Christian Carranza scored in regulation and as Harrison's fourth shooter in the PK round that gave the Blue Wave a 1-1 (5-3 PKs) win over Glen Rock in the Group 2 semifinals.
HARRISON – When a program is as steeped in tradition as Harrison is, every season is defined by how many titles are won. After losing out on league and county titles this year, the talented Blue Tide finally peaked in securing the North 2, Group 2 state sectional title. With the pressure off and a Group 2 state title berth on the line, they now could play relaxed.
The only problem was that their opponent, Glen Rock, was fresh off an upset of top-seeded Ramsey to win its own section title and was also playing with house money. Something had to give as after 100 minutes of hard-fought play a winner was not decided.
Heading to penalty kicks, Harrison head coach Mike Rusek had a bunch of things he wanted to and could have said to his players. He chose the opposite approach and decided to keep the talk light and brief.
“This is on you now. We’ve prepared for all season for this scenario and we’re ready,” said Rusek told his players.
All five Blue Tide kickers scored, and Francisco Apolo came up with a huge save before Yusufu Jaite netted the game-winning PK as Harrison advanced to its first Group 2 state title game since 2014 with a 1-1 (5-3 in PKs) victory over Glen Rock on Tuesday night at Harrison High School.
On a wide field, Harrison was able to keep the ball on the ground and control possession. The Blue Tide showed the ability to possess with their speed in space all game long. No more so than in the 19th minute when Christian Carranza wiggled his way through a trio of Panther defenders and scored to put Harrison in front.
Glen Rock answered back just before halftime. Taking the Blue Tide by surprise on a quick restart, Alex Kim scoring off a feed from Harrison Wortley to tie the game and give the Panthers some momentum heading into the second half.
The Panthers had a chance to go in front near the midway point of the second half. Off a miscue in the back, Wortley got off a hard shot from a tough angle that went just wide of the right post. That seemed to heighten the senses of the Blue Tide, who regained control of the possession battle for the remainder of the second half and through the two overtime periods.
Harrison did everything it could to end the game before the penalty kick stage. Glen Rock goalie Andrew Eisenberg (11 saves) kept the game going with several clutch saves, As the final whistle blew to end the second overtime, the momentum finally swung in the Panthers’ favor for three reasons.
One, Eisenberg was playing lights out in between the pipes. Two, his counterpart (Apolo) only faced three shots on goal in 100 minutes. Most importantly, since Harrison’s last state title game appearance the Blue Tide have been knocked out of the state tournament four times, three of those in PKs.
Andrew Eisenberg was solid in net for Glen Rock all season long and again on Tuesday night.
After both teams scored on each of their first three shots, Carranza stepped up to the ball as the fourth kicker with the pressure on and nervous energy creeping up inside of him as he walked up to the place the ball on the penalty spot. He took a deep breath and unleashed a perfect PK. Eisenberg guessed right and had a bead on it, but Carranza’s shot had just enough pace and placement as it glanced off the right post and in.
“I was definitely a little anxious, but I had a spot picked out in my mind and I was going for it,” said Carranza, through a translator. “We had worked too hard for this, and we’ve been playing with a lot of confidence. I knew I couldn’t mess this up for us and I had to stay focused.”
This put the pressure back not only on Glen Rock, but on Apolo in net for Harrison. He had guessed right on each of the two previous kicks but could not come up with the save. But having worked with a player who had his fair share of successes in shootouts during his career, former Harrison all-state goalie Diego Diaz, Apolo felt confident he was going to save at least one. He did just that by diving to his left on Glen Rock’s 4th shooter and making a diving save.
“This save was made tonight but I’ve really been making it since January,” said Apolo. “Diego and I have been working really hard to prepare for this situation. Even though Glen Rock was a strong team, I knew I was going to get one. It all comes to being strong mentally. As soon as they scored one, I had to block it out of my mind and focus on the next one. We’ve been playing together, playing for each other, and coming up big in the state tournament. We’re finally playing up to our potential and I’m happy to do my part in that.”
That gave Harrison’s 5th shooter, Jaite, a little breathing room. Jaite had a PK saved two years ago in an eventual loss to Ramsey in the Group 2 state semis. With a chance for redemption, Jaite calmly stepped up and ripped one into the lower left-hand corner to set off a huge celebration in front of their crowd as the Blue Tide finally exercised their shootout demons and advanced to their first Group 2 state title game in 10 years.
“I knew I was going left and whatever happened, happened,” said Jaite. “After we lost to Rutherford and Lyndhurst this year, we had to decide where we wanted this season to go. We knew we had a great team. We just had to come together and play as one.”
Harrison will face off against Sterling, which rallied from a halftime deficit to beat the overwhelming favorite to win Group 2 Robbinsville, for the Group 2 state title. That game will be played at Franklin High School with a scheduled 5:30 P.M, kickoff. With the shootout struggles and the state final berth drought both now in the rear-view mirror, the Blue Tide will aim to extend their state record to a 26th state championship with a win on Sunday.
“It’s been a roller coaster ride all season, but we’re playing our best when it counts,” said Rusek. “Losing back-to-back to Rutherford and Lyndhurst could have made the kids want to give up. But that forced us to work even harder, learn something from it, and get better.”
“It’s going to be an interesting matchup in the final between two teams that really don’t know each other at all. South Jersey teams play a certain style, and we play a certain style. We’re just going to go out and play. Whatever team can push their style onto the other team will have the advantage. We’ll spend the next three days preparing to move the ball on the ground and hopefully carry all the momentum we’ve been building up into a great game on Sunday.”
TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY PLEASE VISIT 4-FeetGrafix.com.
