Phillipsburg coach Dave Post on Tuesday said he filled the last remaining open date on his 2019-20 schedule with an independent match against Toms River North at home on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020. That date at one time had been slotted for a Skyland Conference crossover match with Warren Hills, but apparent "scheduling conflicts" created problems for both schools -- ending a series that's been continuous since 1966.
Warren Hills athletic director Mike Jones said he moved several matches to avoid having the Blue Streaks wrestle four consecutive days the week of Jan. 16, with his team competing in the Jack Welch Duals that Friday and Saturday at Moorestown High School. But alas, it was to no avail. Jones said he never heard back from Post or athletic director Tom Fisher in the interim at the start of the school year. Rumors had been floating all summer that a P'burg-Warren Hills match would not take place this season, and it now seems maybe beyond.
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| Phillipsburg holds a 59-14 series edge over Warren Hills. |
"I feel that I did everything we could to make the match happen, but it didn't work out," Jones said.
The question now is: Can a series that has seen 73 meetings since 1948 -- missing only from 1960-65 -- be dead all together?
Well, the first sign came back in March during the state tournament in Atlantic City when Post told me that Warren Hills coach Dave Sbriscia would not have his team participate in the 2019 Pin Cancer match -- as the Streaks did in the previous seven summers. There was also some confusion with the team scoring at the Warren County Farmer's Fair Tournament -- Sbriscia is the tournament director -- involving Phillipsburg and North Hunterdon that didn't sit well with Post.
In March, Sbriscia apparently offered up several potential dates for a match during the high school season, but many were on nights the Stateliners don't normally compete. A tentative date of Jan. 2 was on the table at one point, but Sbriscia told Post that he needed to check with the school to see if his team could get into their school to practice on Jan. 1.
But in the interim, Post moved the date for his team's match against Raritan to Jan. 2, and that left Jan. 16 as a potential date with Warren Hills. But it was never set in stone. Interestingly, P'burg and Warren Hills did wrestle on Jan. 2 last season, with the Stateliners scoring a 49-12 win at home -- raising their series advantage to 59-14 overall. P'burg has won 33 straight since falling twice to Warren Hills during the 1989-90 season. The Blue Streaks haven't won in this series since their 34-30 victory at home in the 1990 North 2, Group 3 sectional final -- one of only two losses for P'burg in sectional history (the other against Hunterdon Central in 2013). The Streaks also won, 32-31, in a regular-season clash at The Pit on Jan. 13, 1990.
"Based on the Pin Cancer match, events in the summer, and the events leading up to the scheduling, unscheduling, rescheduling and eventual cancellation of the 2020 dual, it became fairly apparent that Warren Hills simply wasn't interested in competing with Phillipsburg," Post said.
Jones feels quite the opposite. As a second-year AD with no wrestling background, he was unaware that coaches generally do their own scheduling -- mainly during the postseason tournaments. Jones was not privy to those conversations, nor was he aware Sbriscia was pulling out of the Pin Cancer event. Sbriscia was unavailable to comment on the scheduling issue with P'burg, per Warren Hills School District policy that coaches are not to speak on scheduling related matters.
"I'm disappointed. I respect Phillipsburg greatly. It's not that we didn't want to wrestle," Jones said.
There has been a lot of back and forth on this, and certainly blame to go around on both sides. Let's hope that this longtime traditional match gets back on the schedule. We need them in our sport. The only way to sustain interest and growth is by getting local communities together for single nighttime dual meets. Not ones at 1 p.m. on a Saturday, or those endless tris and quads.
Here's the final Phillipsburg schedule for 2019-20:
Dec. 21-22 -- at Dvorak Tournament (Rockford, Ill.)
Dec. 28-29 -- at Bethlehem (Pa.) Holiday Classic (Liberty High School)
Jan. 2 -- at Raritan
Jan. 4 -- at Monroe Township
Jan. 8 -- at Hunterdon Central
Jan. 9 -- at Kittatinny
Jan. 11 -- Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Tournament at Phillipsburg
Jan. 15 -- North Hunterdon
Jan. 16 -- Toms River North
Jan. 18 -- High Point (at The Pit)
Jan. 22 -- Ridge
Jan. 23 -- at Easton (Pa.)
Jan. 25 -- Southern
Jan. 29 -- at Hanover Park
Jan. 30 -- Hillsborough
Feb. 1 -- Newton
Feb. 5 -- at Montgomery
Feb. 6 -- Delaware Valley
Feb. 8 -- Ocean Township
Feb. 10 -- Sectional first round
Feb. 12 -- Sectional semifinals
Feb. 14 -- Sectional finals
Feb. 16 -- Group championships at Toms River North
Feb. 22 -- District 13 Tournament at Phillipsburg
Feb. 26, 28-29 -- Region 4 Tournament at Union
March 5-7 -- State Tournament at Atlantic City
Notes: Bold indicates Skyland Conference Raritan Division matches.
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