When the wrestling room opened up at Delbarton in the fall, freshman Ryan DeGeorge didn’t know where he’d be. 120 pounds? 126? Atlantic City?

But he knows exactly where he is today – right at the top of the Boardwalk Hall podium at 126.

And he is a vital part of one of the best teams in Green Wave history – if not the very best team the school has ever had, which is saying something.

A year ago at this time, DeGeorge sat in the AC bleachers with current teammate Gabe Logan, wondering if winning a state title was even possible.

Yes, Ryan, it is – and you pulled it off.

The freshman knocked off Leonia-Palisades Park’s Seach Hibler, 5-2, to win the fourth state championship of the day for the Green Wave.

Delbarton’s incredible performance tied a modern-day standard set last year by last year’s Green Wave team as well as Bergen Catholic (2016) and High Point (2011). Coach Bryan Stoll’s team set the modern-day record for most finalists (seven).

DeGeorge won the fourth title and his road to it doesn’t fit some of the other state champions at Boardwalk Hall.. Amazingly, he didn’t know where he fit in the grand scheme of things.

“At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t sure where I was going,” DeGeorge said. “I thought I was going 120 but ended up at 126. So I was like, ‘Let’s see how I do.’”

He did just fine, thank you.

At the outset of the season, Boardwalk Hall didn’t enter DeGeorge’s thought process. Believe it or not, his focus was on the Beast of the East. AC was too far off in the distance.

But then he reached the semifinals at the Beast and his confidence kicked up a notch. 

“Ever since, I really dedicated myself,” he said.

And during that stretch from that point on, he was pushed by the talent in a stellar workout room. Soon, he’ll be lifting up the program, the same way the program lifted him up., 

“Ryan’s just a dog,” Stoll said. “He’s like a dog on a leash, where he’ll just fight you.”

And he is getting better by the day.

“He is totally different from the first day of the year,” assistant coach Guy Russo said. “He’s kicked it up a notch. That’s the thing about him. He keeps getting better and better. He’s even gotten better since the districts, and not all kids can make that claim.”

DeGeorge winning to cap the weekend summarized just how superior Delbarton’s program has become.  

DeGeorge became an integral part of Delbarton becoming the No. 1 team in New Jersey – and maybe, just maybe the best team in the school’s history. The Green Wave has been among the state’s top five teams over the past 15 years or so and has remained there, which is an impressive feat.

Over the years, many Non-Public schools, especially in North Jersey, have loaded up with transfers and then made a run at No. 1 in the state. Delbarton’s program may not be homegrown the way public schools are, but the Green Wave wrestlers enroll at the Morristown school and remain there. Rarely does the program take transfers. 

“This group has got to be up there at the top, if not the top,” Stoll said. “It’s been a very gradual process. It’s not like in two or three years we turned around and we were beating teams like Bergen Catholic. We were always good, but I think we continued to get better. It seems like a culmination but we’re still looking to build and get better.”

Team scores are not kept at the state tournament but if they were, Delbarton finished in the top spot for the fifth straight year, according to Track Wrestling.