JOE HOFMANN HAS COVERED HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING FOR THE DAILY RECORD SINCE 1991. HE IS IN THE WRITER’S WING OF THE MORRIS COUNTY WRESTLING HALL OF FAME. THE FOLLOWING ARE HIS OPINIONS.
By Joe Hofmann for MorrisCountyHSWrestling.com
Hanover Park showed just how hard it is to win a state Group championship last week.
It seems easy for the P-Burgs and High Points of this world. But for the rest of the mortal programs, it isn’t.
Delbarton navigated its way through Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco, St. Peter’s Prep, etc, to win Parochial A in 2011.
Jefferson was the last public school from Morris County to win a Group title back in 1994 – before any of our local wrestlers were even born.
It was the third straight Group for the Falcons. Little did we know at the time just how long it would be for a Morris County public school to win another one.
The day of the 1993 Groups was arguably the greatest day in the history of Morris County wrestling.
The day was a whacky one not only for me, but the entire New Jersey wrestling world.
Back in my day as a full-time wrestling writer at the Daily Record, I needed someone to help me with the coverage because both Jefferson and Randolph were at the Groups (this is before the Groups were held at Toms River North).
Jefferson hosted Group II along with Delaware Valley, Buena, and … I forget who the Bergen County team was. Not that it mattered. Jefferson and Del Val were the two best teams in New Jersey that year and those two meeting for the Group II championship was a mere formality.
Randolph, meanwhile, wrestled then-mighty Highland at the Groups, which were at Hunterdon Central.
Wrestling began at noon – at BOTH places. I couldn’t be in two places at once. I called around and couldn’t find anyone to help with the newspaper’s coverage. I even tried calling some guy named Bob Behre, who was not a full-time wrestling writer for the Star-Ledger yet but who I figured could help me out (especially since he lived in Flemington, a stone’s throw from Hunterdon Central). But he was unavailable.
No one was available for the noon round, but I was able to get an old pro named Gerry Davidove to head out to Hunterdon Central at 5.
That day, I watched things unfold that were historic, as far as Morris County wrestling – and New Jersey — wrestling is concerned.
In Group IV, I watched Randolph topple Highland, which sent shock waves around the state at the time. Highland, at that time, was what High Point, P-Burg and Paulsboro still are – constants at the Groups and in the state Top 10.
I figured if I could watch that Randolph match, I could then run up to Jefferson for the Group II finals. So that is what I did.
I left Hunterdon Central and flew up Route 206 to get to Jefferson’s match against Delaware Valley in a matchup of arguably New Jersey’s two best teams that year (Randolph coach Ron Standridge told me that his team was the best team in New Jersey after Randolph won a very deep District 2 a week later, but that is a story for another day).
Morris County historian/wrestling guru Cliff Sailer and I got to Jefferson and the Falcons old, tiny gym was buzzing and filled to the brim. We got passed the front gate (no one else was admitted … it’s nice to have newspaper clout), found our seats, and watched one of the most historic matches in New Jersey history.
Delaware Valley had the match sewn up with only two weights to go … and that is when things got interesting. Terriers state champion-to-be Rickey Krieger picked up Jefferson’s Jim Tanis and slammed him to the mat … at least, that is the way the officials saw it. I thought he did, but the Del Val side vehemently and loudly disagreed.
Some people said that Jefferson coach Mike Rossetti told Tanis to stay on the mat. My memory is sketchy, but facts are facts: Krieger slammed Tanis to the mat, Tanis didn’t get up, and the officials awarded Jefferson with six points – instead of the six points Del Val would have been awarded to win Group II.
The 12-point swing – The Slam – was decisive.
After the match, Del Val coach Jody Karam asked if the Star-Ledger wrestling writer (Bruce Moran) was present. When Karam found that Moran wasn’t, he dared Moran to rank Del Val higher than Jefferson in the season-ending rankings.
To Moran’s credit, he kept Jefferson No. 1 when the Ledger’s final Top 20 came out a short time later. Remember, facts are facts.
Randolph, meanwhile, wound up beating Hunterdon Central for the Group IV championship.
Two Morris County schools, two state Group championships.
And one unforgettable, incredible day of wrestling.
