It was another one of those years where the NJSIAA wrestling group championships went nearly entirely as expected. That was just fine with Delaware Valley, which nailed down its second straight Group 1 state title and fourth in five years at Rutgers on Sunday when it crushed Emerson Boro, 65-8. This capped a historic dual-match year for a Delaware Valley team that on Friday became one of a handful of programs in the history of the state to reach the 900-win mark. This 900 total is particularly impressive when you consider DelVal didn’t start wrestling until 1963 and you contrast it to the starting dates of teams with more wins than DelVal. Newton, for instance, started in 1926. The starting date for some others were Paulsboro in 1939, Roselle Park in 1935, Phillipsburg in 1946 and Hunterdon Central in 1956. Sunday’s triumph also completed DelVal’s first perfect season after Andy Fitz’s team finished with a 24-0 record. The 1984 Delaware Valley team that was named No. 1 in the state also went undefeated, but its final record was 19-0-1 after a tie against a Voorhees team coached by Bob “Fireball” Hall. Furthermore, DelVal is now tied for third with South Plainfield for the most group titles by a public school with 12. Only Paulsboro (34) and Phillipsburg (23) have more. Making this year even more special was the way DelVal exceeded pre-season expectations. Sure the team was favored to win Group I, but nobody projected DelVal to be one of the top-five public school teams in the entire state. “We hit the ground running, but we weren’t really sure what we had until we beat North Hunterdon and Phillipsburg in two incredible matches in the same week,” said coach Andy Fitz. “I compare it to an engine running on all pistons. When you have 14 kids firing at the same time, it’s incredible to watch.” It certainly also reinforced DelVal’s status as one of the greatest programs in the history of New Jersey wrestling and a No. 4 ranking in The Trentonian’s Public School State Ratings. Looking at the rest of the top 10, Southern ended up No. 1 again after a fourth-straight Group 5 title and its sectional semifinal win over No. 3 Howell, which lost only to No. 2 Group 3 state champion Delsea and Southern. A big key to the Howell-Southern match was Southern winning the flip and being able to control a key matchup in the upper weights. Look for more fireworks from those teams next year. Howell was very young, and the word is there’s even more help on the way. Hopefully, it will occur to somebody to get these two teams out of the same section and move Howell to Central Jersey. Mt. Olive finished fifth in The Trentonian ratings. The team really came on as the year progressed by easily beating Philipsburg and North Hunterdon. Its only loss against a public school team was against Southern. Rounding out the top 10 are Phillipsburg, North Hunterdon, Group 2 state champion Rumson-Fair Haven, Lower Cape May and Manville. Yes, you read that right: Manville. Keep an eye on this team next year. Manville’s only loss was to DelVal, and it compiled a 32-1 record with just two seniors. Manville coach Pat Gorbatuk is obviously doing an outstanding job of building up this previously largely-unheralded program. Although Mercer County’s sectional title count remained at three when Robbinsville and Steinert both lost in their finals, it was a positive year with some near misses for four of its teams. Robbinsville fell to Brick Memorial, 41-30, in the C.J. Group 3 final, but was right in this match and suffered a tough blow when it injury-defaulted in the third period at 215 pounds in a bout that was up for grabs at the time. Brick Memorial then easily advanced with a victory in the group semifinals before getting crushed by Delsea. This underscored how Robbinsville was not that far away from becoming the first Mercer team to reach a group final. Robbinsville finished with 19 wins and was the team that compiled the most points at the Colonial Valley Conference Championships. With the vast majority of its lineup consisting of underclassmen, next season could be the year of the Ravens. Steinert had a very memorable year as well. The Spartans went 19-5, were declared the winner of the CVC Championships — there will be more on that in the season-ending Slammy awards — and won their first sectional match since beating Hopewell Valley in 2012. It was also the first time Steinert advanced to a sectional final. Speaking of Hopewell Valley, it had another strong season with a 23-4 record. Mario Harpel’s team will take a 55-match CVC winning streak into next season and wasn’t that far away from beating Brick Memorial in a sectional semifinal 33-26 loss. The Bulldogs lost one bout in overtime, and one of their wrestlers got pinned in the third period in a bout that was up for grabs in the third period. With the dual match season over, it’s now time to get ready for Saturday’s districts. Six CVC teams — including Robbinsville and Steinert — will be in District 21 at Christian Brothers, which lost to Delbarton in the Non-Public A group final. Considering Jackson is also in this district, winning individual titles for Mercer will be difficult. On the other hand, what counts even more is finishing in the top three and advancing to Region 6 the following week at Jackson. It’s unfortunate Trenton will not be hosting a boys district this year, but at least it it will be hosting a girls district this Sunday in which nine CVC teams are entered. The Trenton girls have a shot at winning this district, with the main competition probably coming from Manalapan. Trentonian Public School State Wrestling Rankings 1. Southern (20-1) 2. Delsea (22-3) 3. Howell (20-1) 4. Delaware Valley (24-0) 5. Mt. Olive (19-2) 6. Phillipsburg (13-5) 7. North Hunterdon (13-9) 8. Rumson-Fair Haven (18-4) 9. Lower Cape May (22-4) 10. Manville (32-1) Trentonian Area Wrestling Ratings 1. Delaware Valley (24-0) 2. North Hunterdon (13-9) 3. Seneca (24-4) 4. Hopewell Valley (23-4) 5. Robbinsville (19-10) 6. Lenape (16-5) 7. Rancocas Valley (17-6) 8. Delran (24-7) 9. Steinert (19-5) 10. Northern Burlington (15-13) 11. Hightstown (18-11) 12. Shawnee (12-15) 13. Cherokee (14-15) 14. Cinnaminson (14-13) 15. Moorestown (14-15) HIGHLIGHT MATCHES Saturday: NJSIAA boys districts. Sunday: NJSIAA girls districts. ...read more read less