It’s the most wonderful time of the year – and especially for wrestling fans.

Now that it is wrestling season, we can begin to ponder the possibilities down the road. Who is at what weight? Who else is at that weight? What are the interesting matchups?

The Morris County Tournament doesn’t begin for a month or so, but that doesn’t mean it is too early to begin looking ahead.

Delbarton has won the last 14 MCT championships. The Green Wave would seem to be able to extend that run of titles into eternity.

They have a state contender at nearly every weight, but that doesn’t mean the MCT will be a yawner.

There are many, many interesting scenarios developing.

Here are some of the best possible weight classes. Some mighty interesting scenarios are developing.

120 pounds: Daniel Jones (Delbarton), Tyeler Hagensen (Mount Olive), Nick DiFrancescantonio (Hanover Park). Jones has a state championship and runnerup (last year) on his resume and is certainly the favorite. But Hagensen (Robin Leff Tournament champion last week) and DiFrancescantonio (3-2 at the Beast) make this the MCT’s best weight. It’s not at all far-fetched to believe that all three will be on the podium in Atlantic City. 

138 pounds: Jayden James (Delbarton) and Jack Myers (Morristown) have already advanced deep in big tournaments and just might be the two best at this weight in all of New Jersey when all is said and done. James won the Beast of the East and Myers was seventh. Myers was third in the state last year at 113; Myers was third at 132. Would it surprise anyone to see these two standouts wrestle in the state finals at Boardwalk Hall? Not at all.

157 pounds: Brandon Dean (West Morris) and Carl Betz (Delbarton) would be an interesting final. While Dean was sixth in the state at 144 last year, Betz was giving Delbarton’s eventual state third-placer Cross Wasiliewski (150) all he could handle in the Green Wave wrestling room all of last year.

165 pounds: Delbarton’s Allesio Perentin is bidding to become a two-time state champion and cruised to an MCT championship last year. But Randolph’s Jason Petroski is bidding to get onto the podium at the states and giving Perentin all he could handle in the finals here would go a long way to seeing if he is indeed worthy of placing in Atlantic City.

190 pounds: Vincenzo LaValle (Hanover Park) and Tyler Bienus (Mount Olive) are two of the best big men in New Jersey. LaValle is a two-time state third-placer and his name is Morris County wrestling royalty (his dad was a three-time state champion for Hanover and is arguably the best wrestler to have ever come out of Morris County). Vincenzo LaValle went up a weight and scored a very impressive 11-3 major over West Morris’ Tommy Borgia at 215. But Bienus will have the home crowd and home mat working in his favor if these two reach the MCT finals. These two got off to a terrific start to 2023-24, with LaValle placing fifth at the Beast and Bienus winning the Robin Leff Tournament. This could be a great final.

215 pounds: Vincent Lee (Delbarton) and Tommy Borgia (West Morris) would certainly make for a fascinating MCT final between two wrestlers bidding to get onto the AC podium. Lee gave LaValle all he could handle in the finals last year before surrendering a late takedown and losing, 3-1. Lee didn’t wrestle at the Beast but was 4-0 at the NWHOF against top-level competition in Oklahoma last week. Borgia won his weight at the Morris Knolls Christmas Tournament.

Team title: Delbarton (seven champions) won the tournament going away and have now won 14 straight team titles (far and away the MCT record).

For many years, Jefferson had the record for most team titles in a row (seven), winning it every year from 1990-96. Randolph ended that skein and won it every year from 1997-2002.

But Delbarton has now beaten both Jefferson and Randolph’s records combined.

The Green Wave now have 101 individual champions. The most unlikeliest of them all was Henry Forte, a backup who twice came out of nowhere to win it. Last year, there was an opening for a 215-pounder for Delbarton and he wrestled off for the spot and won the wrestleoff. Then, he stunned Mount Olive’s state placewinner Anthony Moscatello in the finals.

