The Indians are locked in their respective state sectional tournament for the first time in 11 years.
PV sits in the fifth seed out of 8, and the tournament will play out in brackets, just like any other wrestling tournament. While the fifth seed matches up against the fourth seed, there are three other matchups going on at the same time. All four are with their teams and seeds are included here: Sparta (1) vs. Ramapo (8) Old Tappan (2) vs. Morris Hills (7) Montville (3) vs. Paramus (6) Pascack Valley (4) vs. River Dell (5) River Dell is 14-2 thus far this season and is currently on a three match winning streak, as is PV.
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The Indians' nine game winning streak comes to a close after a 36-22 loss to Westwood.
So far this season, it appears that PV has either blown out their opponent or have gotten blown out. In fact, this was only the third dual match that PV has had this season that was decided by less than 20 points. The others both came in wins against Pequannock and Hawthorne, respectively. After Westwood pulled out victories in the first three weight classes, the Indians just couldn't catch up. Robbie Natelli put PV's first points on the board with a decision over Westwood's Zach Harris at the 126 weight class. Matt Beyer followed as PV's next victor, as he pinned his opponent in 3:32 at the 138 weight class. This was Beyer's sixth pin on the season and his 13th win. Beyer has yet to lose in a dual match this season. The Indians' other points came from decisions via Tommy Chiellini, Will Morris, and Casey Lewis. Jake Prusha claimed his second major decision on the year. PV will look to rebound from their close loss on January 28th in a three-way match against Dumont, Newton, and Cresskill. The Indians are shooting through the ranks.
Within the past week, PV has gathered four straight victories against Tenafly, Ramapo, Ramsey, and Hawthorne, respectively. This undeniably lead to their leap from seventh place to fifth place. This now bumps Paramus down to sixth, Ramapo down to seventh, and Morris Hills down to eighth. A big part to PV's recent burst of success were wrestlers Tommy Chiellini and Rob Arloro, who wrestled in their first match for the Indians on January 18th. Since the two were first slotted in PV's starting lineup, they have accumulated three pins and two technical falls between the two of them. Arloro has been out of the lineup as of lately with an apparent injury. Coach Gallione said that he couldn't comment on his status. With the North 1, Group 3 State Tournament coming up, Gallione is just telling his players to keep doing what they're doing. "I told the guys yesterday to just continue doing what they're doing. Keep the same approach in this last week. The cut off is Saturday afternoon, after all matches Saturday. So keep the same approach for these five matches this week." Gallione thinks that his wrestlers are in a good spot, and that they shouldn't really do anything differently in the near future to get to the upcoming tournament. "I don't think we should really move far from where we're at, you know what I mean? Hopefully maybe keep going up, but if we keep the same approach, keep beating the teams {that} we're supposed to beat, and doing the things we're supposed to do, I don't see us dropping." "Confidence levels are high, but they have to stick with the same approach that they've had these last two and a half weeks. I want them to keep that approach this week and as we move on in the season." The Indians' next match is away at Westwood on January 27th.
You could say that thirty days may have been worth the wait.
The Indians defeated Tenafly 59-21 with big help from the newly acquired Bosco transfers. Tommy Chiellini won by a technical fall while shutting out his opponent, Roy Dayan. Rob Arloro pinned Tenafly's Pat DeSalvo in 3:34. The two combined for 11 of the team's points. Below is Chiellini (top) recording three back points to finish off his match in the third period and Arloro (bottom) pinning his opponent in the second period.
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Other contributors to the Indians' total came from Bradley Zirlin, Jake Averna, Nolan Shields, Matt Beyer, Jake Prusha, Will Morris, and Casey Lewis, who all pinned. Robbie Natelli won by forfeit.
For this match, Matt Beyer moved down from 138 to 132. Chiellini stepped in at 138 while Arloro was slotted in at 145 instead of Stephen Soravilla. This match is only the first glance at how the Indians will continue to wrestle for the rest of the season. As we've heard from Coach Tom Gallione, everyone will still get a chance to wrestle even though Chiellini and Arloro are back. The two are just excited to be back and have a lot to look forward to. "Good team win," Arloro said. "We still have a lot to work on as a team but we're definitely improving. I'm happy with how the night went. Overall, we're looking good and and it's looking like a promising future." "Yeah, you know, I was a little nervous at first going out," Chiellini added. "But then once I was out there I felt pretty good. I was happy, I got my first win. [There were] a few mistakes that we can work on but otherwise it's good to get the first win out of the way. I'm ready for the rest of the season." Pascack Valley is hot right now.
