Wrestling: North Hunterdon adds to tradition with Group 4 title
PISCATAWAY- North Hunterdon High School’s wrestling tradition has fed one winning season after another, 17 sectional titles and now a sixth state team championship.
Family legacy is a significant part of it and it came through again Sunday at Rutgers University's Jersey Mike's Arena.
The youngster who sealed the 33-27 win and state Group 4 championship over Jackson Memorial has a last name attached to North tradition like the green and gold singlet the Lions wear.
Senior 132-pounder John VanDoren – who was 0-3 before Sunday –provided the winning points. His 7-5 sudden victory just 18 seconds into the SV over Nikko Rucci gave North (15-5) a secure 33-21 lead with one bout to go. That enabled coach Chris Hrunka to forfeit 138.
Could a wrestling career end much better?
VanDoren came into the bout 0-3 this season. He had taken a few weeks off during the season for personal reasons, returned and suffered a concussion. He just got cleared Friday, said Hrunka.
“We hadn’t planned on using him today, but it just felt right,” Hrunka said.
VanDoren said he did what his grandfather Jack VanDoren had counseled him a few years ago on how to treat overtime.
“My grandfather was always telling me that when it comes to overtime you shoot right off the whistle,” said VanDoren, who’ll be attending Moravian next year. “I saw him up there today, too.”
ANOTHER BIG ONE
Another huge effort came from North Hunterdon regular 215-pounder Brendan Raley, who once again bumped up to 285 and scored a buzzer-beating escape for a 2-1 win over previously-unbeaten Ryan Fischer (28-1). Raley was outweighed by 63 pounds.
“I was thinking to trust the conditioning and that no matter what I could push past what he could push past,” said Raley. “I was pushing the pace. I was confident that if it went into overtime I would have been able to push out a win, whether in overtime or ultimate rideout.”
Hrunka said, “Brendan’s special, he’s a special kid, he has a ton of heart and has done it consistently against good kids and this kid might have been the best of them.”
SPEAKING OF FAMILIES
Evan Kinney gave North a 4-0 lead as he led off the match with an 11-0 major at 144. Evan’s father wrestled at Somerville and his grandfather Dave – who was at the match – was a Pioneer state champ, longtime Ville coach and SHS Hall of Famer.
THEY SAID IT
Chris Hrunka on the stress of being a wrestling coach in any match, “One match, one bout, one move could be the end of it. That’s the fun part, but it’s also stressful part of a match. The fun part of wrestling is that until the score says you can’t win…you’re never out of it until you’re out of it.”
North Hunterdon 33, Jackson Memorial 27
144 Evan Kinney (North Hunterdon) over Ryan Wolf (Jackson Memorial Hs) Maj 11-0
150 Daniel DeLusant (North Hunterdon) over Christopher Wolf (Jackson Memorial Hs) Fall 3:00
157 Cael Huxford (Jackson Memorial Hs) over Brian Wilson (North Hunterdon) TF 17-2
165 John Calamia (Jackson Memorial Hs) over Aaron Yarnell (North Hunterdon) Dec 5-1
175 Luke Hamann (Jackson Memorial Hs) over Thales Gondim (North Hunterdon) Fall 3:10
190 Alex Uryniak (North Hunterdon) over Paul Novello (Jackson Memorial Hs) Fall 0:54
215 Louis White (North Hunterdon) over Justin Krosnicki (Jackson Memorial Hs) UTB 4-3
285 Brendan Raley (North Hunterdon) over Ryan Fischer (Jackson Memorial Hs) Dec 2-1
106 Joseph Celentano (North Hunterdon) over Joseph Weikel (Jackson Memorial Hs) Maj 11-2
113 Logan Wadle (North Hunterdon) over Jay Seda (Jackson Memorial Hs) Maj 10-2
120 Luis Espinoza (Jackson Memorial Hs) over Shane Wysocki (North Hunterdon) Dec 6-2
126 Jonathan Espinoza (Jackson Memorial Hs) over Grant Goldan (North Hunterdon) Maj 18-4
132 John VanDoren (North Hunterdon) over Nikko Rucci (Jackson Memorial Hs) SV-1 7-5
138 Lucas Lipari (Jackson Memorial Hs) over Unknown (Unattached) Fort
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Wrestling: North Hunterdon adds to tradition with Group 4 title
