It’s a sweet three-peat for the Butler wrestling team.
For the third-consecutive season, the Bulldogs captured a division championship, this time accomplishing the feat in the North Jersey Interscholastic Conference.
Butler (12-0) extended its win streak to 12 and secured the NJIC-Division 4 crown with a 60-21 road victory over Wood-Ridge on Wednesday night in the Bulldogs’ final conference match of the season.
By winning their respective division, Butler qualifies for next week’s NJIC tournament. All four NJIC divisional winners will meet in the playoffs for the overall conference title.
“It’s always good to see competitive teams and athletes working towards a common goal,” coach Jason Luciani said. “The school and everyone involved is proud of our accomplishments over the years. In the 57 years there’s been wrestling at Butler High School, only three teams have won league championships and they’ve all come in the last three seasons.”
Last Saturday, Butler stunned Group 5 power and previously-undefeated Passaic Tech (11-1), 40-30 in Wayne. It was one of the Bulldogs’ biggest tests to date after earlier season victories over Passaic County heavyweights Clifton (34-30) and Wayne Hills (34-31).
Besides next week’s NJIC tournament, Butler has two remaining quad matches on the schedule before the postseason gets underway next month. On Feb. 2 the Bulldogs face Belvidere and Lenape Valley at Belvidere in a quad and then close out the regular season at home on Feb. 9 against Manchester and neighboring rivals Pequannock.
Next weekend, Butler will participate in the Morris County Tournament at Mount Olive High School.
“We still have a lot of wrestling left and we’ll use the divisional title as motivation,” Luciani said. “We have team goals as well as individual goals.”
Butler has built a reputation over the last five years and is among the top small-school programs in New Jersey. Over the last three seasons, the Bulldogs have reached the North 1, Group 1 sectional final and have made two semifinal appearances.
