WRESTLING: South Plainfield debuts at No. 19 in NJWWA Top 20 poll

South Plainfield debuts at No. 19 in the first New Jersey Wrestling Writers Association Top 20 poll of the season, while Monroe is among the high schools receiving votes.

Monroe will get a chance to prove itself in a dual against South Plainfield on Friday at the Rutgers Athletics Center, but must first attempt to defeat an outstanding Edison squad on Wednesday night.

The Eagles, who did not receive any votes for the initial NJWWA Top 20 poll, are on the verge of being considered with strong showings at the Paul Finn Duals and Goles Invitational.

Monroe has quality losses to 16th-ranked Christian Brothers Academy and 17th-ranked Brick Township, two of six Shore Conference schools ranked in the NJWWA Top 20.

Despite faring better against common opponents than Don Bosco Prep and St. Augustine at the Virginia Duals over the weekend, South Plainfield finds itself ranked behind both teams.

South Plainfield defeated Fauquier of Virginia 31-30. Fauquier defeated 11th-ranked Don Bosco Prep 36-32. South Plainfield lost 35-30 to Arvada West, while Arvada West of Colorado defeated 14th-ranked St. Augustine 48-22. None of the New Jersey schools competed at full strength.

The Tigers are 12-3 with a 40-15 loss to fourth-ranked Howell and a 46-6 loss to reigning Virginia Duals champion Colonial Forge of Virginia (against South Plainfield, Colonial Forge won seven of the first nine bouts – two in sudden victory – by a total of 16 points).

South Plainfield won the season-opening Morris Knolls Tournament and defeated Morris Knolls, which received NJWWA Top 20 consideration, at the Boresch Duals. The Tigers wrestle 10th-ranked Jackson Memorial and Paramus on Saturday.

Bergen Catholic, coming off a second-place finish at the 38th annual Doc Buchanan Tournament in Clovis, California over the weekend, is ranked No. 1 in the first NJWWA Top 20 poll of the season.

Bound Brook, which tied a tournament record with eight individual champions for the second consecutive year en route to capturing its fourth consecutive Somerset County title last weekend, is ranked No. 2.

St. Peter's Prep and Howell are ranked No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, while Phillipsburg, which claimed its fifth consecutive Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament title over the weekend, is ranked fifth.

The Shore Conference – with six of its members currently ranked in the NJWWA Top 20 – appears to be the state's most dominant league.

The NJWWA consists of 16 voting members. Results of its poll will appear weekly during the season in newspapers and on websites of participating media outlets. Region V ranking chairman Ron Mazzola is the association's president.

Bergen Catholic, which is 2-0 with wins over Hanover Park and Brick Memorial, placed nine wrestlers in the 99-team Doc Buchanan field with two-time state champion Nick Suriano claiming the 120-pound title.

Ranked No. 11 in the country according to InterMat, Bergen Catholic finished behind tournament champion Clovis, which is ranked fourth nationally, and ahead of third-place Buchanan, which InterMat ranks sixth in the country.

Later this year, Bergen Catholic will resume wrestling against national competition, hosting third-ranked Blair Academy and fifth-ranked Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) on Feb. 1.

Bergen Catholic has nearly a dozen duals before Feb. 1 including meetings with DePaul and Don Bosco Prep, both ranked in the NJWWA's Top 20.

Earlier this season, Bergen Catholic won its third consecutive Bergen County Tournament championship and 18th overall. The Crusaders advanced nine wrestlers to the finals and crowned three champions.

Despite missing two projected starters, Bergen Catholic opened the year with a fourth-place finish in the 98-team field in the Beast of the East at the University of Delaware. Suriano won his third consecutive individual title at the event.

Although some key starters graduated, including three-time state champion Johnny Sebastian, Bergen Catholic head coach Dave Bell said he believes the Crusaders could continue to build on the program's success of a year ago, when his team was ranked among the Top 10 nationally.

"I felt we had a great nucleus and some really talented freshmen coming in," Bell said. "I thought that we could be at least as good as we were last year. It's a very tight knit group of kids. They are working hard and there's a great team chemistry. We've had some young wrestlers step up and we really haven't missed a step. It's been a great year so far."

Bell said Bergen Catholic has yet to compete at full strength in any tournament, missing at least one wrestler in each event.

Bergen Catholic will wrestle Bound Brook (6-1) after the NJSIAA Team Tournament qualifying cutoff date.

Bound Brook's lone loss is to Apple Valley (Minn.) at The Clash National Duals in Minnesota, where 152-pounder Sean Glasgow was named to the All-Tournament team.

Twelve of the 13 wrestlers Bound Brook entered in the Somerset County Tournament placed in the top three as Bound Brook accumulated 263 points, 11 shy of the tournament record it set in 1998-99.

NJWWA voting members (in alphabetical order): Donald J. Brower (MorrisCountyHSWrestling.com); Frank D'Esposito (theShoreConference.com); Steve Falk (Asbury Park Press); Brian Fortner (Express-Times); Harry Frezza (Courier News of Bridgewater); Josh Friedman (The Mat Pack and Daily Journal of Vineland); Screwy Louie Lazzari (New Jersey Wrestling Historian); John Lewis (Burlington County Times); Ron Mazzola (On the Mat); Sean Miller (Trenton Times); Tom McGurk (Courier Post of Cherry Hill); John O'Kane (Atlantic City Press); Anthony Spaulding (New Jersey Herald); Greg Tufaro (Home News Tribune of East Brunswick); Mike Weilamann (Open Mike/Mugs Media); Brad Wilson (Express-Times).

HOW THE POLL WORKS

Bergen Catholic was the unanimous No. 1 choice of the NJWWA, receiving a total of 320 points, or 20 points for each first-place vote.

Teams accrue points based on the position in which they are voted. For example, a No. 2 ranking receives 19 points, a No. 3 ranking receives 18 points and so forth in descending order with a No. 20 ranking receiving one point.

Each school's point totals for the 16 votes cast are accumulated to determine its ranking.

NJWWA TOP 20
(records through Jan. 11)

1. Bergen Catholic (2-0 record) 320 points (16 first-place votes)
2. Bound Brook (6-1) 296
3. St. Peter's Prep (9-3) 282
4. Howell (10-0) 274
5. Phillipsburg (4-1) 256
6. Brick Memorial (5-1) 226
7. Delbarton (5-0) 214
8. DePaul (9-0) 194
9. Paulsboro (9-0) 190
10. Jackson Memorial (7-2) 163
11. Don Bosco Prep (2-2) 158
12. Southern (5-2) 139
13. North Hunterdon (5-1) 110
14. St. Augustine Prep (6-3) 100
15. Clearview (6-0) 96
16. Christian Brothers Academy (9-2) 72
17. Brick (9-1) 69
18. Hanover Park (2-4) 54
19. South Plainfield (12-3) 53
20. Roxbury (6-1) 34

Others receiving votes:

Haddonfield 16, Delaware Valley 11, Lenape Valley 10, Long Branch 10, Morris Knolls 5, Wall Township 3, West Deptford 3, Monroe Township 2