The Pascack Hills Athletic Department is proud to showcase its best athletes as they move on to the next level of athletic achievement. Next year, five top Bronco athletes will continue their athletic careers and academic endeavors.
Josh Wright, football, basketball, and track star will play NCAA Division II Football at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. Anthony Blackford, pitcher/1B for Pascack Hills baseball is committed to the Division I Baseball program at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. Abigail Roche, who has been a major part of the Pascack Hills girls soccer program for four years, will continue further studies at Stony Brook University. And the powerhouse Pascack Hills track and field program is sending two of its athletes to top programs, as Meredith Colla will take her distance talents to Division III Ithaca College, and Dylan Barrett will join the Ducks of the Stevens Institute of Technology.
Josh Wright has been a standout athlete in all sports for his entire Pascack Hills career. His efforts on the offensive line earned him a spot on the Super Football Conference All-American Red Division First Team this past season. Key blocks from the lineman opened up many opportunities for Connor Ohnikian to make some magic with his feet this past fall. Wright’s defensive efforts cannot be understated either, as in his Junior season, he had a strip sack on the final play of overtime against Dover to seal a key 17-14 win over the Tigers. Wright has also been successful on the hardwood, contributing to this past season’s league championship for Pascack Hills boys basketball, averaging 6.6 points per game and adding multiple defensive highlights. Wright’s athleticism will be welcomed by East Stroudsburg’s football squad, where he will begin playing this fall, as he studies communications at the Pennsylvania university.
Anthony Blackford first saw varsity baseball action for Pascack Hills last season. Filling in due to many injuries to the Bronco pitching staff in 2024, Blackford had 20 strikeouts in 10 innings, and a 2.62 ERA. Blackford is a swiss army knife on the diamond. He filled in at catcher for the early part of last season, after Dom Musco’s graduation, and has also been a designated hitter and a first baseman in his time with the Broncos. This year, Blackford has enjoyed the #2 spot in the Bronco pitching rotation, earning 45 strikeouts in 32 innings so far, and has accumulated a 4.33 ERA. On the offensive end, he has earned a reputation as a power hitter. With three career home runs, and 15 total extra-base hits, he has driven in 44 runs throughout his career on the way to a .336 career average at the time of writing. Blackford will join the University of Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers, whose basketball team made history in 2018 by being the first ever #16 seed to beat a #1 seed in the first round of March Madness with their upset of Virginia.
Abbey Roche has practically lived on the soccer field, and while she does not normally rack up goals or assists, her presence in the midfield has been invaluable to the performance of the girls soccer team at Pascack Hills in the past four years. Roche announced her commitment to the Seawolves in September of 2023, and has been preparing to make the leap to collegiate sports since. Along with manning the midfield for Stony Brook, she will study health science at the New York university.
Dylan Barrett has become one of the top distance runners in the Pascack Hills track program this season. His tireless work ethic has influenced both his performance and his sister, Brianna’s. Barrett was instrumental in the Broncos indoor boys track team’s first ever league title this winter. In the spring, he notched second-place finishes in the 3200 meter dash at both the league and county meets. Barrett will study computer science at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey while competing for their Division III track team.
Meredith Colla has been part of record setting groups at Pascack Hills this season. In the winter, the girl’s sprint medley relay group consisting of her and sophomores Morgan York, Isabella Riotto, and Keira Hickey, broke the school record at the Bergen County Relays with a time of 4:20.27. Colla also added a personal accolade of a third place finish at the sectional meet this winter, and has contributed mightily to the successes of the spring track team as well. Colla will study business at Ithaca College starting in the fall.
Everyone in the Pascack Hills athletic program is proud of these five athletes, and wishes them the best of luck in their collegiate careers and beyond.
