Saturday, November 17, 2007

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

EWING - Ramapo's Rob Santaniello felt the same frustration the rest of his front line mates did. The normally offensive-minded Green Raiders, who scored 17 goals in four state tournament games, were held in check and were forced to rely on their defense just to keep them in the game.

That was until Santaniello, who was marked tightly for most of the night, got a glimmer of daylight late in the second half.

It turned out to be all he and his teammates needed. The junior's 28-yard lefty blast went into the upper left-hand corner of the net with 7:56 to play in regulation as Ramapo earned its first outright Group 3 state title since 2002 with a 1-0 win over previously unbeaten Ocean City at the College of New Jersey.

"This has been an unbelievable experience for all of us," said John Fiorenzo, Ramapo’s senior captain. "We knew how tough Ocean City was going to be and they certainly were a very good team. I thought we stepped up in the second half to create some pressure and Rob (Santaniello) had an amazing shot to win it for us."

The first half was uneventful as neither defense let the opposing team's offense get into any kind of flow. Neither team had a legitimate scoring chance over the first 40 minutes in a game dominated by the back lines of both squads.

"Give Ocean City credit, they really got us out of what were trying to do," said Ramapo head coach Evan Baumgarten. "Their defense played very well and we needed to match them, and we did. I thought Will (O'Connor) and Chris (Kuehn) stepped up big and won a lot of 50-50 balls for us."

Ramapo had a pair of chances in a three-minute span midway through the first half. The first came from a hard shot by Nader Saadawi, which was cleared out in front of the goal line by Ocean City sweeper Zac Zerhend. With just under 18 minutes to play, Fiorenzo sent a through ball to Santaniello, who was taken down in the box, but no call was made and the game remained
scoreless.

However, the Fiorenzo to Santaniello combination and kept at it and eventually cashed in. Fiorenzo hit Santaniello with a pass near the top corner of the penalty area. Santaniello collected the pass and then dribbled away from the Red Raiders' net. He then curled around a defender to create enough space to get a left-footed shot off.

It was as well-struck a shot as he could have asked for. It whistled past Ocean City keeper John Fogarty and into the top left-hand corner to give Ramapo a 1-0 lead.

"I didn't know if it would go in, but it felt good coming off of my foot," said Santaniello. "It was a
good strike. As soon as I hit it, I knew it had a chance."

The Red Raiders frantically tried to notch the equalizer, but the Ramapo defense stood pat. They allowed just one shot the rest of the way, which happened to be Ocean City's only shot of the entire second half, to hold on for the victory.

Ramapo finished its season with a 21-1 record and, more importantly, an outright Group 3 state crown. Doug Harkins made three saves to earn the shutout for the Green Raiders, who held slim advantages in shots (6-4) and corner kicks (2-1).

The loss was Ocean City's first of the year, and it concluded its season with a 22-1-1 mark. It was the third time the two teams met for in the Group 3 state championship game, all coming four-year intervals. They shared the title in 1999 and Ocean City pulled out a 1-0 win in 2003 on a Rich Baker goal. The Green Raiders finally got their revenge to even the series at 1-1-1.

"Ocean City was the best team we played all year," added Santaniello. "To beat them in the state title game makes it sweeter because no one had beaten them all season. This is like a dream. To score a game-winning goal in a state championship game is a dream I don't ever want to wake up from."

TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.