Monday, November 5, 2007

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Ronnie Scardino scored the game-winner midway through the second half of Don Bosco Prep's 3-1 win over Cliffside Park in the Bergen County Tournament championship game.

ORADELL -- It's constant pressure. Every player gets a touch, every pass has a purpose and every possession is yet another opportunity to keep the opposition on the run, expending its energy in a seemingly never-ending game of chase. What has been obvious for a while became official on Sunday at River Dell High School where Don Bosco Prep was crowned as Bergen County's best team after a 3-1 win over Cliffside Park in the Bergen County Tournament final.

“That’s a good Bosco team,” was how Cliffside Park head coach Jim Fucci assessed the opposition. “They are 23-0 not because they are lucky, but because they are very good. They are first in the state, probably ranked nationally, the best program in our county.”

It was a record 10th county championship for Don Bosco, its first since 2004 and the sixth title in 11 years under head coach Roy Nygren, who moved to within one of legendary Ridgewood head coach Chuck Swenson, who won seven county titles.

Hugo Sanchez set up the Cliffside goal despite being a magnet for the Don Bosco Prep defense.

“These guys, all year long, have had so many expectations placed on them and I think all year our soccer has been pretty consistent,” said Nygren, whose team rolled through four wins in the tournament by an aggregate of 15-2. “We’ve been able to get guys around the ball and keep the ball moving. Our guys really stick with it, they really work hard off the ball and that is the key. There are more guys involved in a play than just the one on the ball and the guy receiving the ball and that’s kind of what separates this team from most.”

It was subtle at first as Bosco eased into its possession game and Cliffside strung together, if not a coordinated attack from back to front then at least enough counter attacks to keep the Ironmen honest.

The first two goals of the game came in predictable fashion. One of Bosco’s many forays into the penalty area saw Tom McNamara taken down in deep and he banked the penalty kick off the inside of the left post and in to give the Ironmen the lead midway through the first half.

To its credit, Cliffside kept pressing for opportunities through Hugo Sanchez and the senior delivered with a dazzling run up the left side. He won the endline, cut a cross back through the goalmouth to the far post and picked up the assist when Lucas Marques ran onto the ball and finished to tie the game at 1 heading into halftime.

Tom McNamara was taken down in the box and converted the PK to give Bosco the first goal of the game.

But as the second half took shape, Bosco’s crisp ball movement, which consists mainly of short passes played along the ground, never waned while Cliffside’s counters slowed to a trickle as fatigue set in. Despite having long stretches of the play, the Ironmen had still not figured out the go-ahead combination until there were less than 19 minutes to play.

That was when Ronnie Scardino took the ball in the middle, moved past one defender and went 50/50 with Cliffside senior Dubernet Valle. Valle went low and blew up the advance, but the ball took a reverse hop back to Scardino, who had kept his feet and was in position to finish just inside the near post to put Bosco up for good at 2-1 with 18:36 to play.

“All I know is that I had the ball in the middle and had the defender one-on-one. I beat him with the dribble,” said Scardino, a junior. “The second defender won [the ball], but it took a lucky bounce. It bounced in the box and I struck it into the back of the net.”

Mike Kwiecinski and Cliffside will have to regroup in time for Tuesday's state sectional semifinal against Bernards.

By that time, Cliffside’s best option was playing long balls up the left flank in hopes of getting Sanchez isolated on one defender. But Bosco played such tight positional defense that opportunities were hard to come by, the last of which was with just under 14 minutes to play.

Sanchez took down a ball played up from the back with a defender locked on his back and he was able to turn and move the ball forward, but he never got the next touch as Bosco keeper Ryan Currens raced out hard to break up trouble before it began.

Bosco put the icing on the cake late when George Velasquez took advantage of a poor clearing attempt, took possession in the area and shot one inside the low left for the final goal of the game with 3:44 showing on the clock.

“The last two years this program has been disappointed in this tournament, we lost early two years in row,” said Bosco’s Eric Jorgensen, a junior midfielder. “So it felt great just to get back in the finals and then to win it is great. We worked hard to get here.”

In the bigger picture, Bosco hopes that the county championship is just the first postseason title it gets its hands on. The top-seeded Ironmen will host No. 4 Seton Hall Prep in the Non-Public North A state sectional semifinals with a potential showdown with No. 2 Delbarton looming in the section final.

George Velasquez capped the scoring for Bosco inside the final four minutes.

“We knew coming in that this was the week we have been training for all year, four games in seven days,” said Nygren. “Let’s go at it, lets be industrious and judging from our reaction winning a county championship, we know that there is more to be done.”

Cliffside, which won the de facto Bergen County public school championship by just making it to the final, also has plenty left to play for. The Red Raiders are the top seed in North 2, Group 2 and will host No. 4 Bernards on Tuesday.

“We represented out community very well and that is how we are going to patch things together and tell [the players] that the season is not over,” said Fucci. “Today hurts, we have to bounce back tomorrow and we have to represent our community on Tuesday. That’s what has gotten us this far.”

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