Jerry Carino: Central desperate to end decades of frustration vs. P'burg 


Published in the Courier News on January 25, 2003 
The greatest high school wrestling rivalry in this half-nelson corner of New Jersey
is really not much of a rivalry at all. You have to go back eight presidents and two
cycles of bell bottoms to find the last time Hunterdon Central bested Phillipsburg 
in a dual meet. 

The date was Jan. 4, 1964. Thirty-eight years ago. Probably before some of the parents
of Central's current wrestlers were born. 

Think about that. 

Not that Father Time has dulled this particular memory. In fact, most denizens of 
rassling country know it as well as they know their own age. 

True story: At a recent cheerleading competition Phillipsburg's girls took the stage
to the sound of the Central faithful chanting "twenty to seven," which was the score
of Central's 2002 football conquest of the Stateliners. 

The Phillipsburg folks' response was quick and pure: "Thirty-eight years!" 

Only two things could wipe out such talk. Nuclear war is one. A Central victory
is the other. Tonight, in Phillipsburg's mini-Coliseum known as The Pit, Central 
gets a crack at the latter. 

Most knowledgeable observers give the Red Devils even odds. They've been chipping 
away at Phillipsburg for a few years, falling just short on several occasions. 
Whether they have chipped away psychologically at Phillipsburg's mystique, 
however, is another matter. 

"If you're in New Jersey," former Central assistant coach Tom Carr said, "the 
standard of excellence is always going to be Phillipsburg." 

The stats are startling. Phillipsburg has never lost a Skyland Conference match 
since joining the conference in 1995. Never! And the Stateliners are 25-2-1 
against Hunterdon Central dating to the rivalry's dawn in 1962. 

Central won 35-3 in 1963 and 25-21 in 1964. In the latter, Central's Walt Atkinson 
provided the clincher with a 6-1 decision over Matt Suttle at 177 pounds. 

Then the dry spell began. 

"Before 1964 Phillipsburg hadn't been noted as a wrestling town," said Nelson 
Gibble, who was an assistant coach on that 1964 Central squad. "They got quite 
a feeder program going, and everything took off from there." 

In that old-world, close-knit town, developing young wrestlers became a community
passion. 

"They have six or seven midget teams that were feeding into the grade school teams
or into the high school," said Carr, who coached at Central from 1972-2000. "They
have a wealth of ex-wrestlers who are coaching in their youth program. The whole 
Lehigh Valley is like that. It's difficult to compete with." 

As good as the Skyland Conference is -- you could argue it's the class of New Jersey 
wrestling -- it shrinks in the shadow of the Lehigh Valley. Here's a mind-boggling 
stat: Phillipsburg trails its all-time wrestling series with Pennsylvania rival 
Easton 53-13. It's a different world over the river, and that's where Phillipsburg 
earned its stripes. 

Then there is the matter of the Phillipsburg fans. Central broke off the rivalry 
for a number of years in the 1970s because "things got kind of nasty," Hunterdon 
Democrat sports editor John Siipola said. In one memorable incident, a Phillipsburg 
assistant coach whipped the crowd into a frenzy by dressing up as a Central wrestler 
and prancing foolishly around the mat. 

Huge, knowledgeable, rabid crowds are par for the course. 

"I look into the stands and I see people in their 40s, 50s and 60s -- some of the
people I know have been going to wrestling matches for 25 years," said current
Central coach Steve Gibble, son of Nelson. "The community knows the kids. Most 
of the kids grew up in Phillipsburg. This is what they do and this is what's 
expected of them." 

At Central, by contrast, "A lot of our kids didn't grow up here. They don't 
know kids from 10 years ago or 20 years ago. We still have kids whose parents 
went to school here, but not many." 

This is not to knock Central's program. The Red Devils have been superb in their
own right. And they've come so close to ending the streak. The 1984 match was 
tied going into heavyweight, and the heavyweights tied, leaving the final score
deadlocked. 

In 2000, Central was readily acknowledged as the better team, having already 
topped the Stateliners in the Hunterdon/Warren Tournament. But Central's heavily
favored 145-pounder Sean Brewer blew out his knee during his match, and the injury
default was the difference in the Red Devils' 30-28 defeat. 

Last year, Central came in as big underdogs and performed well but still came
up one point short. 

Maybe the spell will be broken tonight. 

"It's going to happen," Carr said, "When, I don't know, but sooner or later
 it will happen." 

Staff writer Jerry Carino's column appears each Saturday in the Courier News. 



Back in 1964
The last year Hunterdon Central High School's wrestling team beat Phillipsburg 
in a dual match. . . 

The Beatles made their American debut on the Ed Sullivan Show 

A first-class stamp cost five cents; a gallon of gas cost 30 cents 

The Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York opened 

The Warren Commission determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in 
assassinating President John F. Kennedy 

Lyndon Johnson was re-elected president 

St. Louis beat the Yankees 4-3 in the World Series 

The Cleveland Browns won the NFL Championship 

Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) knocked out Sonny Liston to win the heavyweight
boxing crown 

The new TV show Gilligan's Island was a hit 

My Fair Lady won the Oscar for Best Picture 

Ford introduced the Mustang 

The U.S. Surgeon General linked smoking to lung cancer 


from the Courier News website www.c-n.com