Saturday, November 1, 2014

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Freshman Sebastian Varela set up the equalizer and then scored the game-winner as Ramapo broke the hex against Northern Highlands and claimed its 10th Bergen County title with a 2-1 win in Oakland on Friday night.

OAKLAND – Soccer stats and results can sometimes be spun to suit the spinner. A team can explain away losses because it had more of the possession, it hit a crossbar or post or was robbed by questionable call by the referee. All of that makes for nice conversation and can soothe the conscience, but facts are facts and the truth for the Ramapo boys soccer program was that it had not beaten league rival Northern Highlands since November 14, 2012. The Green Raiders had not scored against the Highlanders this season through 160 minutes of two regular season matches and were scoreless again through the first 61:48 of Round 3, which came on Halloween Night in the finals of the Bergen County Tournament.

And then Sebastian Varela happened.

The freshman midfielder had been taken off in the first half because he was having trouble in his holding midfielder's role. Drifting against the physical Highlanders, Varela was a spectator for the final 20 plus minutes of the opening half. When he returned he was, quite simply, the best player on the field in the last 20 minutes, precisely when his team needed his creativity the most.

Varela set up the equalizer with an inspired run and some fancy footwork and then did it all himself when he dreamed up a unique game-winner, a toe-poke with back spin from just inside the 18 to turn the rivalry and the season on its head. After being held scoreless by previously unbeaten Highlands for nearly 222 straight minutes, Ramapo scored twice in the span of 2:05 to claim the 10th Bergen County championship in school history and the eighth under head coach Evan Baumgarten, 2-1, in front of a costume-clad crowd at Indian Hills High School.

Joshua Burshtein's goal in the 13th minute gave Northern Highlands an early 1-0 lead.

“We took [Varela] out 10-15 minutes in and he didn't play again for the rest of the first half. He was struggling staying in the middle part of the field and getting in plays, but he came on in the second half and totally changed the dynamic of the game. It was him and Dylan [Rocchio] in the central part of the field that changed things,” said Baumgarten. “It was combination play. Coach [Jerry] Lewis always drills them on combinations and that is what finally got us through.”

Northern Highlands had taken the lead in the 13th minute when Josh Burshtein buried a header off a long throw by Kyle Bissell and had a few other quality looks to extend the lead, but Ramapo hung around until it could find the path to goal. It was a ball won in the midfield by Keeyan Hagshenas that gave Varela possession near the right touchline at the center stripe and he changed speeds, bursting through a small crack between two defenders and then using a step over to take advantage of the created space.

Varela drew the Highlanders back line up before finding Rocchio, whose first touch from the middle of the field was a sweeping pass wide to Ryan Campbell, who timed his back side run. Campbell took a dribble and then took an arcing shot that left Highlands keeper Alec Lam no chance as it hit the side net inside the opposite post.

“I can't take the credit for that goal. All of the other players worked hard for it. You saw Dylan, Sebastian and Keeyan working hard to win the ball. The lead-up came together, it fell to my feet and I just put it in the back of the net,” said Campbell, Ramapo's senior striker. “It was obviously desperation time, but it is a matter of how you deal with desperation and we dealt with it by staying together as a family. That is something we harp on. If we stay together as a family, things will fall into place.”

Ramapo's Ryan Campbell celebrating his goal that tied the game at 1.

The celebration had barely died down before Varela got after it again. He corralled a ball in the middle of the field about 25 yards from goal, had his foot stepped on by a defender and kept his balance. Varela then took a hard dribble to his right to create space and when he saw said space, he came up with an interesting solution. He basically kept his right leg straight as he swept underneath the ball and hit what looked like a top-spin lob in tennis under the crossbar and in for the county championship winning goal.

“I have been working hard this year on getting that second ball that comes out of the box. It bounced out, I saw my opportunity and I took it,” said Varela of the build up to the goal. “I toe-poked it, but it was on purpose and I kind of just squeezed it in there.”

Ramapo played four county tournament games and was behind in three of them. The Raiders, the No. 6 seed, trailed Fort Lee in the second half before winning in overtime in the Round of 16, they were locked in a scoreless game with No. 3 Tenafly before finding the winner early in the second half and last week, against No. 2 Don Bosco Prep, they trailed twice at 1-0 and 2-1 before Josh Lupi scored the overtime Golden Goal.

What they had not done was give back a lead once they got one and they saw out the final 16 minutes on Friday night by staying organized in the back with goalkeeper Armand Biagini collecting whatever came his way.

“They 100-percent earned it, they 100-percent deserved it. They outplayed us tonight and they are a good team. The scary thing about soccer, especially in tournament play, is that you get 80 minutes and if you don't get it done in those 80 minutes then it is all over. Congratulations to Ramapo,” said a gracious Sean Devore, Highlands' head coach. “We had our chances early and didn't finish. We scored the early goal then we kind of sat back a little bit. They took their chances, they took them well, they scored their goals and when they get a lead they are hard to break down just like we are.”

Matt Collins and the Ramapo defense held Highland scoreless for the final 67 minutes.

Highlands had two peeks at an equalizer in the final five minutes. Christian Virgona sent in a cross from the left for Aaron Burshtein, who got his header on frame, but it was right at Biagini. Inside the final minute, Mike Park stood over a free kick from 30 yards out and hit a knuckling liner, but Biagini took that one handily.

“On defense we were just trying to keep our composure and not try to get too amped. We wanted to make them play it over the top and then we would win the headers,” said Billy Collins, Ramapo's sophomore defender who was a part of the team that won the Freshman Bergen County Tournament last year, making him 2-0 in county finals. “This is awesome. I had the experience of last year, but this is totally different. To win it on this level is the greatest feeling.”

It is 'that feeling' that had Varela on the high school field on Friday night rather than in an academy playing in competitive obscurity. He chose the high school route and now he is the freshman that scored the game-winning goal in Ramapo's 10th county championship.

“Academy is more of a competitive play and high school is about togetherness and working as a family. I really wanted to be a part of that this year,” said Varela. “And I love it.”

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