For the Pascack Valley Bowling Team, the 2025-26 season is more important than just one game — it’s about unfinished business. Currently, Pascack Valley is a bowling powerhouse, ranked No. 10 in the state.
This success has been motivated by the memory of falling just short one year ago.
Last year, Valley lost in the sectional finals and finished second in the county tournament. With only one senior graduating from that squad, the current roster is a veteran group that is motivated by its second-place finish one year ago.
“They all knew that they had a great opportunity to be even better this year than they were the year before,” Coach Matthew Will said. “They embraced it. They worked hard, and they have a chip on their shoulder.”
The bowling team has had a very difficult schedule this season, facing top 15 opponents like Demarest and Bergen Tech. Despite the difficult schedule, Pascack Valley has stayed remarkably consistent.
The secret to Valley’s top 10 ranking this season has been its depth. The bowling team currently has three bowlers — Lucas Mercado (Jr.), Brett Fischbein (Jr.), and Tommy Magarelli (Sr.) — who all maintain averages above 200.
“If one person’s struggling, the others are like, ‘don’t worry, I got you,’” Will said. “If one of them is struggling a little bit, the others are raising their game to counter that. Our scores for our five-man team are incredibly consistent.”
Co-captain Brett Fischbein, who has been a member of the varsity team since his freshman year, has been motivated by his high aspirations. During the past two seasons, he earned second and third team all-county, but this year he is hoping to earn first team honors and to become a state title winner.
“I’ve come in second at states twice, and I really want to win first this year,” Fischbein said. “[I want to] win as much as possible.”
While most teams need high energy during matches, Valley has had more of a laid back approach.
“They’re not the most vocal,” Will noted. “They just do their job. They don’t get too high; they don’t get too low.”
Junior Captain Lucas Mercado agrees that while the teammates can become spirited if an opponent is being “annoying,” they prefer to let the results bring the energy. As a captain for two years, Mercado has focused on mentoring the younger players, making sure that the dominance of Pascack Valley will last past his time at Pascack Valley.
The turning point of the season so far came during the team’s match against Bergen Tech.
After winning every single game in its first nine matches of the season, Valley finally dropped a game to Bergen Tech, and it happened to be the first game in the best-of-three match. While this seemed catastrophic at the time, the Panthers responded by winning the next two games to clinch the match—a testament to their incredibly successful season.
“I loved seeing how they responded,” Will recalled. “Their second game was their best game of the entire season. They destroyed them.”
While Will recalls the team’s bounce-back victory against Bergen Tech, Mercado remembers Fischbein’s unprecedented performance that day.
“Brett bowled five Brooklyns [crossing over to the opposite side of the pins for a strike] during that game,” Mercado said. “He had nine strikes in a row with five Brooklyns. It was hilarious.”
The team’s success is rooted in a “family” atmosphere. From Coach Judy Lucia bringing snacks like Goldfish and cookies to tournaments to Coach Will passing on the lessons he learned as a kid, the relationship between the players and coaches is key to the team’s success. Valley is fortunate enough to have that relationship down to a tee.
“It’s like a big family,” Fischbein said. “Everyone’s very supportive. No one ever gets mad if you’re low energy, and they’ll do their best to cheer you up.”
With the county tournament and a rematch against Demarest upcoming, there is no doubt Valley is hitting its stride at the right time. They’ve seen it all, and now they are ready to turn last year’s second place finish into this year’s championship trophy.