The Indians have won four matches in a row and are 6-3 on the season entering Wednesday’s dual against Tenafly. As a result, they sit currently in seventh place in North 1, Group 3 with 24.00 power points. After a rule change, the top eight teams in each section qualify this year. In the past, the top six teams qualified. Exactly a week ago from this past Tuesday, PV was eighth, behind Ramapo. Morris Hills was ninth behind PV. Now, the Indians are 0.9 points behind Morris Hills, and 0.67 points ahead of No. 8 ranked Ramapo, which means if the season were to end today, the Indians would qualify for the team postseason tournament for the first time in 11 seasons. PV travels to face Ramapo in a pivotal dual match this Friday night. The power points are updated every week, and PV looks to build upon its recent burst of success. Check back here weekly for an update on where PV sits in the rankings. The wait is finally over.
The two Don Bosco transfers are finally getting their first shot on the wrestling mat Wednesday against Tenafly. The match is home at 7 p.m. The two wrestlers, sophomore Tommy Chiellini and senior Rob Arloro, were forced to sit out the mandatory 30 days per NJSIAA rules as a result of their transfer. However, they have been practicing with the team (6-3) this whole time, and despite missing the first nine dual meets, they’ve remained dedicated and focused. PV coach Tom Gallione said he expects Chiellini will compete at 138 and Arloro at 145. "I'm excited. I give these guys a lot of credit. It's hard to to practice for a month and a half. In the [nine] dual meets and the two tournament meets that we've had that they haven't been stepping on that mat, that hasn't changed how hard they practice,” Gallione said, praising their work ethic. Chiellini and Arloro echoed a similar sentiment. "It feels great. It feels like I've been working hard all season, been waiting for this for a long time, and the time has finally come and I'm ready to go out there and perform," Chiellini shared. "It’s definitely exciting,” Arloro added. “But we’re just thinking about the team and how myself and Tommy can help the team do better this season to finish off the season the right way.” Bosco had a coaching change in the middle of the year, when former head coach Chris Bitetto suddenly resigned. Chiellini said that this affected his decision to move over to PV. "The decision just felt right. We had a coaching change at Bosco and I wasn't loving it over there. I decided that I was ready to come back home," Chiellini said. Chiellini is a River Vale native and went to Holdrum Middle School before spending his freshman year at Don Bosco. Chiellini compiled a 21-14 record last season while Arloro compiled a 12-10 record. Chiellini and Arloro both made it to the Region 2 tournament last year, a tournament that only two PV wrestlers, sophomore Matt Beyer and junior Nolan Shields, made last year. Arloro, who declined to comment on his reason for his transfer to PV, made it to the preliminary round of the regions in the 138 weight class. Chiellini made it to the quarterfinals in the 120 weight class, defeating Shields in the preliminaries. "They bring a huge amount of Varsity experience to the lineup. Tommy had experience in the regional tournament last year, Rob did too. Rob's a senior, he's got three years of Varsity experience over at Don Bosco. It'll be huge and it'll ultimately boost up our team points whenever we go up against a higher level team," junior 182-pounder Casey Lewis said . Gallione believes that Chiellini and Arloro will be slotted in the weight classes of 138, 145, or 152. At those weight classes, PV already has solidified starters in Beyer (138), sophomore Stephen Soravilla (145), and junior Jake Prusha (152). "They just add more depth to our team," Gallione said. "You're always going to have a few injuries, but having those two in the middle of the lineup just adds depth." While on the surface it could look more like a logjam, the Indians also now have more flexibility in the middle of the lineup and could strategically move some wrestlers around to gain more favorable matchups. "[I’ll] probably be at 145 and maybe for some matches at 152, depending on the matchups we want to take advantage of,” Arloro said. Junior Robbie Natelli went so far as to say that the addition of Chiellini and Arloro would propel PV to its first playoff berth in 11 seasons (see this week’s power point standings broken down from the PV perspective in the most recent post at “PV Mats,” our Smoke Signal wrestling blog). "I think we're going to be a top fifteen team in North Jersey. I think when they come back we're going to make the state sectional tournament," said Junior Robbie Natelli. Pascack Valley best Pascack Hills on the mat in a rivalry matchup for the second straight year.
