After beginning the season 0-4,with each of the losses very lopsided, I wrote off the Columbia wrestling team, thinking they were going to have a rough rebuilding season. I remember watching them wrestle in a tri-meet to start the season in Cranford. It was not pretty.

But here we stand nearly two months later, and the Cougar grapplers are 10-9 and have a real chance at finishing above .500 this season. Because of wrestlers like James Goode, Andrew Adams and Khari Jarrett, the locals are making something out of what appeared to be nothing.

They have four dual meets left before they shift focus to the district championships, where Cougar head coach Harold Garwin said he thinks they can get five wrestlers to qualify for regions.

Before I decided to check if the Columbia girls track team had won this past week's North II Group 4 state sectional championship meet in Toms River, I found myself asking how much they had won by. The Cougar girls have become about as automatic as the sunrise, so it should be no surprise to anyone that they won the section, though they weren't quite as dominant, taking home an 84-75 win.

Jasmine Carter broke her own record in the 55 meter dash, crossing in 7.21 seconds, Kayann Richards was second and also finished second in the 55-meter hurdles and in the 400. Brittney Jackson won the 1,600, coming in at 5:21.38 and also cleared five feet in the high jump to claim a share of first place in that event. Jackson also took second in the 800.

As usual the girls' 4x4 squad was dominant and actually broke its own meet record from a season ago, posting a 4:03.84 with the team of Ayaana Smith, Kelsey Jackson, Brittany Padmore and Amber Ballew.

Despite the expected loss to Seton Hall Prep, I think you have to be excited with the play of the boys basketball team of late, winning four straight games before falling to the Pirates. It seems that Dukens Germain has stepped up and become a more reliable scoring option, averaging over 13 points in his last three games. They'll need him and others to be steady scoring options if they hope to advance deep into the state tournament or possibly in the counties.

What else can I say about the girls basketball team except that if there were no Shabazz in the same county, the local girls could play blindfolded and win the ECT. University is no pushover team and the Cougars were up 32-6 at halftime against them on Thursday. That's nuts.

It seems like they have a different player in double figures every night, and of their 17 wins, 13 of them were won by at least 12 points. My only question is how are they going to make the third time the charm should they face Shabazz in the ECT final? It's not as if Columbia's players have grown over the last month, and Shabazz's certainly haven't shrunk. Rebounding was the big difference in the last game they played, I just don't know how Columbia will make up for the lack of size.

Three most important games of the week

1. Girls basketball vs. Caldwell (Rd. 1 ECT) - 2/8: It's certainly not a gift wrapped win, but as the No. 2 seed at home, it would be a huge loss for the girls should they not take care of business. Expect a big win for Columbia.

2. Boys fencing vs. Morristown (Rd. 1 states) - 2/9; Girls fencing vs. Montclair (Rd. 1 states) - 2/10: Both Columbia teams are expected to steamroll through the first few rounds of states. Let's see what Morristown and Montclair have to say about that.

3. Boys basketball vs. Irvington - 2/9: This is a big game in the sense that it allows the Cougar boys to continue to get further away from the .500 mark. In the difficult division they're in, anytime they get an easier game, they have to capitalize.