After closing the season, sadly, with a loss in the Sectional Championship against powerhouse, Hanover Park, the Chiefs’ wrestling team is still quite happy with the progress they have made throughout the year and the future to come. Coming within only 10 points of a sectional championship, it seems that Mike Dalla Riva’s preseason words did in fact ring true: this would be one of the best teams that he would have wrestled on.

The Chiefs opened the season on their home turf with the Caldwell wrestling tournament. Their strong start paved the way for an extremely successful season in which senior captain Dalla Riva wrestled his way to the top of the county and many other Caldwell wrestlers fell just short, taking home the silver in their respective weight classes.

Additionally, many underclassmen, including Ray Iodice, Dean Caravella, and Joe Galiota, put together strong seasons, hopefully auguring another successful season to come next year. Caravella, a freshman, had an especially astounding year with only one loss.

With a strong future to come, it seems all there is to do now is to reflect. According to Dalla Riva, “This team [was] the closest [he’d] been a part of in his four years and, [he] considers them all his brothers.” The fraternity of this team was so strong that one mere loss could not take down the brotherhood that they had built, a brotherhood so seldom achieved in any aspect of life.