PV wrestling falls to River Dell

Golden Hawks defeat Indians 33-25

Mason Baronian and Noah Silver|January 25, 2020

Matt Austin

PV junior Tyler Pizzi pins an opponent.

The Pascack Valley wrestling team fell to River Dell at home 33-25 on Friday night with a chance to place itself in a prime position to claim the league championship.

The Indians got off to a rough start, trailing 16-3 after four matches, but slowly began to creep back, decreasing the deficit to eight points following a pin by junior Ryan Dunn in the waning moments of the second period of his match. However, two tight River Dell wins capped off its victory.

“You have to give [River Dell] credit,” PV head coach Tom Gallione said. “They won two swing matches that sealed the deal for them– if we win those two, it’s a different story. It [would be] a victory for us.”

Although the outcome wasn’t what Valley would’ve liked, the team was able to take away some positives from the loss.

“Overall, I’m happy with the way we wrestled,” Gallione said. “[While] a loss isn’t good, we still competed and that’s the most important thing– [the team] competed hard. It sounds kind of cliche, but every kid battled– guys that lost in overtime; guys that lost at the buzzer– everyone battled.”

One moment that specifically caught Gallione’s eye was the perseverance of freshman Ray Kohan against River Dell’s Matt DiGennaro, who placed third in the Bergen County tournament last month.

“[By not getting pinned, Kohan] saved us two team points. That type of thing is a positive from the match, even though we lost,” Gallione said.

Senior James Allmers, juniors Tyler Pizzi, Joe Duffy, Luke Petaccia and Ryan Dunn, and sophomore Nick Savariego all came out with individual wins.

The team’s loss comes as a tough pill to swallow, but Valley will look to rebound Saturday morning against Dumont, Kittatinny Regional and Teaneck at Dumont High School. 

“We have three matches tomorrow that we need to [use to] bounce back,” Gallione said. “We have to put this behind us, as much as it hurts, and be ready to go at 9 a.m. tomorrow.”