Voorhees and North Hunterdon have been bitter rivals for the past 48 years since Voorhees was built, and Monday’s matchup was another competitive matchup in their history. Dave Bell coached his first dual meet as well as his first home match for North Hunterdon, ending in a 43-28 victory that was closer than the final score shows. The dual meet was expected to be a toss up and that’s exactly what it was, coming down to the last matches of the night. 

 

 With rivalry matchups you will see a lot more fanfare than usual, and the fans brought the love from both sides. Voorhees’ student section brought a boom box speaker, playing “I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction)”, a unique and eye-catching move you don’t see often out of an opposing crowd. Both crowds were loud as ever, chanting back and forth and showing that the milkcan rivalry goes much deeper than football for both schools. Josh Joubert made the crowd explode after an impressive 18 second pin, putting North ahead 22-9 early in the contest. Brian “Wubby” Wilson took on Travis Bryant in possibly the loudest match of the night, not allowing a second of silence between both crowds. Wubby won the match 11-4 and had North looking dominant with six matches left, and that’s where the tide began to turn. 

 

 Ricky Kurtz and his team won the next three matches straight, including a huge pin coming from Trevor Zabroski in the third period against Owen Dandeo, keeping the Vikings alive. Cameron Baumann secured a dominant victory over Anthony DeSimone in the second period of their heavyweight bout, giving Voorhees a 28-25 victory with only three matches remaining. 

 

 North Hunterdon 106 pounder Reid Buzby pinned Tyler Ondovik in 51 seconds in the match following, giving North the lead back with only two matches remaining and shifting the momentum at the exact moment North needed it most. 113 pounder Joseph Celentano won North the dual meet with his third period pin over Johnny D’Andrea, putting them up 37-28 with only one match left. North put on quite the performance in Dave Bell’s debut, but this does not discount Voorhees in the slightest. Both Voorhees and North Hunterdon showed they will do a lot of damage throughout the season and have a lot to prove to anyone watching.