There’s finally a sizable sampling of high school dual-match wrestling following last week’s action, which means it’s time for the debut of this season’s Trentonian team rankings. In this case the Area top 10, which will be expanded to a top 20 shortly. As luck would have it, No. 2 will be at No. 1 on Wednesday night when North Hunterdon travels to Delaware Valley in a match that will also determine bragging rights in Hunterdon County. In virtually every other year Hunterdon Central would also be part of this equation, but what’s going on in Flemington right now almost defies belief. Namely, Central has the weakest team in the history of its illustrious program and is in a rebuilding process the likes of which the Red Devils have never had to go through before. Among their six losses was a 46-30 setback to Monroe, which got whacked by Hopewell Valley, 49-21, Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens on Gold Rush night Wednesday at DelVal. This could go either way and could very well be decided in the upper weights where neither team is particularly strong. Delaware Valley lost a lot from last year’s team that suffered a disappointing loss to Paulsboro in its quest to win a third straight Group title, but it looks like Andy Fitz’s team will be right back in the hunt in an attempt to get back on top of Group I. For its part, Paulsboro did not exactly impress in losses to Hillsborough and South Plainfield at the Boresch Duals on Saturday and might have had a closer call against Newton if the host team wasn’t missing key starters. About the only thing that did go right for “Cough City” at the duals is the seeding that allowed it to avoid another beating at the hands of South Jersey rival Delsea. Remember when a Delsea wrestler said “I thought Paulsboro was tougher than that,” after his team crushed the Red Raiders two years ago. While you can be sure Paulsboro coach Paul Morina will rally his team, the biggest challenger to DelVal in Group I might very well be Hanover Park, which has a capable set of upper weights. You have to respect the Hanover Park program because it’s entirely possible no public school team in the state has been raided more by the parochials than the Hornets. In the third spot in the area ratings is Hopewell Valley, which recently won the 500th match in program history. Hopewell Valley has a loss to Bridgewater on its record, but has been looking good now that it has its full lineup. Last week, Hopewell crushed improved Steinert, 52-9, and easily swept its way through Saturday”s Collingswood Duals. In terms of the area, Hopewell is scheduled to get its big shot when it takes on Delaware Valley in February. Hopefully this match will happen, although it is set to take place two days before the start of sectionals. Hopewell Valley won its first sectional title last year and will no longer have to deal with old rival Ocean Township, which has dropped down to Group II. On the other hand, Central Jersey Group 3 now includes Brick Memorial. The Stangs once again have some hammers in their lineup and will be difficult for Hopewell to beat, but the Shore Conference team is far from a complete package as was shown in its recent 39-30 victory over a Monroe team that Hopewell beat by 28 points. On the subject of teams and coaching milestones, how many Mercer programs have reached 500 wins is unclear. It is known Hightstown has 532, which very well might be the most. On the other hand, Trenton started wrestling before World War II and programs like Princeton, Lawrence and Notre Dame also have lots of wins. Hamilton, of course, had a big run back in the previous century, but has had plenty of lean years ever since. It’s also unclear which Mercer coach has the most career victories. Gary “The Brain” Dambro coached for 40 years at Notre Dame, but has been unwilling to reveal his final record. Hightstown’s Russo has 361 and Mario Harpel recorded his 326th win the night Hopewell Valley got its 500th win in his 20th year with the Bulldogs. Lawrence coach Chris Lynne achieved his 300th win in 2019 and is still going strong with successful seasons since then. As for the rest of the Area Ratings, Hightstown is off to a 7-0 start and is in the fourth spot. The Rams barely got past Robbinsville in a match that nearly went to criteria, but it also finished ahead of fifth-ranked Seneca at the Hammonton Tournament. Keep an eye on Seneca, which stormed through the “Indian School” quad on Saturday with victories over Lenape, Shawnee and Cherokee. Another team to watch is seventh-ranked Northern Burlington. Coming off arguably its most successful season in which it won a sectional Group IV championship, NBC has some obvious strengths. A better read on the Hounds will come in a home quad on Saturday that includes Robbinsville and defending Group II state champion Rumson-Fair Haven. Finally, look for the first installment of the Trentonian’s State Public School ratings next week in a year in which the parochials are unfortunately dominating more than ever. SCENE Of WEEK Apparently, all heck broke loose in a quad at Delaware Valley on Saturday in which a Morris Knolls wrestler was mistakenly allowed to take neutral to start the second 30-second overtime period. He pinned to win his bout, but when the mistake was discovered the pin was negated and the decision was to wrestle the overtime period all over again. It should come as no surprise Morris Knolls was unhappy with this decision, especially after losing the match, 36-34. TRENTONIAN AREA WRESTLING TOP 10 1. Delaware Valley (8-0) 2. North Hunterdon (1-2) 3. Hopewell Valley (7-1) 4. Hightstown (7-0) 5. Seneca (4-0) 6. Lenape (3-1) 7. Northern Burlington (3-3) 8. Robbinsville (6-4) 9. Steinert (4-2) 10. Rancocas Valley (8-2) HIGHLIGHT MATCHES Wednesday: North Hunterdon at Delaware Valley, Allentown at Robbinsville. Saturday: Robbinsville, Rumson Fair Haven at Northern Burlington quad; Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament at Phillipsburg.