After having secured a top six spot all year up to this point, the Pascack Valley wrestling team was not able to hold on long enough to enter the State Team Sectionals Tournament.

By a score of 42-26, PV defeated Dumont on January 30 but finished in seventh place, barely missing out one of the spots that move on. They had the sixth spot for some time, but just couldn’t hold onto it come the state team sectional tournament.

Will Morris and Dan Schneiderman both won their matches by pinning their respective opponents in under a minute each, while Casey Lewis pinned in 1.04. Jake Prusha and Mike Martino won their matches by a decision. Nick Timpanaro, Joe Schnugg, and Ari Quinn all won by forfeit. Those victories are what propelled PV to the victory.

Coach Tom Gallione had some words on the way it felt to be knocked out of the tournament.

“It did hurt, since we were in sixth all year. It’s good that we beat Dumont, but we could’ve had more power points. They had some major decisions on us, which would have brought their total lower if they only got a decision. We had opportunities to get more power points which we needed to be able to qualify for the Sectionals.”

Gallione also commented on the team’s losses earlier in the season that affected the standings. He mentioned that the team had a match against West Orange that they lost on the 30th of January. His comments fully explain the scenario had the team won against West Orange.

“If we beat West Orange, we would’ve been in. We would’ve gotten sixth overall. Like I said, it’s all about the power points. Even though we lost, there were times that we could’ve given up a lot less points. Losing by 15 is better than losing by 30.”

Even though there a whole lot of negative to go around for the seventh place New Jersey high school wrestling finishers, Gallione saw this as a positive learning experience. He explained that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“Even though we were knocked out at the end, it gives the team more motivation for their next matches. They know what to do next time and how to fix what they did wrong. This is like a learning experience.”

The Indians still have the whole month of February and a tournament in March, so perhaps that is what Coach was getting at.