Monday, October 29, 2007

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Christian Valdivia's goal midway through the first half gave Don Bosco the lead for good in a 2-0 win over Bergen Catholic in the Bergen County Tournament semifinals.

DEMAREST – Don Bosco Prep has won nine Bergen County championships in its history, more than any other program. This year the Ironmen are wearing the familiar white jersey of the higher seed, they came into the Bergen County tournament semifinals on Sunday undefeated and off the most impressive of wins over nationally recognized St. Benedict’s, and they have been dominant just about every step of the way in building a 20-game, season-long winning streak.

Maybe overlooked in what has been a nearly perfect season is that fact that none of the players on this year’s Don Bosco team have ever played in a county final, almost unheard of for a program that had made nine straight trips before early ousters the last two seasons.

Courtesy of a 2-0 win over Bergen Catholic on Sunday in the Final 4, Bosco is back to where it feels it belongs. The Ironmen will play third-seeded Cliffside Park in the final next Sunday in a 3:00 p.m. start at River Dell High School.

“The last couple of years we haven’t made it and this will be my first year here (in the finals) after not making it the last two years,” said Bosco junior Tom MacNamara, “To me it is a great accomplishment and we proved to ourselves again that we could play with anybody.”

BC keeper Niko Pagonas made two of his best saves in the same sequence 15 minutes into the second half.

After a couple of years off the radar screen, Bergen Catholic is starting to get that same feeling. With just three seniors on the roster and a 15-4-2 record, the Crusaders did not come in to play scared against Bosco but found themselves playing from behind just under 20 minutes in.

Christian Valdivia, who scored twice in the second to power Bosco past Tenafly in last weekend’s quarterfinal win, got the Ironmen on the board with a shot that deflected off a defender on its way over the goal line.

“We were putting together small passes on the side of the box, basically playing small ball like we do in possession in practice,” said Valdivia, giving the lead up to what turned out to be the game-winner. “We were just putting passes together and the ball came across the top of the box. I just turned, took a shot, got a deflection and put it right in the side of the net.”

BC had the benefit of the wind in the second half and had a chance at the equalizer just about as soon as it started. A corner kick was played into the middle of a scrum in deep. Bergen’s Leonard Teitelbaum got a head on it and flicked one on net, but Bosco keeper Ryan Currens showed steady hands on the quick shot from in close and made the save.

“I thought we might have had one there. If we tie it there maybe it’s a different game,” said BC head coach Mark Edge. “But you have to credit the keeper on that one and we had some other chances that we might have taken advantage of but didn’t.”

Junior Tom MacNamara scored the insurance goal for Bosco with 17 minutes left in the game.

BC keeper Niko Pagonas kept his team in the game well into the second half and made his best two saves of the game on the same sequence. Bosco’s Christo Agrapidis disposed a defender in the scoring third and went in alone. Pagonas came sliding out and took the first shot in the chest, then scrambled back in time to knock away Agrapidis’ rebound try and keep it a 1-0 game with 25 minutes left to play.

Bosco plays the ball along the ground so well that going against the wind in the second half was not nearly the problem it could have been for a kick-and-run team. The Ironmen predicate their attack on short passes on appropriate angles to make defenders make decisions and got a triangle around the ball with just over 17 minutes left to play.

Justin Lees pushed up and got involved and his pass got the goalie moving. MacNamara ran on to the other end and deposited into the empty net for the final margin.

BC's Andrew Feldman lining up a second half shot on goal.

A win is a win, but not every aspect of it sat well with Bosco head coach Roy Nygren, who would liked to have seen his team be able to finish a few more of its chances and create a few more of them.

“All in all throughout the year our possessions have been of high quality and today we lost more balls in the midfield and didn’t work hard enough in the final third,” said Nygren, who has coached Bosco to five county championships in the past 10 seasons. “The two real sequences we had resulted in goals. It was a little disappointing.

“You play a rivalry game like this against a Bergen Catholic, and I have to give them some credit too, they stuck with it and they kept at. We had the possession and we had the field, but I thought both teams were very good in the defensive third.”

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