PV got off to a slow start, losing three out of its first four matches. Freshman Alex Menendez got the nod to his first varsity match, and he claimed a major decision for Valley to put them up 4-0 early. The three matches were at the hands of sophomores Ari Quinn, Mitchell Sorretta, and Matt Kalil. All three were pinned, which put PV down 18-4. But the deficit wouldn't last long. The Indians would go on to get three straight pins from Bradley Zirlin, Jake Averna, and Robbie Natelli in that order. This put them up 22-18 over Hills. Hills's best known wrestler, Joe Keller, pinned freshman James Allmers, who held his ground until late in the third period, in 5:46 to give Hills an additional six points. The fact that Allmers couldn't save two points for the team ended up being a meaningless afterthought. All hope that Hills had after Keller's pin was lost. Nolan Shields won a tight match, being able to grab an escape for the only point of his total six minutes on the mat. The point came in the third quarter, and Shields's opponent, Tyler Deppert, didn't have enough time to muster any points to come back. Shields earned the three-point decision giving the Indians' team the lead 25-24. From there, it was the Pascack Valley show. Matt Beyer pinned and another pin by Stephen Soravilla followed. Jake Prusha claimed his first technical fall of the season, the third technical fall the Indians have had in a team match this season (the first two came from Beyer). Valley closed out the night after a pin by Will Morris and a decision by Jack Tsokanos. Soravilla and Tsokanos shared some thoughts on the 51-24 win and the meaning of defeating their rival. "Hills is always an important match. They're our rivals, you know? It's Indians versus Cowboys. It's always a big match, it's very important to us," Soravilla said. "It's an emotional win. It's a big time win for the team and we're definitely very happy. This is a match that we were hyped up for in advance, so to pick up the win was a big deal," Tsokanos answered. This also marks the second year in a row that Valley came out victorious over the Cowboys, after the Indians won 33-27 last season. The Indians' next match comes on January 14th in a four-team match that includes Secaucus, Becton, and Teaneck. The match will take place at Secaucus High School. If you have been wondering why Junior Casey Lewis has been held out of the usual lineup lately, your answer is likely right here. To all who have not realized who exactly has been wrestling for the Indians, Lewis has been a scratch from his matches for the past week. It turns out that there was some news to be shared, and Casey himself shared some information on what has been the cause of his lack of presence on the mat. "Right now I'm dealing with a couple of health issues and we're on the side of caution. That is what's keeping me out for a little bit. I'm expected to be back in the lineup Saturday, if not Saturday then definitely for next week." Classmate Robbie Natelli was also able to give some insight on the matter. "Yeah, Casey has an undisclosed injury right now and he'll be back in the lineup either Saturday or next Wednesday," Natelli stated. Lewis's normal spots at the 182 and 195 weight classes have been filled in by sophomores Ari Quinn, Jack Tsokanos, and Zach Olsen. Between the three of them, only Tsokanos has claimed a win in any of their matches. They may have had school off, but the Indian wrestlers did not take any days off the mat on January 6th and 7th.
Unfortunately, the wrestling days did not go as planned. First, the Indians lost to River Dell High School by a score of 41-23. Our points came from decisions from Robbie Natelli and sophomore Jack Tskanos, two pins from Will Morris and George Dvoynos, and a technical fall from Matt Beyer. This marked Tskanos's first win of the season. Their next match was at Butler High School on the 7th of January. Down in Morris County, we managed decisions from Natelli and Morris, a major decision from Nolan Shields, a pin from Dvoynos, and a technical fall from Jake Prusha. This totaled to 21 points. But to Butler's 46, it was no good as PV dropped their second match in as many days. As Coach Gallione along with standout wrestlers Shields and Beyer have mentioned in the recent past, these Indian wrestlers are definitely getting better but they have a lot to work on as well. These wreslters will only get more experience as they see more matches, and we can only hope that means that the Indians are traveling in a positive direction.
The Indians claimed their first victory of the week and their second of the season Wednesday night at Bergenfield. The 52-24 record puts PV's overall record at 2-1.
Their lone decision came from Sophomore Jake Averna. Averna came back from a two point deficit after the first period to capture a reversal and a near fall for three points in the second period. He also managed a takedown in the third period. The score of Averna's match ended at 7-3. Stephen Soravilla shut out his opponent with 6-0 score, therefore getting a major decision. The next major decision was the match directly after Soravilla's. Junior Jake Prusha defeated Carlos Haynes. Haynes finished in 8th in the BCCA tournament last week. Pascack Valley's wrestlers had a plethora of pins. Those who added six points to PV's overall score were Robbie Natelli, James Allmers, Nolan Shields, Matt Beyer, Will Morris, and Geroge Dvoynos. Allmers, a freshman, had himself his first victory as a wrestler at Valley. He moved down to the 126 pound weight class from 132 pounds, so perhaps this gave Allmers a better shot. A pin for your first win? Not bad. The Indians travel to River Dell Regional High School on Friday, January 6.
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AuthorJeremy Lesserson Archives
February 2017
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