Sunday, November 17, 2013

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Sean Daugherty threw for 6 TDs, five of them in the first half, for Ramapo, which advanced to the North 1, Group 3 state sectional semifinals with a 52-23 win over Garfield on Saturday afternoon.

FRANKLIN LAKES – From outside the Ramapo football locker room, last week's loss to St. Joseph Regional looked liked little more than a third straight setback after a season-opening six-game win streak. It looked like the defending North 1, Group 3 state champion Green Raiders were just limping toward the playoffs. But inside the locker room, the reality was much different. Ramapo played even with St. Joseph, the undefeated and undisputed top team in New Jersey, for a half and hung in there the whole way.

So when asked how his team would bounce back heading into the playoffs, which started on Saturday at home against Garfield, Ramapo head coach Drew Gibbs answered that his team already had even if it did not show up in the win/loss column. The losses to public school programs Paramus and Pascack Valley were reason for concern, the set back against St. Joe's, the parochial power, was reason to be hopeful for another strong state tournament run.

“I thought we took that step last week. Paramus was disappointing. I don't think we played up to our expectations and PV just came in here and they really kicked our butts, but I thought we got back to business last week against St. Joe's,” said Ramapo head coach Drew Gibbs. “And it carried right over into this week.”

Persio Lora setting off on his 88-yard kickoff return that brought Garfield to with 17-15 early in the second.

What playing against a team like St. Joseph did for Ramapo was speed things up. Holes closed quicker, the rush came faster and the decision-making process needed to be ramped up, especially for junior quarterback Sean Daugherty.

“Even though it was a loss, that St. Joe's game was a huge confidence boost for us. We were coming off two tough losses, but we knew we were going into a game against the No. 1 team in the state, but we still wanted to make a good showing and that is exactly what we did,” said Daugherty. “They had some big linemen, I had to make my reads quickly and get the ball out. My line held up and we learned a lot about ourselves.”

Those lessons learned, Daugherty carved up the Garfield defense and led Ramapo to a 52-23 in a rare Saturday afternoon game in Franklin Lakes.

Daugherty completed 16 of 25 passes for 277 yards and five touchdowns and that was just in the first half. Three of those scoring throws came on the first play of three different drives and were to three different receivers as Daugherty read what the defense was giving him and took full advantage.

“The first drive of the game we were a little shaky, there were some nerves for our first playoff game, but on the second drive we came out and Coach said 'Let's beat 'em deep,” said Daugherty, who threw a 57-yard TD strike down the seem to John Goldschrafe on the first play of the Raiders' second possession. “I threw one up to Goldie and he caught it and scored. That got us going.”

John Goldschrafe about to haul in Ramapo's first touchdown catch of the game. It covered 57 yards.

Garfield is a team that has overcome the odds all season and there was no way that one quick-strike touchdown pass was going to take the fight out of the Boilermakers, who were making their first state playoff appearance since 1999. Garfield lost its first two games of this season and responded with the seven-game winning streak it brought into the playoffs. It response to Ramapo's first score was to come right back and take a lead.

On a fourth-and-8 from the Ramapo 30, Garfield quarterback Alex Victorino looked to the right sideline where a defender jumped the route being run by Ricky Reyes. Victorino's throw just got over the defender's fingertips and into the hands of Reyes, who got down the sideline and to the pylon for the score. Showing that it was not just making a token appearance, but was going for a playoff win, Garfield head coach Jeff DeVito went for two, lining up for an extra point and then bringing his holder under center for a pitch to Lora Persio, who ran around the right side to give the Boilermakers an 8-7 lead with 2:41 left in the first quarter.

Garfield then held Ramapo on its next possession and was in the game, but a botched snap on a punt after the Boilermakers got the ball back left the door open for Ramapo, which took over in plus territory and then got a 34-yard TD catch from Connor Russo to go up 14-8. Daniel Conte then made a 21-yard field goal to make it 17-8 before Garfield pulled off its final highlight in what had been a renaissance season. Lora returned the ensuing kickoff 88-yards for a touchdown, breaking out of a tackle on his own 12-yard line and then breaking free up the left side to get his team back to within 17-15 with 8:52 to go in the first half.

Alex Vicotrino led Garfield to a 7-game win streak and to the playoffs for the first time since 1999.

But Ramapo scored touchdowns on each of its final three possessions of the second half as Daugherty hit Dylan Bonsignore for an 18-yard score and the same pair hooked up again for a 37-yard score that made it a two possession game at 31-15. After Garfield went for it on fourth down from midfield and threw an incompletion, Ramapo took over with 1:05 left in the half and, with 32 seconds to play, Daugherty shook off a defender in the backfield to avoid a sack and then his Connor Russo in the corner of the endzone to bump the Green Raiders' lead to 38-15 at halftime.

That was the backbreaking score and Daugherty, not know for his escapability, got a kick out of that one.

“I didn't even know I could do that, but the kid gave me the opportunity to slip out of that tackle and then, all of a sudden, I was rolling out in space,” said Daugherty. “I saw Connor wide open and it was big to get that touchdown right before the half.”

Daugherty threw his sixth and final TD pass, a 12-yarder to Matt Giacose, late in the third quarter and the Green Raiders also got a fumble recovery in the end zone early in the fourth quarter by Derek Ajamian to close the scoring and set up a rematch with Sparta, the team they beat in a classic North 1, Group 3 state sectional final last year. Ramapo is the No. 3 seed this season, Sparta, which beat Englewood in its playoff opener on Saturday, in the No. 2 seed and will have the home game this time around.

“We were pumped up because, for the seniors, this was probably going to be our last home game. We are all going to miss this forever and we wanted to finish it off right,” said Goldschrafe, who scored Ramapo's first touchdown and was all over the field defensively. “Now that we took care of this game we can look forward to Sparta and we know they want to play us after what happened [in the final] last year. Last year it was a battle and this year we are expecting the same thing and, hopefully, it turns out the same way.”

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