Sunday,
October 25, 2015
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Colin Callahan scored with 2:08 to play to give Hawthorne Christian Academy a 2-1 win over Wayne Valley and the first Passaic County title in school history. |
CLIFTON – Hawthorne Christian Academy senior Colin Callahan is more than willing to take a back seat when it comes to scoring. On a team with offensive standouts like Rene White and Will Woodfin, Callahan is happy to be an outside midfielder who facilitates the offense rather than looking for his own opportunities to score. But with time winding down in the biggest game of his life against Wayne Valley in the Passaic County final, Callahan had a hunch to crash the net on a long throw-in.
The rest is history, both for him personally and the Hawthorne Christian boys' soccer program.
Callahan headed in a throw-in from Woodfin with 2:08 to play as second-seeded Hawthorne Christian won its first Passaic County title in any sport with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over No. 9 seed Wayne Valley on Saturday in the Passaic County championship match at Clifton Stadium.
“This is extremely overwhelming and almost unreal right now trying to comprehend what we've done and we were looking forward to this moment,” said Callahan.
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Alex Kasperowicz put Wayne Valley in front with a breakaway goal in the 10 minutes |
The game did not start off as planned for the Defenders as White went down with an injury 10 minutes into the match. Just over a minute later, Wayne Valley capitalized on a miscue in the back to grab an early lead. Two Hawthorne Christian players collided near midfield and the ball skipped behind them. Alex Kasperowicz ran onto it for a breakaway that he converted inside the left post to give the Indians, who pulled off three road upsets just to get to the Passaic final, a 1-0 lead.
After being out only a few minutes, White came back into the game and made his presence felt immediately. On his first touch, he made a diagonal run and was fed a perfect through ball into space by David Falcon. White, North Jersey's leading goal scorer, knew exactly what to do with it and slipped it past Wayne Valley keeper Matt Mihalik to knot the score at 1 in the 17th minute.
The Defenders started to assert themselves and push numbers forward to start the second half. Going into the final minutes, Hawthorne Christian had dominated the possession game but it was the Indians who had the best scoring opportunity of the second half. Off of a long throw-in from Stas Lembryk, Luke St. Denis was alone at the back post for what looked to be a sure-fire goal. Hawthorne Christian netminder John Williams slid over to make a great save from point-blank range.
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Rene White's 28th goal of the season got HCA back even at 1. |
With the prospect of overtime rapidly approaching and Woodfin about to take a throw-in in Wayne Valley's defensive third of the pitch, Callahan saw nothing but open space in front with nobody marking him. He knew it was his time to try 10 make something happen.
Woodfin's seeing-eye throw somehow bounced through a crowded box and right to an unmarked Callahan at the six-yard box. The senior flicked a header into the upper right-hand corner and past a diving Mihalik with just 128 seconds remaining in regulation for the game-winner. It was just Callahan’s fourth goal of the season.
“I was talking to God and I was saying that I was feeling it right here. It put the mindset in my head to go for the goal,” said Callahan. “I didn't necessarily think it was going to be me that was going to score. The ball bounced in front of me and I was just trying to get it into the net.”
Williams made six saves for Hawthorne Christian (14-3). White's goal was his 28th of the season. Mihalik finished with five saves for Wayne Valley (7-10-1).
“I've been hunting a county title since my freshman year. This is unbelievable,” said Woodfin. “By the grace of God, we knew we could do this. We had to keep going and we couldn't stop. It's huge for us. With this being my senior year and about to head off the college, it's amazing to end on a good note.”
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