Monday, Feb. 26
Boys Basketball at Dumont (NJSIAA Tournament, Quarterfinal Round) – 48-38 Win
Earlier in the season, in the Broncos’ first home game, Pascack Hills had lost to Dumont 50-45. However, Hills has improved mightily since then, and with a BIT Trophy now in the cabinet, Pascack Hills had a lot of momentum coming into their quarterfinal matchup with the Huskies. In the earlier matchup, Dumont’s Fred Herbst led the Huskies with 22 points, and no one else scored more than nine. For the Broncos, Austin Ellman scored 14, leading Nick Lukmann and David Weidmuller, who had 13 and 12, respectively. The game was a close one. Neither team could pull away from the other until the fourth quarter, but the Broncos had the lead almost the entire way. Pascack Hills would move on to the sectional semifinals against Ramsey.
Wednesday, Feb. 28
Boys Basketball at Ramsey (NJSIAA Tournament, Semifinal Round) – 39-37 Loss
Much like the Dumont game, the Broncos had already played Ramsey this season. In fact, this matchup happened twice, with the Rams taking both by considerable margins on their way to a Patriot Division title. This gave little hope in the minds of most that Pascack Hills would be able to knock off Ramsey. The Broncos were down early but came back in the second quarter and preserved that momentum into the second half. Unfortunately, as the scoreboard turned to the final eight-minute period, the Broncos stalled, and Ramsey completed a comeback with two free throws to secure another appearance in the Sectional Championship Game. This ends a very successful season for the Broncos, and there is hope for the future but also great loss as two-year stars Nick Lukmann and David Weidmuller will graduate this year, along with point guard Austin Ellman. We will see what Coach Paul D’Errico decides to do, but we have a long time to wait.
Saturday, Mar. 2
NJSIAA State Wrestling Championships
As soon as the boys basketball team lost at Ramsey Wednesday night, the hopes of the Broncos turned towards senior wrestler Jake Wacha. Wacha was the only Bronco to qualify for the state tournament. He did so as the 20th seed of 32 wrestlers in the 150-pound weight class. Wacha had no problem dispatching the 13th seed, Matthew Di Eduardo of Bridgewater-Raritan, with an 11 to 7 decision in the first round. Then Wacha had a major upset, defeating the fourth-ranked Austin Craft of Camden Catholic by disqualification, but in the quarterfinals, Wacha was knocked out of the main bracket by five-seeded Gavin Hawk of Phillipsburg. Wacha still had a chance to be a medalist by making his way through the consolation bracket. Wacha entered the “Wrestleback” fourth round and defeated the 18th seed, Alexander Delaurier of Raritan, by a 2-1 decision. This clinched a medal for Wacha, but a loss to Jeremy Quezada of Dumont meant he could only finish in 7th place. Wacha had to forfeit the seventh place match but still finished eighth of 32 and got a medal for his efforts. Wacha finished the season with 42-5, a new Bronco record.
And so we are done for the winter season. We will see you back in early April to get ready for the spring sports season here at Pascack Hills.
