BY JOE HOFMANN

 

So here is one man’s look ahead at the (very) early MCT favorites (by no means official, so don’t hold me to it!):

106—Ty Agaisse or Val Miele (Delbarton).

113—Anthony Cefolo (Hanover Park).

120—Christian Innarella (Delbarton).

126—Matt Davis (Delbarton).

132—Nick Anderson (Delbarton).

138—Nick Matthews (West Morris).

145—Brandon Carcuffe (West Morris)

152—Danny Reed (Delbarton).

160—Dillon Artigliere (Roxbury).

170—Parker Meytrott (Montville).

182—Mike Burns (Morris Knolls).

195—Ronny Cobilich (Montville).

220—Pete Andrich (Mount Olive).

285—Adrian Macko (Parsippany Hills).

Team champ: Delbarton.

And now, the three teams most likely to win a sectional championship in order of likelihood:

1. Hanover Park in Section 2, Group I. The Hornets beat Paulsboro in the state Group semifinals (no small feat) and lost to Bound Brook. Look for Hanover to make another strong run.

2. Parsippany Hills in Section 2, Group II. The Vikings are extraordinarily balanced and that’ll lead them to a sectional title. Plus, the section does not exactly have a killer team such as a South Plainfield, P-Burg, etc.

3. Delbarton in Non-Public A North. The Green Wave are right in the mix with Bergen Catholic, Don Bosco, and St. Peter’s. Whichever teams lesser-experienced wrestlers develop the most will win the section. Don’t all the close matches come down to the lesser kids’ improvement?

And now for something completely different…

Morris Knolls’ Jermaine Eluemunor pulled off a major, major shocker by advancing to the state finals at heavyweight last year. The big kid from England is continuing to surprise us all – this time on the football field. The 6-3, 300-pound offensive tackle has been blowing opposing linemen off the ball for Lackawanna and is now being recruited by – get this – Florida State, Alabama and Rutgers. He recently turned 18 and is starting to get it.  The funny thing is, he is a gentle giant off the mat. When I interviewed him at the states last year after he placed second, I remembered asking him to repeat some of his answers because he was so soft spoken. As an aside, his accent made me think I was interviewing John Cleese or Michael Palin or some other Monty Python character.