Thursday, December 22, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Rich Loeffler pinned at 285, a key turning point in Pascack Valley's 46-30 win over Ramsey on Wednesday in the season opener for both teams.

HILLSDALE – The momentum was starting to tip toward the Ramsey side in the season-opening dual meet against Pascack Valley on Wednesday night. The first six matches were split evenly at three a piece with all six decisions coming via pin before the string was finally broken at 182 as Pascack Valley's Anthony Setola won the match's first decision. When Ramsey followed with two straight pins to take a nine-point lead, the pressure fell squarely on the broad shoulders of Rich Loeffler, PV's 285-pounder who needed to not only change the direction of the match, but also do it against an opponent who beat him in last season's dual meet.

“The pin at 220 put us in a little bit of trouble because we were hoping that we could get at least three points there, but the Ramsey kid [Ryan Woods] did a great job and got a pin. That was a nine-point swing there,” said Pascack Valley head coach Tom Gallione. “It was up to the heavyweight to bail us out.”

Loeffler did just that. Caught in a scramble situation from the bottom, Loeffler hit a reversal and turned it into a pin just 49 seconds into the first period. That kicked off a run of five straight match wins that Pascack Valley used to catch and then then blow by Ramsey for a 46-30 win in Hillsdale.

Ramsey's Ryan Woods starting the throw that led to a pin at 220.

“Last season I wrestled the same kid [Neil Forrester] and he pinned me so I was a little nervous going into the match. But I just went out there and did my best and the results came,” said Loeffler. “When I was on the bottom I hit the Pederson and took his arm. I thought I was going to get pinned for a minute, but then I just rolled through and sat back.”

The first six matches of the night resulted in 18 points for each side as every winner grabbed all available bonus points with pins. Pascack Valley's Danny White (132) got it started with a fall before Chuckie Slater (138) and Matt Johns answered for Ramsey with pins. That brought out PV's Dan Ressler, who opened a 7-0 lead after the first period before tying the match with his fall 31 seconds into the second period at 152.

“My job was just to get the momentum shifted back in our direction. The first period I went in there and got a pretty quick take down, I got on top and just started working the [arm] bar series. I didn't want to get too pretty, as they say, and expose my own back. I just wanted to stay safe,” said Ressler, a senior and a returning state qualifier. “I had choice in the second period, I took top and I was able to finish it with another arm bar and get the match back going our way.”

Returning state qualifier Dan Ressler pinned at 152 for Pascack Valley.

Cory Gottlieb followed Ressler's pin with one of his own at 160 to give Pascack Valley an 18-12 lead. Gottlieb had a 5-0 lead after two periods, but picked up the extra three points by pinning 22 seconds into the third before Ramsey's Ryan Ribaudo answered with a second period pin to tie the team score for the final time at 18-18.

Setola had to work for his win at 182 as he took a 4-1 lead after the first period only to see Ramsey's Jacob Chang hit a reversal to pull to 4-3 in the second. Up 5-3 after two and by 6-4 in the waning seconds, Setola turned a Chang shot and the ensuing scramble into a take down and an 8-4 win. Ramsey retook the lead on a Travis Picariello first period pin at 195 and Ryan Woods' second period pin at 220 that put the Rams up 30-21 before Loeffler rescued PV at 285.

“We kind of got lucky at 220. Their kid was winning and our guy [Woods] hung in there and, essentially, landed on their kid. They made a mistake and Ryan took advantage of it and got six [points] out of that. I was thinking that were in the driver's seat now,” said Ramsey head coach Anthony Petrock. “Then the same kind of thing happens the other way at heavyweight and everything went against us after that. Those are the breaks.”

Ramsey senior Chuckie Slater pinned at 138 pounds.

Loeffler cut the Ramsey lead to 30-27 and Cameron McLearie moved Pascack Valley in front for good at 31-30 with his 9-1 majority decision at 106. The most competitive match of the night came at 113 where all of the scoring came in the first period of Zach Lanzalotto's 2-1 win over Ramsey's Bryan Rottingen. Lanzalotto rode out the entire third period from the top to push PV's team lead to 34-30. Dean Piterski's second period pin at 120 put the match out of reach and Alex Moore closed things out in 50 seconds at 126.

“All week we talked about bonus points, bonus points, bonus points and the kids did it. They did a helluva job finishing when they got their chances,” said Gallione, the PV head coach and co-host of The Wrestling Show, which can be heard every week right here on NorthJerseySports.com. “There were moves early on that we tried to make that didn't quite work out for us, but the other guys stepped up. Last year they beat us on bonus points and this year we got them the same way. It's always competitive between us and Ramsey and this was a good way for us to open the season as a team.”

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