Senior Caden O'Connell scored twice in the first seven minutes of Ramapo's 5-1 win over Middletown South in the Group 3 state final on Saturday.
FRANKLIN – With no common opponents and no way to really judge the speed and strength of an opponent via Hudl video, there is no way to accurately predict how two quality soccer teams from opposite ends of the state will matchup when they meet in a state final. There has to be a feeling-out process before either can really find its championship legs.
Or one team might attack the goal right from the get-go, score twice in the first seven minutes to grab the game by the throat and then press that advantage for the final 73 minutes.
That approach certainly worked for Ramapo on Saturday as it ran roughshod over Middletown South in a comprehensive 5-1 victory in the Group 3 state final that gave the Green Raiders their first outright state title since 2016 and the eighth in program history.
Ramapo has been jumping on opponents all season long and even a quality side like Middletown South could not resist. The Eagles had given up two goals in a game just twice all season and not at all since September 12.
The Raiders scored twice before anyone on the windswept pitch at Franklin High School really even broke a sweat.
"When we get on the field for practice, the minute it starts the standards are high. We push them along, and we do our best to create an environment that is hard," said Ramapo head coach Evan Baumgarten. "So when they play in the games, they have been through it."
The competition from within the Ramapo program made it hard on the competition from without. The Raiders won their fifth straight Bergen County Tournament title this season by a combined score of 16-2 in four games. In the states, their six-game run to the trophy included six wins by a cumulative score of 20-2.
Senior Julian Cuttita scored early in the second half to give Ramapo a 3-1 lead.
Constant pressure, consistent results and on Saturday it was Caden O'Connell that got Ramapo off and running. Less than four minutes in Jacob Preziosi sent a diagonal ball toward O'Connell running up the left side. O'Connell nudged past the last defender and left no chance for Middletown South keeper Carson Perry. Perry saved Ramapo's next shot, but not the rebound as O'Connell turned that home for a 2-0 just 5:42 into the game.
Oh, yeah...and Ramapo was playing against the wind in the first half.
"All year in the big games we have come out with a certain level of intensity that most teams can't handle and as soon as we got one it felt like another one was coming immediately," said O'Connell. "We were on the front foot immediately combining. We were in their half for a good amount of the first half."
Middletown South got some good fortune and poked its head back into the game near the midway point of the first half. Jack Cohen hit a sidewinder from distance that got up into the wind, took a big hop and landed in the back of the net as the Eagles got back to within 2-1. With 3:35 to go, Middletown South's Luke Struszkiewicz hit another knuckleball from outside the box that was headed for the upper shelf before Ramapo keeper Julian Lora retreated and got up to pick it out.
Ramapo was the obvious aggressor through the first 40 minutes and had most of the play but still had the slimmest of leads at the intermission. That changed shortly after play resumed and it was a brilliant combination that broke the Eagles' back.
Julian Cuttita made a push up the left, drew a defender or two, played the ball inside to Jordan Hunt and continued his run. Hunt played his first touch right back to the outside and it found Cuttita, who had left his mark in the rubber pellets, in stride. Cuttita found an angle to blast past Perry and it was 3-1 in the 46th minute.
Jacob Preziosi scored the final two goals for Ramapo, which finished the 2025 season with a 21-1 record.
That left Middletown South (17-4-1) in an impossible predicament. Forced to stretch its formation, the Eagles were at the mercy of the Ramapo counterattack and the chances came fast and furious. In the span of two minutes midway through the second half Preziosi had two golden chances. On the first he had a lot of options as to location, but hit his rip right at Perry. Then he went wide with an open look a couple of minutes later.
The third time was the charm as Preziosi, a junior, made it 4-1 with a laser from the slot with 18:48 left and then put the icing on the cake with the second ball off a Brody Benner throw-in from just north of the corner flag on the right side. Preziosi's second goal made it 5-1 with 10:22 left and made it so that everyone wearing Ramapo white would get a state final experience.
"I missed those two and my head goes down for second, but then I forget about it, get right back into the next play. I give all the credit to Coach [Baumgarten] because it is something I have struggled with throughout the season. He always tells me to focus on the next one; to be a goldfish and forget about it," said Preziosi, whose big game credentials include two goals each in the Bergen County Tournament final and two more in the state tournament finale. "This game says everything about this team. This is perfect; this is exactly what we wanted. This was our goal coming into this season. It was one step at a time and now we are here."
This is a special group inside a Ramapo program whose history is filled with them. There were 17 seniors on this year's roster and some of them had to make way for the talented underclassman that push their way into lineup on a yearly basis. That is not easy to juggle unless everyone is bought in from the beginning.
The Raiders were and that is why Baumgarten summarizes the 2025 season this way: "Joy," he said. "Joy is the word; the joy of working with the guys on a daily basis on the field and off the field. I would use the word, Joy."
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