The state tournament begins March 6 in Atlantic City and runs for three days inside famed Boardwalk Hall, but … the states really begin Saturday with the districts.

The weeding out process begins at the 32 districts scattered around New Jersey.

Some district weights and team titles are cut and dried, some are totally up for grabs.

One of the more interesting districts will be held at District 8 in Montville. Here is a look at that district, as well as all of the other districts involving Morris-Sussex area schools

District 8

Teams: Bogota-Ridgefield Park, Boonton, College Achieve, Eastside, Immaculata, JFK-Paterson, Montville, Morris Hills, Morris Knolls, Parsippany Hills, Pioneer Academy.

Host school: Montville.

Thoughts: There are several weights that are strong and balanced. At 120, Par Hills’ James McGinty will be seeking his fourth district title but will have to battle through difficult terrain with the likes of Boonton’s Isa Kupa and Immaculata’s Ryan Goldstein. The 132 weight class will be deep and one good wrestler will be heading home among the likes of Immaculata’s Mason Tettambel, Morris Knolls’ Ryder Stambach, Montville’s Rylan Jones, and Morris Hills’ Josh Levin.

At 144, Nate Keller of Immaculata will be one of the ones to watch along with Montville’s Aiden Dembowski and Boonton’s Arthur Landkof.

Good luck predicting a winner at 175 with the likes of Montville’s Dominick Kraemer, Morris Hills’ Frank DiMarzio, Par Hills’ Cole SanMartin, and Bogota’s  Derek Rodriguez.

Montville placed fifth at last month’s Morris County Tournament without having a single wrestler finish in the top three. Many years ago, sometime in the mid-1990’s, I can recall High Point winning a stacked District 3 at Kittatinny without having a single individual champion. What the Wildcats lacked in star power, they made up for with a lineup loaded with region-caliber kids. I get that feeling here with the Mustangs.  

Predicted team champion: Montville.

District 1

Teams: Cresskill, Dumont, Emerson-Park Ridge, Jefferson, Lakeland, Northern Valley-Demarest, Phillipsburg, River Dell, Waldwick, Westwood.

Host school: Phillipsburg.

Thoughts: Incredibly, seven Bergen County schools and one from Passaic make the trek out to P-Burg for the districts. … Jefferson reached the state Group II final last year and has had a rebuilding year, but Jacob Campbell (113), Frank Figel (120), Christopher Frank (126), Joe Connolly (165), and Alex DaSilva (215) figure to reach Region 1 at West Milford.   

Predicted team champion: Phillipsburg.

District 3

Teams: Bergen Catholic, DePaul, Kittatinny, Newton, North Warren, Sparta, Vernon, Wallkill Valley, West Milford.

Host school: Kittatinny.

Thoughts: This has a nice, Sussex-Warren feel to it … without Bergen Catholic parachuting in, of course. The Crusaders figure to walk away with most of the weights with the exception of 175 (thanks to Kittatinny’s Ethan Dalling). … A better way to sort this out, geographically speaking, would have been to put PBurg in this district and keep Bergen Catholic with the slew of Bergen County schools headed out to PBurg. Someone should have proofread the final copy of what schools go where for the districts. BC here is a true head scratcher, as is a ton of Bergen schools heading out to P-Burg.

Predicted team champion: Bergen Catholic. 

District 4

Teams: Butler, Hawthorne, High Point, Kinnelon, New Milford, Northern Highlands, Pequannock, Pompton Lakes, Wayne Hills, West Essex.

Host school: West Essex.

Thoughts: The 138-pound weight class is deep with High Point’s Michael Tidona, New Milford’s Jerzey Ryan (the favorite), Justin Mehnert (Wayne Hills), and Thomas Ruane (West Essex). 

This figures to be a two-team battle for the team championship. High Point’s balance comes into play. The Wildcats have a strong tournament team with strength from top to bottom, namely in Logan Takach (106), Carter Drouin (120), Sean Licata (132), Jesse Huelbig (144), Nick Clayton (150), Jayden Ruplall (165), Jack Kitchcart (190), Donald Weiss (215), and Gavin Mericle … but is that enough to beat out West Essex?

Predicted team champion: High Point.

District 6

Teams: Clifton, Elmwood Park, Fair Lawn, Garfield, Hasbrouck Heights, Lodi, Mount Olive, Paramus, Passaic, Saddle Brook.

Host school: Fair Lawn.

Thoughts: The deepest weights are 120 and 190. Mount Olive’s Anthony Piemonte, Clifton’s Jarrett Rodriguez, Fair Lawn’s Carmine DeLucia, Hasbrouck Heights’ Mateo Toledo, Saddle Brook’s Sean Cullen, and Paramus’ Connor Klein make for a deep weight. At 190, Tyler Cumming (Mount Olive), Nick Doktor (Clifton), Andria Tatishvili (Fair Lawn), Joe De La Torre (Garfield), and Ahneurys (Passaic) make for a strong, deep weight class.

