Wrestling: P'burg top public in final NJWWA Top 20

Perhaps no New Jersey high school wrestling team bounced back better than Phillipsburg this season. As a result, the Stateliners, who suffered a brutal 20-point loss in January, finished the season as the top public school and No. 4 overall in the final New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association Top 20 released on Wednesday night.

The NJWWA, for the second straight season, will award trophies to both the top public and Non-Public teams. The trophies, which are donated by NJWWA president and Region 5 ranking chairman Ron Mazzola of Prestige Imaging in Old Bridge, are to be presented at the 89th State Wrestling Championships March 3-5 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

Bergen Catholic, the No. 1 team overall, will receive the Non-Public trophy, while P'burg collects its first. (Note: Open Mike voted Mount Olive as the top public based on its previous ranking and a 33-27 win over Group 3 runner-up Warren Hills, which beat the Stateliners, 35-15, 15 days later on Jan. 14, along with a solid resume that included wins against two state champions (Delaware Valley, 38-21, and Pope John, 46-24) as well as Group 2 runner-up High Point, 47-18 and No. 15 Brick Memorial, 32-29. The latter was in the Group 4 final as the Marauders claimed their first state championship and Morris County's seventh all-time in the public ranks, joining Jefferson (1992-94), Randolph (1993), Hanover Park (2015) and Montville (2020).

Mount Olive's lone losses this season were to No. 6 Southern (31-30 on Jan. 8) and No. 2 Delbarton (45-22 on Jan. 25).

Phillipsburg (16-1), which dropped 11 bouts in that loss to Warren Hills, reeled off 13 straight from that point -- including a 27-25 win over Southern in the Group 5 semifinals -- to capture the historic program's 39th sectional, 23rd state and Skyland Conference (Raritan Division) championships. 

P'burg celebrated its first state title since 2018.

First-year coach Brad Gentzle's team won its first state title since 2018 and its first in Group 5 with a 51-8 drubbing of No. 16 Howell. The 'Liners have now won titles in three classifications -- previously winning 14 in Group 4 and eight in Group 3. P'burg won its five postseason tournament matches this season by an average of 49.8 points.
 

Delaware Valley (Group 1) and Pope John (Non-Public B) -- both unranked by the NJWWA this season -- also won state championships as the Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex area matched its own record with three. It's now happened twice since 2018 and only six times -- 1982, '83, '87, '89 were the others -- since the Group tournaments formed in 1982. 

There have been three HWS public school winners on just two occasions (Phillipsburg, Delaware Valley and Voorhees in 1987; P'burg, Del Val and Hunterdon Central in '89) and HWS (17 schools) now has 66 state titles overall (22 in Sussex, 25 in Warren and 19 in Hunterdon).

Warren Hills, North Hunterdon and Hunterdon Central also represent the HWS area in the final Top 20. 

WH celebrates its sixth sectional title.

The 13th-ranked Blue Streaks (17-4) produced one of the storied program's finest dual seasons in recent memory -- winning the Skyland Conference Valley Division title and their first sectional championship since 2007, but they were edged by Delsea, 29-28, in a bid for the school's third Group 3 title and first since 1997. Besides P'burg, Warren Hills, sitting on 787 wins overall in 86 seasons, also logged wins over Howell (39-22 on Jan. 22), No. 20 Livingston (41-15 on Feb. 2), Group 2 champion Raritan (39-21 on Dec. 22) and Group 1 winner Del Val (57-3 on Feb. 1), while falling to No. 2 Delbarton (53-17 on Jan. 22), No. 7 Mount Olive (33-27 on Dec. 30) and No. 17 North Hunterdon (33-22 on Jan. 7).

NH claimed its 16th sectional championship.

The Lions (16-5), who will enter their 67th season next December three wins shy of 800, captured their second straight North 2, Group 4 sectional championship, fell to Group 4 runner-up Brick Memorial, 39-28, at home in the state semifinals. Coach Chris Hrunka's team also scored wins over Warren Hills (33-22 on Jan. 7), No. 18 South Plainfield (35-33 on Jan. 15) and Delaware Valley (40-20 on Jan. 25), while its losses included P'burg (44-14 on Jan. 9) and No. 9 St. Peter's Prep (44-27 on Dec. 23), Howell (39-28 on Jan. 15) and No. 14 St. John Vianney (35-33 on Jan. 22).

Central (17-4), which battled injuries and illness most of the season, slots in at No. 20. The Red Devils nearly ended Howell's postseason run in a 31-26 loss to the Rebels in the Central Jersey, Group 5 sectional final. Coach Jon Cantagallo-Rohm's team, which beat Del Val, 29-28, on Jan. 31, also lost to Phillipsburg (34-30 on Jan. 4), Brick Memorial (38-25 on Jan. 15) and Mount Olive (43-24 on Jan. 22).

One of the most dramatic matches in the history of New Jersey high school wrestling determined who finished ranked No. 1 in the NJWWA Top 20. 

Bergen Catholic's win over then No. 1 Delbarton in the Non-Public North A championship match on Criteria J -- most near fall points after a 23-23 tie -- gave the Crusaders the inside track to No. 1. They then closed the deal with a 38-20 win over Christian Brothers Academy in the Non-Public A state championship match. 

Bergen Catholic (12-1) finished No. 1 for the first time since 2019. Delbarton owned the No. 1 spot the previous two seasons. The Crusaders had finished No. 1 six consecutive seasons from 2014-19. 

Here is the final NJWWA Top 20 for 2021-22: 

Rank	School	Record	Previous
1	Bergen Catholic	(12-1)	2
2	Delbarton	(12-2)	1
3	St. Joseph-Montvale	(7-3)	3
4	Phillipsburg	(16-1)	13
5	Christian Bros. Academy	(18-3)	12
6	Southern	(17-1)	6
7	Mount Olive	(18-2)	7
8	Paramus Catholic	(12-3)	4
9	St. Peter's Prep	(8-2)	5
10	Kingsway	(11-2)	9
11	St. Augustine	(13-4)	NR
12	Delsea	(20-5)	10
13	Warren Hills	(17-4)	11
14	St. John Vianney	(16-4)	8
15	Brick Memorial	(19-4)	19
16	Howell	(22-5)	15
17	North Hunterdon	(16-5)	16
18	South Plainfield	(16-3)	17
19	Middletown South	(15-5)	14
20	Hunterdon Central	(17-4)	20

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 (lehighvalleylive.com/The Express-Times).