Friday, November 16, 2012

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Taylor Gerety scored off an assist from Connor Spatz (20) in the final minute to finish off Ramapo's hard-fought 3-1 win over Northern Highlands in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional semifinals on Thursday in Franklin Lakes.

FRANKLIN LAKES – Had it been any other opponent in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional semifinals, Ramapo’s resume might have a real psychological asset. The Green Raiders are the reining Bergen County champions, the defending Group 3 state champions, they have yet to lose a game this season and have not lost at all in over one full calendar year, November 6 of 2011 to be exact, with a single tie being the only semi-blemish in what has otherwise been a stunning run of perfection. All of that might have made another opponent a little hesitant to step on the pitch with the team ranked No. 2 in the state by the Star Ledger, but not Northern Highlands, Ramapo’s league rival and the team that put the ‘1’ in the Green Raiders’ 19-0-1 record this season.

“They play every game with passion, enthusiasm and energy and that is why they are a tough team to play against,” said Ramapo head coach Evan Baumgarten. “I say it every time we play them and I give them credit because they play that way all the time.”

So if Ramapo was going to continue its state title defense, it was going to have to earn it the hard way rather than counting on an overwhelmed opponent to bow before the champ. The Green Raiders rose to the challenge by putting two goals home inside the first 24 minutes and then hung on as Northern Highlands threw everything it had inside the 18 in the closing minutes. A last-minute goal put the cosmetic touch on a 3-1 Ramapo win that moves it into Monday’s North 1, Group 3 final.

John Maschio's goal got Northern Highlands to within 2-1 with 25:27 left in the second half.

Ramapo took the lead in the ninth minute when a clinical possession finished when Drake Sieber set up Mikey Taranto for the game’s first goal and the Green Raiders’ were disinclined to settle for one as evidenced by Ian Fayorsey. The junior defender skipped the connection to the midfield and carried the ball himself from the back up the left side before putting one on a platter for Taylor Gerety, the sophomore striker who finished and put Ramapo in command, up 2-0 with 16:25 left in the first half.

Ramapo nearly put the game away six minutes into the second half when Fayorsey’s flick of a Taranto header went barely above the bar and that Raiders were stuck with what is acknowledged as the worst lead in soccer, the dreaded 2-nil that leaves teams in the no-man’s land of trying to play defense first without playing entirely in its own defensive third.

Sensing its season starting to slip away, Highlands turned up its intensity and started to take over possession by contesting every ball. They won a corner kick in the 48th minute and Kyle Bissell sent the restart into the mixer. Tim Collis got the first flick and Mike Sirico got the second and even though the finished product was over the top of the crossbar, the Highlanders had their first real scoring chance and some momentum.

Seven minutes later, Highlands made it a new game when John Maschio took a ball down on his chest in the midfield and nudged it wide to Rami Mamary in a combination that has worked so many times for the Highlander seniors, who play in a line running up the middle of the field. Mamary played the ball right back to Maschio, who bent his shot inside the right post from 20 yards out to make it 2-1 with still 25:27 left to find the equalizer.

Ian Fayorsey's run out of the back set up Ramapo's second goal.

“We gave up two goals early and that didn’t help. We might have been a little shell-shocked,” said Northern Highlands head coach Sean Devore. “But we said to them at halftime, ‘Get the first goal inside 20 minutes and then we’ll scramble. And we did that.”

Highlands dodged a bullet when Fayorsey headed a Taranto corner kick onto the top of the crossbar in the 61st minute and as the clock moved toward 10 minutes left, the Highlanders really started to flood the offensive zone and putting the pressure on Will Shiel, Ramapo’s senior goalkeeper who was strong in getting up to pick off crosses at their highest point. He was called on when Keller Biswurm sent in a hopeful ball from the left and Shiel had to climb the back of Taranto, who went up for a clearance attempt of his own.

As gravity took over and Shiel brought the ball down, it sat loose on Taranto’s back for a spit second before falling off and into the hands of Shiel, who was by now on the ground and surrounded by three Highlands attackers.

“One of the hardest jobs and one of the most important jobs in being a keeper is coming out and grabbing balls in the air, grabbing those 50/50 balls to take the pressure off the defense. Highlands plays Route 1 soccer and that is one of their main attacks,” said Shiel. “Highlands is a great team that rides on momentum and enthusiasm and we knew that once we let in that first goal that we were going to have to hold strong on defense, pull a few more players back, tighten up and really win the first and second balls.”

Senior Rami Mamary assisted on the Northern Highlands goal.

It was physical down the stretch as Highlands pressed to get in and Ramapo did all it could to clear away the waves of trouble. The suspense ended 42 seconds before time when Highlands keeper Alec Lam had moved all the way up to into the offensive third and when he was unable to keep a clearance in front of him, Connor Spatz ran in behind with lots of empty green in front of him. Spatz carried to the ball into the space before unselfishly setting up Gerety for his second goal of the game, this one into the empty net.

“This feels great and I am really fortunate that my teammates did all that work so I could get those goals,” said Gerety, who now has five on the season. “They were attacking a lot at the end, but we knew that if we stayed composed and poised like we practice that we could hold on and maybe even get another goal on the counter[attack] and we finally did.”

Highlands (13-5-1) saw another successful season come to an end with five sophomores on the field who will help form the nucleus of next year’s team as it will lose 12 seniors to graduation, including its three captains – Maschio, Mamary and Collis – all of whom were on the field as sophomores in 2010 when Highlands won its first Bergen County championship.

“If you watched the whole time I actually thought we had the better of player. The difference was they finished their chances and we didn’t. Number 13 [Taranto] is just a special player and 11 [Sean Ethridge] is a good player. No one in the state of New Jersey is going to be happier to see them graduate than me. I wish them well on the next level, but I will be happy to see them go,” said Devore, who just finished his third season as Highlands’ head coach. “We’ll be back. We started five sophomores, our first player off the bench was a sophomore. It was a good run and hopefully we can do better next year.”

Will Shiel and the Ramapo seniors are looking to go out with a second straight Group 3 state title.

But before Taranto, Ethridge and Ramapo’s senior group that includes 14 others dons the cap and gown, they have three games left to win to cap a season that would be near perfect. The Raiders already own league and county titles and a zero in the loss column. Next up is Monday’s section final where Ramapo, the top seed, will host the winner of No. 3 Morris Hills and River Dell, the No. 10 seed that has made a surprising run to the semifinals. It should also be noted that Timber Creek, Ramapo’s opponent in last season’s Group 3 state final and a favorite to make it back this year lost in the South Jersey semifinals on Thursday. Also, Scotch Plains, currently ranked No. 1 in the state and Ramapo’s opponent last year in the Group 3 state semifinals, is now a Group 4 school and no longer a potential stumbling block.

“We don’t really focus on the pressure too much. We play one game at a time because we know every game is going to be tough. We know we have the talent to do it, but we also know we have a lot of tough competition ahead,” said Shiel. “Right from the beginning of the season we wanted to in the states, the county and the league. We knew that we could be in this position and we have been preparing for it all season. We are happy to be here, but we also know what we have to do to be able to continue.”

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