The districts keep changing, but Mount Olive winning a district hasn’t. The Marauders have won six district crowns in a row and should make it seven. Back in the day, Mount Olive used to go out to District 1 in P-Burg, which included the mighty Stateliners, Warren Hills and, at one time, Delaware Valley. In those days, Morris County schools Mount Olive, West Morris, and Mendham used to fight for their lives just to place kids at the districts and get into Region 1.

Predicted team champion: Mount Olive.

District 7

Teams: Cedar Grove, Dover, Lenape Valley-Hopatcong, Mountain Lakes, Parsippany, Passaic Tech, Roxbury, Warren Hills, Wayne Valley.

Host school: Warren Hills.

Thoughts: There are some strong weights to keep an eye on. One is 113, which will send not one but two solid wrestlers home before the regions in Cedar Grove’s Tommy Sica, Dover’s Jayden Mendez, PCT’s Mohammed Abuhadba, Parsipopany’s Frank DeMary, and Warren Hills’ Augie Szamreta. 

Another strong weight is 138, with the likes of Cedar Grove’s Gerard Immersi, Lenape Valley’s Marc Pavese, PCT’s Ismael Vertedor, Wayne Valley’s Noah Zindaki, and Warren Hills’ Aidan Webb. At 144, there is Lenape’s Gage Graziano, Wayne Valley’s Cole Perry, Warren Hills’ Ethan Drazek, and PCT’s Ali Abuharthieh.

Predicted team champion: This figures to be a battle royale for the team title between Warren Hills and Wayne Valley. I’m going with Valley.

District 9

Teams: Barringer, Bloomfield, Delbarton, Lyndhurst-North Arlington, Madison, Newark Collegiate, Orange, Randolph, St. Mary-Rutherford, Mendham.

Host school: Randolph.

Thoughts: The 144-pound weight is very solid and deep with Delbarton’s Nicholas Schwartz, St. Mary’s Anthony Moreno, Madisons Joshua Ortiz, and Mendham’s Jacob Fehnel. 

Mendham’s Rafe Fonte made the state tournament last year but will have his hands full because he is in the same 132-pound weight class as returning state champion Ryan DeGeorge of Delbarton.

Two years ago, Delbarton lost in the Non-Public Group A finals to St. Joe-Montvale and the Green Wave spent the postseason trying to overwhelm opponents and prove that they were still the best team. In other words, get ready for them to come into this district on fire and leave with a champion at every weight. 

An interesting sidebar is the drastic improvement of Mendham, which was 3-24 but went 14-8 this year under coach Steve Baig. 

Predicted team champion: Delbarton.

District 11

Teams: Belleville, Glen Ridge, Gov. Livingston, Kearny, Livingston, Montclair, Nutley, Verona, West Morris, West Orange.

Host school: Nutley.

Thoughts: West Morris expected big things out of returning state seventh-placer Brody Neill (120) and Mark Montoure (113) in the lower weights and Tommy Borgia (Hwt) in the uppers and they have gotten just that this year. But Jacob Harrison (144), Deacon Frayne (175), and Chris Kowalik have given the team a huge lift. They could make the difference in the district team race.

Fascinating development at 165 pounds, where Gov. Livingston’s Cristian Gioia placed eighth in the state at the same weight and yet could only muster a No. 2 seed at this weight because Livingston’s returning state qualifier Alex Diorio accumulated more points this year. That has the makings of an interesting final.

Predicted team champion: West Morris.

District 12

Teams- Belvidere, East Orange, Hackettstown, Hanover Park, Morristown, North Star Academy, Newark Academy, Pope John, St. Benedict’s, Whippany Park.

Host school: Morristown.

Thoughts: Pope John narrowly lost to Camden Catholic in the state Parochial B finals and the Lions have too much firepower (Jake Holly at 113, Dalton Weber at 132, Carson Walsh at 138, Donny Almeyda at 144, Cole Dunham at 165) to not be in the hunt for the district team title.

Hanover has several stars of its own, namely Vincenzo LaValle (190), Nick DiFrancescantonio (126), Santino Danise (132), Joey Tantawai (144), and Nando Ott (157), among others.

The 175-pound weight is strong with St. Benedict’s Temuulen Mendbileg, Morristown’s Dimitrios Mihalakakos, Belvidere’s Pedro Dos Santos, and Pope John’s David Thomson. 

The district team title could come down to which of the second-tier wrestlers at Pope John and Hanover Park fare better on the mat. 

Predicted team champion: Hanover Park.