One of the great runs in state history – regardless of sport – is on shaky ground this week as the wrestling playoffs are set to begin Monday.
While Paulsboro is in its accustomed spot as the No. 1 seed in South Jersey, Group 1, it is far from the dominating program it’s been for most of the past five decades while winning an incredible 44 out of 45 sectional championships – the lone defeat coming to Collingswood in 2008.
Paulsboro opens the IBEW/Local 120 South Jersey Group 1 tournament with eighth-seeded Buena and then would move on to a matchup against either fourth-seeded Schalick or fifth-seeded Pennsville with a win.
If they advance, the Red Raiders will host the sectional final Wednesday. If seeds hold, the match would be against Audubon – which Paulsboro defeated, 37-33, on Jan. 16.
On Friday night in its final tune-up before another playoff run, Paulsboro fell into a quick 27-0 hole and lost to Group 5 contender Washington Township, 57-16, in front of a small home crowd.
The defeat dropped Paulsboro to 12-7 on the season.
The 15 losses over the past two years represent an extremely rare rebuilding phase for the program that has been accustomed to being one of the best teams in the state regardless of group size.
The Red Raiders have four losses in the Colonial Conference this year. For comparison, Paulsboro did not lose a single match in the league from 1972 to 2007.
“Everybody’s happy beating us,” Paulsboro coach Paul Morina said with a laugh. “They’re acting like they won the state championship. Not everybody. Some teams are humble. But I can understand it.”
Morina, who has more wins than any coach in New Jersey wrestling history, says the future is bright. The Red Raiders lose just two senior starters and have at least four eighth-graders ready to jump into the lineup for the next few years.
“They’re a young team and they’re getting better,” assured Morina. “I see kids getting better, and that’s the key. We have to be at our best Monday and Wednesday to start off and then just move forward.
“We have different kids, a whole different group of kids. We got kids out because we need them. Their hearts aren’t in it, they’re not really wrestlers, but we have a good group coming up and most of these guys will be back and they’ll put in the work in the offseason. The worst you can do is get down on them or be negative. These kids give you all they got, and some of them just don’t have it. But we’ll be back. You’ll see it next year.”
Will we see it this week?
Friday’s setback against the Group 5 power Minutemen was a somewhat expected result considering Township’s strengths and overall firepower, but it was still a bit jarring to see Paulsboro manhandled on its home mat.
But playoff time is Paulsboro time, and there is a quiet confidence the program will rise to the occasion like it typically does this time of year, especially with the championship match being in what should be a packed home gym.
“I feel great going into (the playoffs),” said senior Ben Price, who stopped the 27-0 run with a pin Friday. “I think we’ll do really good. I think we’ll win. We’re going to fight through the week, hopefully get to (weekend).
“I think this match got in our heads a little bit. But our focus is set on Monday first and we’ll work from there, clear our heads, focus one match at a time and build from there.”
A quick backstory: In 2003, Paulsboro was near the peak of its powers, though slightly vulnerable, and Pitman and Schalick had two of their best teams ever.
Schalick actually pushed Paulsboro early in the season but fell, 29-25. Pitman featured eventual state champion Keros Cooper – a former Paulsboro wrestler – and state finalist Jarred Mercado.
I wrote a story with the headline “Is the sun setting on Paulsboro wrestling?” with a picture of Paulsboro High School at sunset.
The article mentioned that in all likelihood Paulsboro would win another title, but there was at least a slim chance for the Red Raiders to lose, which had never been the case in the over two decades prior.
When I arrived for the final against Pitman, a good percentage of the Paulsboro crowd was wearing sunglasses.
In the match, Paulsboro won a bout in overtime and had its heavyweight fight off his back to score a pin of his own in the final seconds. The Red Raiders took advantage of the 18-point swing to score a 15-point victory.
The closeness of the match proved my hypothesis to be correct. Some of the Paulsboro faithful didn’t see it that way, but I digress.
Back to present time, and there is more than a slim chance Paulsboro doesn’t emerge from the bracket victorious. It’s a coin flip, or might come down to a coin flip.
It is the second straight year Paulsboro has been on the ropes. Last year, the Red Raiders were 7-7, but the return of middleweight Kyaire Harvey sparked an eight-match winning streak that culminated in a dominating win over Schalick in the sectional final.
Schalick upset Audubon, which had a win over Paulsboro during the regular-season but was missing several key wrestlers for the final. Paulsboro went on to its typically dominating championship win, 56-17.
Two of the wrestlers on last year’s Paulsboro team, Harvey and Sawyer Cabanas, have missed this entire season with injuries.
“Those two were a different type of kid, had a different type of mindset,” Morina said. “We lose that leadership and intensity level. We also had Aundre Hill, Hayden Holmes. They were mentally tough.
“These guys have to get the mental part down and have to believe in themselves. It’s a different group, but I don’t worry about it, We just have to go hard.”
Price and Morina admitted that there is still an emphasis on winning the sectional championship. If it doesn’t happen, the sun will still come up on Thursday and there appears to be a brighter future, but the Red Raiders still want to keep their hold on a title they have owned.
“It’s everything,” said Price, a third-year wrestler who moved to Paulsboro in the sixth grade and admits he is still learning the tradition. “It means a lot, especially to the seniors. We want to keep it going for the generations of wrestlers who came before us and still come to the matches.”
Morina has leaned into the tradition before but says he might not do it as much this week. There is no planned motivational speech Monday or Wednesday.
“I think only a few know about the traditions,” Morina said. “A lot of these kids are the first ones in their family to wrestle. Their parents didn’t wrestle, their uncle didn’t wrestle. They don’t have the connections to the past generations, so even the fans are different.
“We’re just going to go to practice and see what happens. They’re good kids, I enjoy (coaching them), and I just have to stay positive.”
And while Morina acknowledged the challenges, he also remains confident of winning another championship. Paulsboro has wins over the No. 2 (Audubon), No. 3 (Woodstown), No. 5 (Pennsville) and No 6 (Haddon Township) teams in this bracket.
“We’ve been wrestling pretty good,” Morina said. “For what we have, we’ve been wrestling pretty good. We’re just going to focus on one match at a time in sectionals. It’s one of those things. Wrestle hard, do the best we can and that’s it. I feel pretty confident, I feel pretty good.”