The season has several weeks remaining, but between Long Valley Wrestling's 3 varsity teams and West Morris High School, almost one dozen dual matches have been decided by the last match, and this weekend added to that total.
Long Valley's Tri-County League (8th grade and under) team lost to Morristown by 1 point on Thursday night, wrestling side-by-side with West Morris Central, who also lost their dual to Morristown in the last match of the night.
Not to be outdone, the Grade School League team (5th through 8th grade) wrestled perennial power High Point to a 42-42 tie Saturday at High Point, ultimately winning the dual on the 8th "criteria", meaning the teams were also tied in 7 categories (most pins, etc.) before Long Valley was declared a winner.
Almost simultaneously, Long Valley's Northwest League (6th Grade and under) team squeaked by Walkill Valley by 3 points, only after some nifty line-up shifting by Coaches Chris Borgia and Dan Diehl.
The Future Stars team was the only one to spare fans drama, defeating Mount Olive and Pequannock comfortably on Saturday, improving rapidly from a group of young wrestlers to a formidable force in their League.
Long Valley's Grade School team is now 13-2 and completes it's regular season schedule this week in Long Valley, taking on undefeated powerhouse South Plainfield at West Morris Thursday night side-by-side West Morris' High Schoolers (vs. Chatham). And Friday, Long Valley wraps up the season against 12-2 Del Val at the Long Valley Middle School. The results of those two matches will determine Long Valley's playoff fate, and both matches get underway at 7pm.
The Northwest team is now 10-1 on the season and travels to North Hunterdon Sunday in a match that will have a major impact on their playoff hopes.
And the Tri-County Team, at first glance struggling this season with a 4-8 record is actually 3-0 in their Division and will likely have an opportunity to defend last year's National League Championship in February. Tri-County takes on 4 teams in a "Super-Quad" at West Morris on Saturday.
If history is any indicator, taking time to come out to West Morris or LVMS this week to take in a Long Valley wrestling match is likely to result in an exciting evening.
For more information about the Long Valley Wrestling program, please visit www.longvalleywrestling.com or contact Jeff Hill at jhill@mykidscalendar.com.
