ryan Joyce (285).

13 -- Since going six straight years without a district champion, Sparta has now won 13 titles in six seasons as sophomore Spencer Stewart (120), a first-time winner, joined his brother and two-time champ Garrett Stewart (126), who picked up his 100th career win in the finals to join six others in the school's century club, in District 4 at Pascack Valley. For the second straight season, the Spartans advanced seven to Region 1, including junior Cooper Stewart (second at 113), freshman Nick Hwang (third at 132), senior Chris Hwang (second at 138), senior Rocco Gignatelli (second at 145) and senior Riley Kennedy (third at 160).

P'burg leads all area teams with 350 district champions.

64 -- With seven champions in District 13, including four-time winner Cody Harrison (152) and two-time winners Logan Maczko (106), Kyle Tino (138) and Austin Roth (195), Phillipsburg won its 46th team championship. The Warren County school has now had at least one champion for 64 straight tournaments since missing in 1955. Joey Innamorato (120), Jacob Wicks (182) and Gage Horvath (220) won their first titles. The only other year that the 'Liners came up empty was 1950. Bill Lowe was the program's first champion at 103 pounds in 1948.

12 -- Pope John rolled to its fifth district team championship overall and second since 1981 behind a trio of three-time winners -- seniors JoJo Aragona (138) and Robbie Garcia (152) and junior Eddie Ventresca (120), who will look to become just the fifth four-timer for the Lions, who have had 12 win at least three titles in their history, next season. Aragona (34-0), a three-time state placewinner and favorite to win a title in Atlantic City this season, moved closer to the Sussex County wins record at 150-6 overall, needing just seven to surpass former High Point great and three-time state champ Nick Francavilla (156-12 from 2007-11). In all, the Sparta-based school, which also won team titles in 1975, '77 and 2018, crowned at least six champions for only the third time (also achieved in 1975) after a program-record seven last year.

The top three Newton wins leaders. (Kelsey Pittenger)

24 -- Newton senior Wyatt McCarthy (145), a returning state placewinner, had a banner day at District 2, becoming the Braves' first three-time champion since Joel Branham (1977-79) and the program's 24th overall, while also moving into second place on the school's all-time wins list at 130-22. Pretty cool moment as Nos. 1 and 3 -- Kevin Churchill (151) and Austin Alpaugh (128) -- were in attendance as assistant coaches for Wallkill Valley and Pope John, respectively. In addition, senior Luke Fischer (220) became the 10th member of the Braves' 100 victories club in claiming his first title. His brother, Lance, won at 160 pounds in 2016. Eric Bollette was named District 2 Coach of the Year.

10 -- Washington High School became Warren Hills following the 1966-67 school year. Since then, only 10 wrestlers have won at least three district titles for the Blue Streaks. Senior Nick Galka (31-3) became the 10th wearing a Warren Hills uniform as the District 12 champion at 220 pounds. He joins Rick Rhinehart (1967, '68, '70), Dan Slack (1975-77), Jim Miller (1977-79), Ben Oberly (1984-86), Corey Miller (1987, '89, '90), Dave Richmond (2003-06), Max Nauta (2013-15), Andrew Pacheco (2013-15) and Jarod Ostir (2016-18). Only Richmond won four. Senior Duro Ajayi (285), who won his first title, is the school's first heavyweight champ since Pacheco in 2015.

14 -- High Point junior Billy Talmadge (138) became 14th wrestler to win at least three district titles for the Wildcats, while also earning the Outstanding Wrestler Award in District 1 at Fair Lawn High School. He will look to join Gavin Tarsa (2005-08), Nick Francavilla and Drew Wagenhoffer (2008-11) as the program's only four-time winners next season. Freshman Brian Soldano (160) and senior Andrew Lewis (285) also won titles. Also advancing were runners-up Clayton Utter (106), Devon Liebl (113), Devin Flannery (120), who has 98 career wins, and Sean Van Wingerden (195), along with third-place finishers Josh Gervey (132) and Jonathan Morris (182). John Gardner was named District 1 Coach of the Year.

26 -- Kittatinny extended its streak with at least one district champion to 26 straight seasons as senior Zach Mafaro (182) won his third to become the 12th wrestler to win at least three for the Cougars and moved into seventh place on the school's wins list at 128-27, while junior Jacob Mafaro (285) won his second title. John Gill was named District 3 Coach of the Year.

Belvidere makes there way to West Orange for Regions. Next stop, Atlantic City!! pic.twitter.com/QAoKkWXQta

— Belvidere Wrestling (@bhswrestlin) February 17, 2019

56 -- Belvidere senior Quinn Melofchik (113), who has designs on becoming the third wrestler at the Warren County school to capture a state title, won his second District 12 championship to become the first multiple winner for the County Seaters, who have 56 champs overall, since Evan Bray won back-to-back District 1 titles at 182 pounds in 2012-13. Sophomore Shane Exley (170), who won his first title, Hunter Lensi (second at 106) and Carson Grogan (third at 285) also advanced to the Region 3 Tournament this week.

123 -- Voorhees advanced seven to the Region 4 Tournament at Union High School, including District 14 champions Sam Huff (220) and Lewis Fernandes (285). Huff, who won his third title, became just the 13th wrestler to win at least three for the Vikes, who have 123 champions overall. Fernandes (39-0), who is the school's all-time wins leader at 145-22 overall, earned the Outstanding Wrestler Award with two pins in capturing his second title.

113 -- Delaware Valley senior AJ DeRosa (132) was a repeat winner in District 19 and earned the Outstanding Wrestler Award, while sophomore Anthony DeRosa (152) and senior Shawne Ramsby (170) won their first titles to give the Terriers 113 overall and extend the program's streak of at least one winner to 22 straight seasons since missing in 1997. The DeRosas are the first set of brothers to win titles in the same season for the Hunterdon County school.

8 -- Over in District 8, host Lenape Valley finished second in the team standings as freshman Daniel Haws (106) and junior Eric Falleni (138) won their first titles, while Marcus Bitetto picked up his second in a row at 113. Hopatcong, which has 74 champions overall, trailing the Patriots now by one, missed for only the third time since 1990, but Frank Mastroeni (third at 120), a champ last season, Andrew Costa (second at 126) and Michael Mastroeni (second at 138) advanced to Region 2 for the Chiefs.