Wrestling: HWS (4) headlines opening NJWWA poll

The first New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association poll for the 2021-22 season has a distinct North Jersey look to it. 

North Hunterdon (8-2) is top team in the Open Mike area rankings and debuts at No. 13 in the NJWWA Top 20. The Lions, who own a 33-22 win over No. 14 Warren Hills, faced No. 16 Phillipsburg in a key Skyland Conference Raritan Division showdown on Wednesday night.

Coach Chris Hrunka's North team finished second at the 16th Henry Boresch Duals on Saturday, beating No. 15 South Plainfield, 35-33, before dropping a 39-28 decision to No. 12 Howell in the championship match. The Lions could see No. 5 Kingsway this weekend at the loaded North Warren Patriot Duals, which includes No. 20 Livingston, High Point, St. John Vianney and West Essex.

Hunterdon Central, which is slated to face No. 9 Mount Olive as part of a home quad on Saturday, rounds out locals in this week's poll at No. 19. The Red Devils are also scheduled to unveil the school's brand new Wrestling Hall of Fame.

The top four teams in the rankings are from that part of the state, and more specifically, they all reside in the NJSIAA Non-Public North A classification. 

Powerful Delbarton, which finished the 2019-20 season ranked No. 1 and was the Non-Public top team in last year's pandemic-shortened season when the NJWWA had a Non-Public and Public poll, is ranked No. 1. 

Bergen Catholic, which was ranked No. 1 for six consecutive seasons from 2014-19 is next followed by St. Joseph (Montvale) and Paramus Catholic. 

Paramus Catholic made a splash last weekend when it swept a quad meet at Middletown South that involved No. 11 and Middletown South and No. 7 Delsea. 

Kingsway is the top public school team in the rankings. The Dragons, who were the No. 1 public school team in last year's final rankings, will be part of a loaded Group 5 field next month that will also include No. 8 Southern, No. 12 Howell, No. 16 Phillipsburg, No. 19 Hunterdon Central and No. 20 Livingston.  

Kingsway and Southern are in the South Jersey, Group 5 section. Howell and Hunterdon Central are in Central Jersey Phillipsburg is in North 2 and Livingston in North 1 Group 5. The 'Liners won their matchup on Monday, 37-22, at home.

Some surprising results over the past week resulted in some interesting situations for the rankings. 

Warren Hills' 35-15 rout of Phillipsburg on Jan. 14 put the Blue Streaks, who fell to No. 9 Mount Olive, 33-27, on Dec. 30, in the rankings and Middletown South's 31-27 win over Howell on Tuesday night caused some tweaking to the rankings in the Shore Conference. 

Rank	School	Record
1	Delbarton	(3-0)
2	Bergen Catholic	(2-1)
3	St. Joseph-Montvale	(3-0)
4	Paramus Catholic	(5-0)
5	Kingsway	(3-0)
6	St. Peter's Prep	(2-0)
7	Delsea	(8-2)
8	Southern	(8-0)
9	Mount Olive	(8-1)
10	Christian Bros. Academy	(8-1)
11	Middletown South	(7-3)
12	Howell	(10-1)
13	North Hunterdon	(8-2)
14	Warren Hills	(4-2)
15	South Plainfield	(5-1)
16	Phillipsburg	(4-1)
17	Camden Catholic	(5-1)
18	Brick Memorial	(9-2)
19	Hunterdon Central	(5-2)
20	Livingston	(5-1)

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 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 and courierpostonline.com); Andy Mendlowitz (Courier News, Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com); Andrew Tredinnick (New Jersey Herald and njherald.com); Greg Tufaro (Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com); Michael Weilamann (Open Mike and mikeopen.blogspot.com), Brad Wilson (The Express Times and lehighvalleylive.com).