A repeat performance was successfully achieved by the Bridgewater-Raritan High School wrestling team on Wednesday, February 18.
Now, Bridgewater-Raritan, which won its second straight North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state sectional title on Wednesday night, will continue to focus on another repeat accomplishment on the wrestling mat.
Third-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan will bid to return to the Group 5 state tournament championship match when it wrestles second-seeded Old Bridge High School in the Group 5 state semifinals on Friday, February 20, in Old Bridge.
The winner will then move on to Jersey Mike’s Arena at Rutgers University in Piscataway for the right to win the Group 5 state championship. The opponent will be the winner of the other semifinal on February 20 between the top-seeded and the defending champion Southern Regional High School and the fourth-seeded Passaic County Technical Institute in Manahawkin.
The Group 5 state final is scheduled for 12 noon on Sunday, February 22, when the five public schools, two non-public schools, and one overall girls’ championship matches are slated to be wrestled.
A year ago, Bridgewater-Raritan achieved school history when the team wrestled in its first group state final, which it eventually fell to Southern Regional. 58-18, in the Group 5 championship match on February 18 at Jersey Mike’s Arena. That victory gave Southern Regional its third straight and fifth Group 5 state championship over the past six seasons.
“We are proud of how far we have gone already this season, especially with seven or eight new wrestlers,” Coach Kyle Murphy said. “We want to give them a chance to experience what we had last year.”
Bridgewater-Raritan successfully defended its North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state sectional title when it defeated Union High School, 33-29, in the title match before an energetic crowd at Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium in Bridgewater.
Bridgewater-Raritan, the top seed in the section, won its fourth overall sectional title and improved to 20-8 while second-seeded Union (19-5) was seeking its first state sectional crown.
The sectional championship was clinched by Bridgewater Raritan when Douglas Hesse scored a 6-1 decision over Enzo Tammaro at 150 pounds. That decision resulted in a 34-23 lead for Bridgewater-Raritan with just one bout left.
Bridgewater-Raritan started strong when Matthew McCann earned a fall in 48 seconds in the first bout of the night at 165 pounds. Bridgewater-Raritan’s other standout wrestler, Trent Levash, came through three bouts later with his quick fall, too, when he pinned in just 29 seconds at 215 pounds. That fall sent Bridgewater-Raritan ahead at 12-7.
Both McCann and Levash are prime candidates to earn a ticket to the state individual tournament in Atlantic City on March 12-14.
Also delivering pins in the victory for Bridgewater-Raritan were Andrew Adel at 113 pounds and Lucas Pelc at 120 pounds.
A victory over Old Bridge would enable Bridgewater-Raritan to equal last year’s school record for victories when the 2024-2025 squad ended 21-8.