Spartans, Paladins Excel at County Track Championships

Between the eight Spartans and Paladins athletes that competed in the Indoor Track Bergen County Championships, Paramus students returned home from the Armory Track Center in Manhatten with several titles.

The Spartans were led by Matt Schneider (5th place, 400), Mike Secreti (4th place, 1,600), Brian Salamanca (6th place, Pentathlon), Jolie Bartner (5th place, 1,000) and Lindsey Lucas (5th place, 3,200).

The Paladins watched as Tatiyanna Sanders claimed first place in three events (55m, High Jump, Long Jump) beating out the competition by a second or mere inches.  Teammates Tatianna Jenkins (6th place, 55m) and Rosie Menyhart (3rd place, Triple Jump) also medaled.

Basketball

Paramus Catholic dropped a 73-60 thriller to Hackensack as Jalen Henriquez hit a game high 24 points as the two sides traded back and forth before the Comets pulled ahead for good in the final quarter. The Paladins also wound their way into Friday night's Bergen Invitational Finals against Northern Highlands after Kareem Coston exploded for a game high 31 points in the 61-54 victory over Indian Hills.

The Lady Paladins defeated Hackensack 61-29 by limiting the Comets to just six points in the first half and were able to overcome a second period scare by Mahwah for a 58-39 victory.

Brittany Stone's 26 points for the week were not enough to keep the Lady Spartans in the mix as the team fell to Northern Highalnds, 55-29, and Pascack Hills, 41-36, this week.

John Morella finished his Spartan career with 1,052 points after netting seven treys enroute to his career high 34 points as Paramus dropped their final game of the season, 84-71 to Lakeland. Both sides entered the second period tied but Paramus pulled ahead for a 42-36 halftime lead. The Spartans watched that lead dwindle in the second half as the Lancers outshot Paramus 48-29.

Wrestling

After pinning their way into the North 1 Group 3 sectional finals, the Paramus Spartans (19-9-1) were toppled by rival Northern Highlands, 35-27, in spite of climbing back from the bottom. Upperweights Matt Tozzi and Brandon Manosalvas recorded pins to pull the Spartans within reach of the title but a pair of Highlander wins at 106 and 113 secured the Spartan loss.

Paramus finished out their regular season at a quad meet where the Spartans defeated Ridge (62-9) and Wayne Valley (40-27) but fell to host River Dell (36-35). During the final meet, the Spartans were bolstered by Nick Pettineo (8-1 dec.), Joe Trovato (two pins), Alex Sebahie (two pins), Justin Cochran (two pins), Laith Abwini (13-0 maj. dec.), Nick Spinoso (pin, 5-3 dec., 8-2 dec.), Anthony Angello (12-3 maj. dec., pin), Brandon Lopresti (10-1 maj. dec., 12-4 maj. dec., 22-7 tech. fall), Nick Bucci (20-4 tech. fall, pin, 11-8 dec.), Brandon Sebahie (pin), Tozzi (three pins) and Manosalvas (pin).

Paramus Catholic finished out their regular season with a 36-30 victory over Elmwood Park and a 44-27 loss to Fair Lawn. The frustrating 9-17 season saw a great effort from Owen Woods (113), Zack Cavallaro (120), Michael Scaravilli (132), William Duby III (138), Evan Latrella (170), Justin Costello (182), Justo Mejias (220) and Marcus Pantoja (285).

Ice Hockey

Paramus Catholic was able to overcome a slow start against Passaic Valley for a 7-0 shutout win in the opening round of the Big North Gold Cup race and continued that momentum with a 6-1 semifinal win over River Dell. The Paladins, led by Dan Sowinski (three goals), Alex Fleischmann, Brian D'Erario, Matt Confrancesco, Matt Rainey (two each) and Dave Mozeika and Matt Lepinski (one each), faced Ridgewood on Friday night for the title.

The Spartans (4-19) pulled out an underdog miracle as Paramus ousted Pascack Valleyin the Big North Silver quarterfinals by skating to an early lead courtesy of Dean DeLucia, Tom Palestina and James Lyle and then continued to hold off the Indians. Paramus then secured an early first period tie with Glen Rock as Rich LaBarbiera netted an tally during the semifinals before the Panthers pulled away for a 5-1 victory.

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