Paladins' Dream Season Iced by Delbarton

Entering the state hockey tournament as the underdog 12th seed, Paramus Catholic extended their dream season when the Paladins knocked off Notre Dame in the first round and then breezed into the semifinals following a 2-1 win over Gloucester Catholic.

The Paladins, who earned 27 wins this season and their first state win since 2008, came up against top-seeded Delbarton in the semis. However, the Green Wave proved why they earned top billing as they iced the Paladins' dream season with a 10-1 trouncing by flooding the net early and then maintaining momentum and control in the Paladin's zone.

Brian D’Erario had the lone goal in the second period off an assist from Kevin Booth while goalie Thomas Pyrka finished with 26 saves. The Paladins loss to Delbarton was the second of the season after PC fell to Don Bosco in the Bergen County finals.

Basketball

The Lady Paladins came up just shy of facing archrival IHA in the North Non Public A basketball finals as Paramus Catholic fell to the third-seeded Holy Angels, 64-62. The second-seeded Paladins trailed by two heading in to the second period but quickly regained composure and the lead by halftime. However, the Angels were able to turn the tables around and limited PC's offensive chances in the second half and kept high-scoring Tianna Smith to a game-high 15 points.

Wrestling

Paramus Spartan Joe Trovato returned to the Region 2 finals at 120-pounds and just missed out on claiming a repeat title after Sam Cali (Don Bosco) escaped with a 2-1 double overtime decision. Trovato held off Fair Lawn's Jarred Rose, 12-2 in the semifinals and pinned New Milford's Nick Eggert in the quarterfinals.

Alex Sebahie (126) and Brandon LoPresti (160) may have been ousted in the semifinal round, but the duo fought back for huge wins in the third place consolations. Sebahie downed Don Bosco' Andrew Rosenweig, 7-3 to redeem himself after his 5-2 semifinal loss to Joe Oliva of Ridgewood.

LoPresti, who was defeated by Bergen Catholic's Kevin Mulligan, 3-0, in the semifinals, turned around and handed Chris Jacobson (Glen Rock/Saddle Brook) a 6-4 decision for the win.

The following Spartans were eliminated early on in the Region 2 tournament: Nick Pettineo (first round by pin), Brandon Sebahie (first round decision), Brandon Manosalvas (first round by pin), Justin Cochran (quarterfinal decision), Laith Abwini (quarterfinal decision), Nick Bucci (quarterfinal decision) and Matt Tozzi (quarterfinal major decision).

Paramus Catholic's Marcus Pantoja (285) was the lone athlete to advance past the first round after escaping with a 3-0 decision over New Milford's Zach Suarez. But Pantoja drew a quarterfinal round against Bergen Catholic's Carmine Goldsack and couldn't come back from a 4-0 deficit.

The majority of the Paladins were eliminated in the first round as Owen Woods and Zack Cavallaro fell 5-4 and 4-2 and Justin Costello was pinned in under two minutes.

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