Coach of the year: Not a whole lot was expected out of North Hunterdon coming into the season. The Annandale school had some standouts in its lineup, but it also had many inexperienced wrestlers, some of whom had never wrestled before, filling out spots as well, especially in the upper weights.
But fifth-year coach Tim Flynn’s squad defied the conventional wisdom and put together a sensational campaign. The Lions were 18-3 in dual meets, including a streak of 13 straight triumphs at one point, and reached the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 semifinals. Perhaps more importantly, North won the mythical Hunterdon County regular season title by sweeping county foes Delaware Valley, Voorhees and Central for the first time in a decade.
Dual meet of the year: The final score was not as close as some of the other standout duals in the tri-county area this season, but beyond that, North Hunterdon’s 33-22 triumph over Delaware Valley on Jan. 30 in Annandale had pretty much everything one could want from a match.
In front of a capacity crowd anchored by both school’s boisterous student sections, five of 14 bouts were decided in the closing seconds of the third period and three ended in controversial calls that necessitated animated head table discussions. But North Hunterdon’s ability to win each bout from 145 pounds through 182 was enough for it to pull away from the Terriers and wrap up its first county sweep since 2003 and take a 24-23 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to the early 1960s.
Click HERE to review the article in NJ.com.
