2 Henry C. Luthin Place, Bogota, NJ 07603

Friday, January 27, 2012

BOYS BASKETBALL:Ridgefield heading to Jambo as more than a spectator

Bogota's Mike Fitzgerald.

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

RIDGEFIELD – It seemed to be a rite of passage in recent years for Ridgefield head coach Jamie Cassiano to pick up several of his players on the last Sunday in January and take them to see a few games at Bergen County Jamboree. In a the great atmosphere of a packed house and watching small schools get their shot against the county’s perennial powers, it seemed like a pipe dream to play in the county tournament when just two years ago when Ridgefield suffered through a 2-22 season. But what the coach was doing for the past couple of seasons was planting the seed that with hard work, getting a shot to play in the Jambo was an attainable goal for his program. It looked like that goal had slipped through the Royals’ fingers when they lost to Palisades Park on Tuesday with a bid to clinch an automatic berth. That meant that Thursday night’s game against Bogota was essentially a play-in game before the tournament even started. After quickly squandering a 12-point halftime lead, the Royals could have fallen apart, but after what they had been through in recent years and watching so many Jambo games from the stands, they wanted to feel what it was like to play in one and refused to let any team stand in their way. MORE...

MORE BOGOTA HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS COVERAGE

Bogota's Carly O'Sullivan.

NOVEMBER
VOLLEYBALL:Bogota is back in form in two-game sweep of Rutherford

VOLLEYBALL:IHA wins second county title in last three years

OCTOBER
VOLLEYBALL:Bogota blasts its way past Demarest and into county final

VOLLEYBALL:Bogota wins a slugfest over Old Tappan in county quarterfinals

VOLLEYBALL:IHA proves a point in win over Bogota