Monday,
October 5, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Moritz Eisold and Don Bosco Prep are now in the Bergen County Tournament after being left out of the original draw. |
BERGEN COUNTY -- The Bergen County Boys Soccer Tournament has not kicked its first ball yet and already it has been quite interesting. After the tournament was seeded on Sunday night, there were some glaring omissions. Don Bosco Prep and Northern Valley/Old Tappan, two teams with the talent to make deep runs, were left out. To a lesser degree, both Bergenfield and Glen Rock also had cases to make.
But when Bosco was denied entry and Old Tappan was also shown a closed door, well, let’s just say that there were some unhappy campers in the coaching circles.
“It was a travesty and I was not going to just let it go by. I was going to do the right thing and stand up for my kids,” said Don Bosco Prep head coach Vincent Sileo. “I said I was going to go to the newspapers and I was going to make an issue of it. It was the wrong decision and it I had to find some way to correct it. I sent texts, I made phone calls and I couldn’t get any answers.”
But an answer did come right around 7:00 p.m. on Monday evening. That was when Sileo received a phone call telling him that the selection committee had reconvened and reconsidered. So on Tuesday night, Don Bosco Prep will host what would have to be called a play-in, play-in game against Northern Valley/Old Tappan under the lights in Ramsey.
“It was the right thing to do,” said Sileo. “And I thanked [the committee] for that.”
Don Bosco was 4-4 at the cutoff, well short of the .650 winning percentage needed for automatic entry, but when strength of schedule is factored in, Bosco’s ranked right up there with any team in the field. The Ironmen lost four one-goal games against the likes of Seton Hall Prep, Christian Brothers Academy, DePaul and Bergen Catholic, the No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament. Old Tappan, which has a 5-2 win over Ramapo, the No. 2 seed this year and the defending champion, on its resume, was also given a reprieve and a spot in the draw.
A wrong was righted and an error admitted as was made evident by the eventual inclusion of two deserving sides, but this year’s tournament is off-kilter as a result. To make a run at a title, the winner of the Bosco/Old Tappan game will have to play one more game than everyone else and Fair Lawn and Fort Lee also have been hit by some shrapnel.
Instead of avoiding the play-in round all together, Fair Lawn now has to not only play in it, but do so against either Bosco or NV/OT, no picnic no matter which team advances. Fort Lee, which is the unofficial No. 5 seed, might get Bosco in the Round of 16. Nobody’s draw is supposed to be easy, but Fort Lee’s is now certainly harder than it might have been if Bosco and Old Tappan had been left out as originally decided, or let in in the first place. In that case, the bracket would have looked quite different.
All of this will subside when the tournament eventually kicks off and a champion will be decided on the field as it always is, but it will make for a fun episode of Hitting The Post, NorthJerseysSports.com’s original multimedia series talking all things North Jersey soccer. That show will tape on Wednesday night and there is plenty to discuss.
Here is the revamped tournament schedule:
PLAY-IN, PLAY-IN ROUND
Tuesday
Don Bosco Prep vs. N/V Old Tappan, 7 p.m.
PLAY-IN ROUND
Thursday
Park Ridge at Wallington
North Arlington at Mahwah
Lyndhurst at Cliffside Park
Emerson at Ridgewood
Friday
Fair Lawn vs. w/o Don Bosco/Old Tappan
FIRST ROUND
Sunday, October 11
At Emerson and Ramapo
11:30, 1:45, 4:00 & 6:15
(Who is playing where exactly is TBA)
1 Bergen Catholic vs. w/o Park Ridge/Wallington
2 Bergen Tech vs. w/o Lyndhurst/Cliffside Park
3 Tenafly vs. w/o Emerson/Ridgewood
4 Ramapo vs. w/o North Arlington/Mahwah
Fort Lee vs. w/o Fair Lawn vs. w/o Don Bosco/Old Tappan
Garfield vs. Pascack Hills
Waldwick vs. Northern Highlands
Pascack Valley vs. Ramsey
QUARTERFINALS
Sunday, Oct 18
11:00, 1:30, 4:00 & 6:30
SEMIFINALS
Saturday, Oct, 24
At Indian Hills
5:00 & 7:30
FINALS
Friday, Oct. 30
At Ramapo
7:00 p.m.
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