RICK FORTENBAUGH: Projecting the dual meet wrestling team championships

It’s the biggest week of the New Jersey dual match wrestling season with the sectionals that got underway Monday night and the groups set for Sunday in Toms River.

Unfortunately, so much of what is about to happen is predictable it takes away some of the fun. You can blame the disastrous addition of Group V and the lack of quality dual-match depth in the state for the lack of drama.

It’s especially bad when it comes to the opening round massacres involving the low seeds. How funny would it be if a coach held practice in his wrestling room for the varsity while the JV was hammering some No. 8 seed in the main gym.

On the local front, for the first time in memory not one Trentonian area team is favored to win a sectional title despite the fact a record 27 of them were competing in the opening round.

As they say, the show goes on and the following is a brief breakdown of what wrestling fans can expect by group:

GROUP V

It’s going to be a hot time Friday night in two of the sectional finals. One of them is the projected Howell at Hunterdon Central match in Central Jersey in a match-up of two of the top four public school teams in the state. According to sources, No. 1 Howell is already lining up buses to bring its fans to a Hunterdon Central Fieldhouse that surely will be jumping.

Although No. 4 Hunterdon Central has a lot of strengths, the truth of the matter is it just doesn’t match up very well with Howell. And the reasons are to beat Howell you need to score big against the Rebel upper weights and Howell will be favored to take out of a couple of Central’s big guns.

The 132-pound weight class is the perfect example. Central has Hunter Graf, but Howell has Kyle Slendorn. And if you run Graf up to 138 he will be up against a quality wrestler in Daniel Esposito.

Furthermore bumping up a lot of weights against Howell could really backfire, although Central might do it anyway knowing it needs to roll the dice. Also keep an eye on to see if Howell brings down Darby Diedrich go to against Jack Bower at 120. It could very well afford to do this because it would have Luke Rada at 126.

In arguably the deepest section in the state, South Jersey Group V will also have some good action. Especially if Kingsway can arrive at Southern with a full line-up, which has rarely been the case this year.

A capable Williamstown team will meet Southern in one of the semifinals if it was able to duplicate its earlier 31-28 win over Rancocas Valley in the opening round Monday night.

If form holds up, it will be Howell against whatever team emerges from the awful North Jersey Section 1 field and Watchung Hills against Southern in the group semifinals. The atmosphere would be excellent for an all-Shore Conference final, although much like Hunterdon Central it appears Southern doesn’t match up well with Howell. Much of Southern’s strength is in the middleweights where Howell, of course, is formidable.

It all adds up for the second straight and second state title in the history of the Howell program.

GROUP IV

It’s Phillipsburg, Phillipsburg, Phillipsburg. And once again a pox on Group V because otherwise the Stateliners might very well run into Howell or have a rematch with Hunterdon Central. (P-Burg has already beaten Southern).

Howell-Phillipsburg would also have been entertaining because the two have spent much of the year blaming the other for not being able to arrange a regular-season dual match.

West Morris, Long Branch and Cherry Hill West look like the other sectional winners. A.k.a. Wrong Branch, Long Branch lost to Raritan, which posted a one-point win over North Hunterdon, which got ripped by P-Burg.

You do the math.

Phillipsburg fans travel better than anyone in the state, but you have to wonder how many will make the long ride to watch this.

GROUP III

While South Plainfield has had a lot of stronger teams than this, keep in mind all of its losses were to top 10 teams and its tough schedule should pay off.

There’s also not a lot in the Tigers’ way with Sparta, Cranford and Delsea as the top seeds in the other sections. There’s just not much to get excited about here.

Although Hopewell Valley has made the Central Jersey finals two last two years, don’t look for it to happen again. If it Hopewell got past Rahway, it will head to Ocean on Wednesday. Ocean has already beaten Hopewell and that was when the Bulldogs were at full strength.

Also in terms of local teams, the winner of Monday’s Allentown-Bordentown match will meet the end of the road in the semis at South Plainfield.

GROUP II

Here’s where things could get interesting, particularly at groups. If the top four seeds won, it would be High Point vs. Pt. Pleasant Boro in one semi and Raritan against Hanover Park in the other.

Some seem to think Haddonfield will come out of South Jersey. If it does it would wrestle Raritan. Obviously, High Point will be rooting for Boro in order to avoid a semifinal with Hanover Park.

Probably ditto for Hanover Park, which is well aware it doesn’t match up great against High Point because of the Hillbilly strength down below. A Hanover Park-High Point match could very well be determined by both team’s largely unheralded upperweights.

Delaware Valley is the defending state champion, but it’s a real stretch to think the Dogs could win a semi at Raritan. Robbinsville is in the lower and less strong half of the bracket. If things break right and Isaiah Gonzalez is healthy, perhaps the Ravens could make it to Friday night. If they won their opener their semifinal opponent would probably be Holmdel.

Holmdel?

Yes, the Holmdel team that beat both Ewing and Nottingham by a whopping four points.

GROUP I

This is all about Emerson and Paulsboro.

The only team to beat Hunterdon Central and featuring the coaching genius of Stand Woods (haha), Emerson has an excellent core of wrestlers.

Paulsboro certainly sees Emerson on the horizon, providing the fumes from the oil factory are blowing in the right direction and Cough City can see anything at all.

PAROCHIAL A

Don’t you feel terrible the nation’s top-ranked Bergen Catholic just lost to Montini Catholic of Illinois?

Making it even funnier is some Bergen Catholic people are accusing Blair of ducking Montini Catholic. This is particularly rich when you consider before Bergen Catholic loaded up with an abundance of talent it was well known for ducking teams like Phillipsburg.

Shut up!

PAROCHIAL B

Considering Pope John is in the field, this must be the proverbial trick question.