There is definite strength in the upper echelon of Essex wrestling this season, and while the county’s No. 1 team faces a near impossible task in a loaded Non-Public, Group A, the NJSIAA team state tournament does provide strong title possibilities for Caldwell (in Group 2), West Essex (Group 3) and Cedar Grove (Group 1).
All three public school powers advanced to sectional finals with a pair of victories on Monday night, setting up attractive matchups on Wednesday night (Feb. 18) with Caldwell at West Morris in N2G2, West Essex hosting Morris Hills in N2G3, and Cedar Grove hosting Hanover Park in N2G1, all with hopes of advancing into the group semifinals on Friday vs. Section 1 survivors.
Seton Hall Prep (13-2, 6-0), the No. 19 ranked team in the state, which owns regular season Super Essex Conference-American Division dual match victories over all three of the aforementioned mat strongholds plus won the Essex County Tournament team title, is the No. 7 seed in the Non-Public, Group A field and faces a solid No. 16 ranked and 10th-seeded St. Augustine squad (17-8), 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, at No. 2 ranked and second-seeded Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft with the survivor facing CBA in the group quarterfinals that evening.
The semifinals are set for Thursday, Feb. 19, at the highest-remaining seed’s home mats, and the Non-Public, Group A state final is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., Sunday (Feb. 22), inside Jersey Mikes Arena on the Rutgers University campus in Piscataway, which is the site of all seven group finals that day.
Coach Lou Mascola’s Pirates, who are led by standout seniors Rocco Salerno (state-ranked at 215) and Andre Morero (132), lost to CBA, 46-25, in the Catholic Duals earlier this season. Salerno, a 2-time state place finisher and New York University commit, picked up his 100th career victory earlier this season.
St. Augustine, which is now at full strength after facing an early-season schedule without its full lineup, will be a tough obstacle to start things out for SHP in a Non-Public, Group A which also features the state’s No. 1 ranked powerhouse Delbarton (15-2), a team with eight state-ranked wrestlers and whose only regular season losses have been to national powers Blair Academy and Wyoming (Pa.) Seminary.
Caldwell (15-5, 4-2), which is a 2-time defending sectional champion in the team tournament behind the guidance of head coach Sean Romano and his excellent staff. The second-seeded Chiefs advanced into Wednesday’s N2G2 final at West Morris by virtue of a narrow 39-36 sectional semifinal win vs. Hackettstown which followed a 55-21 first round victory vs. Bernards.
West Morris has rolled into the sectional final with a 66-6 win vs. Elmwood Park and a 70-9 thrashing of Governor Livingston.
Caldwell is strong in the lower weights with a state-ranked veteran grappler and 2025 state third-place finisher in Navy commit Carmine Sipper (120) along with other standouts such as Yankee Mabee (132), Essex County Tournament champion Solomon Soriente (138) and Anthony Barrett (157).
The only question for the Chiefs appears to be having consistent success in the middle and upper weights, areas neighboring rival West Essex (19-4, 3-2) exposed when the Knights staged a big comeback in a 38-32 triumph at Caldwell.
West Essex, with its own superb guidance led by head coach Mike Markey, is looking for its first sectional team title since 2020. The Knights have had some very nice independent dual match victories leading up to the team state sectionals with wins over Pascack Valley (36-32), Immaculata (36-35) and Hackettstown (47-22) among them.