The next closest schools in terms of individual champions are Randolph (54), Jefferson (52) and Morris Knolls (46).

Coach Bryan Stoll’s team won the 2023 county tournament without three wrestlers who would have been odds-on favorites to win their respective weights in Joe Davi (who wound up being a state qualifier at 144), Jayden James (third in the state at 113), and Cross Wasiliewski (third in the state at 150).

Spartans on the rise

One of the most intriguing developments of the 2023-24 season is: Which team comes away with the NJAC-National regular-season championship? The team that has gotten out to the best start is Sparta, which beat a Roxbury (42-24), which beat Morris Knolls (49-30).

In the preseason, most coaches listed the Golden Eagles as the team to beat.

Kudos to Sparta’s third-year coach Dan Trappe, who turned in a magnificent coaching job last year. The Spartans were 2-22 in his first year of coaching two years ago before Sparta turned in a 20-7 season last year.

Ryan Hrenenko (132), Logan Hrenenko (144), Eugene Donnelly (138), Peter Donnelly (120), Anthony Petrock (157), and Connor White (215) are the team leaders this year.

“They have a great work ethic and set the pace every day in the practice room,” Trappe said.

Patrick Bruseo (126), Ben Bialkin (150), Matt Mehija (150), and Liam Hassloch (190) are among the most improved wrestlers.

“They got a lot of work in during the offseason by going to club and off-season tournaments,” Trappe said.

And now the team is off to its surprising start. Not many National coaches indicated that Sparta was a team to watch in the preseason.

“We just want to be competitive in the division and to continue the success the team has had in the postseason,” Trappe said.

Sparta will visit Knolls on Jan. 10 in another key divisional matchup.

Here comes Butler

Butler had three champions and two runnerups and came away with the team title at the season-opening Mountain Lakes Christmas Tournament.

First-year coach Tim Mickens’ Bulldogs (149 points) held off Wayne Valley (147) to win it.

If the name Mickens rings a bell, it should if you’re a Butler football follower Tim Mickens’ father is Mark Mickens, who has been one of the chief architects of Butler’s excellent football program down through the years as an assistant coach to Bob Jones and Jason Luciani, among others.

Jason Chrostowski (126), Logan Sykes (150), and Luca Toriello (215) won their weights, while Kyle McKernan (138), Matt Barile (144), and Cole Benicasa (285) were second.

Chrostowski, Sykes, Toriello, Barile and Jason Murray (Hwt) are the team leaders.

“These five are leaders and hungry to advance in this sport,” Mickens said. “Jason and Logan are both chasing down 100 wins this year. Luca and Jason are born leaders and are great role models in the

wrestling room. Matt Barile is a tough nosed kid that always demonstrates the right attitude you need to be successful in this sport. All of them are leaders and will be helping out our squad tremendously.”

The Bulldogs (17-11 last year) will begin conference play in the NJIC at home against Weehawken Jan. 4. The teams to watch in the league include Hasbrouck Heights, Cresskill, and Saddle Brook.

Pats look to improve

Lenape Valley looks to contend in the NJAC-Colonial this winter against the likes of North Warren, Wallkill Valley, and Vernon.

Coach Anthony Grogan’s Patriots finished third at the Dover Christmas Tournament behind West Orange and Roxbury. Gage Graziano (144) won his weight and Joe Castro (120), Justin Peterson (126), Ethan Pacheco (150), and Jakob Bell (157) took seconds.

Lenape has joined forces with Hopatcong. Longtime Chiefs coach Eric Fajerman is on staff at Lenape.

“I believe with co-opting between Lenape and Hopatcong, we have the

potential to have a very good season,” Grogan said. “We have a great group of juniors and seniors with potential for a very good season. Being able to fill out the full lineup and being able to make moves in a dual meet will help us be successful.

“We are hoping to win our conference, be over .500, qualify more than six wrestlers for the region tournament, and have a few of our wrestlers qualify for the state tournament.”