Tuesday, October 21, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Nick Gendron has 7 goals in three games since returning from injury including the lone goal in Ramsey's 1-0 win over Pascack Valley.

RAMSEY -- For the first 10 games of the season, Ramsey was a solid side. They managed to win seven times, earn the No. 6 seed in the Bergen County Tournament and kept itself in position to grab a high seed, either and No. 1 or No. 2 in the North 1, Group 2 state sectional tournament. And that was before senior Nick Gendron, one of Bergen County's top offensive players, was able to play. Now, the Rams are back at full strength and Gendron is more than making up for lost time.

In the three games that he has been back from a broken collarbone, Gendron has scored seven goals. Three of them came on Sunday in a win over Becton in the Round of 16 of the Bergen County Tournament and one came on Monday, which stood up as the lone goal in Ramsey’s 1-0 win over Pascack Valley in NBIL Division 2 action.

“It was tough to just watch. I wanted to be out there playing and I tried to keep myself involved as much as possible, but I really wanted to be back out there playing. I love playing with these guys and I really missed it,” said Gendron, who will play at Northwestern University next year. “Now that I am back I just want to fit in and do my job. When they get me the ball, I try to put it in the back of the net.”

John Sagala made 15 saves to keep Pascack Valley in the game.

Gendron has a scoring touch from any angle and he may have come up with a new one against Pascack Valley. With just less than three minutes to go in the first half of a scoreless game, Casey Ruel drove a ball into a mass of bodies and Taylor Heitsma followed it ball, sliding in to challenge a Pascack Valley defender just inside the 18. The ball took a sideways bounce toward Gendron, who went down to meet it at just about the same time as PV’s Ryan Cosgrove.

The simultaneous strike left the ball almost in place and Gendron, now on the seat of his pants, hooked his left foot around the sitter and rolled it inside the opposite post. That goal stood up the rest of the way as Ramsey (10-2-1), one day after winning its way into the Bergen County Tournament quarterfinals, found the energy to win its 10th game of the season.

“Every game is important at this time of the season and I was glad to see that we could gut this one out today,” said Ramsey head coach Jaime Phillips. “We are playing for the No. 1 seed in the states. I wish River Dell would lose a game here and help us out a little bit, and that is what it is about right now and in terms of that, this was a big win of us.”

Ryan McDermott and Ramsey have a date with third seeded Paramus Catholic in the Bergen County quarterfinals.

There is no doubt that it was a big game for Pascack Valley, which is already in state tournament mode. Actually, its state tournament begins on Thursday as they need a win over Pascack Hills to qualify for the state tournament on the nose. The Indians are 6-6 on the season with just the one game left before Friday’s cutoff.

“Bottom line, [making the state tournament] has been our goal, so we go to Pascack Hills on Thursday to see if we can get that done. We did get the result at our place the first time and what is on the line, I take my chances with my group,” said Roy Nygren, who is in his first season as PV’s head coach after winning six Bergen County championships in 11 years at Don Bosco Prep. “My group has really been working hard and they really deserve to be in there. This was a game where they beat us today, but we’ve had two or three other ones where we could be 8-4 and not in this position, but it is where we find ourselves right now.”

In fact, the loss marked Pascack Valley’s fourth 1-0 setback of the season, but it might have been a wider spread on Monday as Ramsey could have had a few more goals if not of the outstanding work of PV keeper John Sagala.

Sean Cosgrove and Pascack Valley with play for a state tournament berth on Thursday.

With 10 minutes to go in the first half, Gendron split two defenders to be first to a serve at the near post. Gendron got a head on it, but Sagala was up to it. Seventeen minutes into the second half, Gio Ormaeche sent in what was supposed to be a serve from 25 yards out, but wound up heading for upper shelf. Segala got up to parry the ball over the bar and he kept his team within a single score late in the second half when he came off his line to take the ball off the foot of Hunter Waterman, who had beaten the last defender and was one touch away from an insurance goal.

Scoring chances were tough to come by both ways as finding feet was not the easiest of propositions on Ramsey’s secondary home field. The natural grass surface was playing rock hard and its tight confines leave little room to run up the flanks. Every first bounce was a high bounce and midair collisions and balls played out to the side were common.

Ramsey keeper Chris Grembowiec was credited with seven saves, although none were particularly dangerous and Segala finished with 15 saves in the face of a more precise attack.

The teams walked off headed in separate directions. PV will be playing for its state tournament life, while Ramsey is looking forward to a high state tournament seed and a date with third-seeded Paramus Catholic in the county quarterfinals.

“Not too many people think that we can beat PC, so there is no pressure on us and we’ll go in there and try to play our own game,” said Gendron. “We know they are a great team, they beat Don Bosco, but I think we are pretty confident that we can give them a good run and, if we get a break or two, maybe come out on top. We’ll see what happens.”

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