Thursday, September 15, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Matt Maghenzani set up Highlands' first goal and scored its third in a 4-1 win over Paramus Catholic on Wednesday.

ALLENDALE – As the reigning Bergen County boys soccer champion, Northern Highlands came into the new season with an air of confidence that can only come from winning the biggest of games on the biggest of stages. But when the Highlanders opened the season with a loss against Northern Valley/Old Tappan, they got an early reminder that last season's success does not carry over.

“I told the boys before the season that everyone was going to be gunning for them and we opened with a loss against a very good Old Tappan team. I think that helped us understand that everyday you have to put the work in to get where you want to go,” said Sean Devore, who is in his second season as the Highlands head coach. “I think we understand now that you can't live off of last year, that just because we were good last year doesn't mean we will be good this year. We seemed to have learned that lesson quickly because we had a good result on Monday and another one here today.”

Monday's result was a 2-0 win over a solid Northern Valley/Demarest side and Wednesday’s was even more impressive. Northern Highlands (2-1) put in three goals in a 13-minute span of the first half and went on to a 4-1 win over Paramus Catholic, a team that has already proved its quality with a win over Bergen Catholic on opening day.

Wayne Ewers' goal in the 77th minute allowed Paramus Catholic to avoid the shutout.

Highlands' game plan was obvious as it put defensive pressure on the ball in order to hurry and disrupt Paramus Catholic's possession and then used turnovers and restarts to put its offense in advantageous positions whether it was moving the ball out wide and swinging it in through the flow of play or taking direct aim at a stationary ball.

“When we work hard and we pressure the other team we are one of the best teams in Bergen County, in my opinion. We know that is what we need to do,” said Highlands' senior midfielder PJ Abplanalp, a co-captain. “We have the target on our back now. It is different, but it is fun. Everyone circles us on the calendar now and everyone gives us their best shot. We have to play hard every game, but that is the way we want it.

It was a turnover that led to the Highlanders' first goal and it was set up nicely by Matt Maghenzani, who got onto a ball in the middle of the field about 25 yards from goal before chipping a defender and sending in James Bryan, who finished low and inside the right post for a 1-0 NH lead in the 18th minute.

Goal No. 2 game just over three minutes later on the second of two successive corner kicks that Northern Highlands earned. Santiago Raigoza hit the corner on a line right into the middle of traffic above the six yard line. The ball barely cleared Derek Schutzman's head as he was the first one up. Behind him was Steve DiBella, who went up second and used his head to make PC keeper Bryan Mendoza go low to make a difficult save. The ricochet of the rebound was probably heading over the goal line anyway, but a PC defender took a last-ditch stab to clear it out only to hit the roof with his desperation clearance. DiBella got credit for the goal and Northern Highlands had a 2-0 lead.

Highlands senior captain Steve DiBella scored on a header off a corner kick.

“We practice that every day, going up strong and winning balls in the air. That is very important to our success and we take that very seriously,” said DiBella, one of Highlands' 14 seniors and its other captain. “Santi [Raigoza] played a great ball to the back post and he knows I am there. I just got up, tried to get my head on it and play it back to where it came from and it found its way in.”

Highlands made it 3-0 just over nine minutes before halftime when Maghenzani stood over a free kick from just under 30 yards out and hit a rocket. Standing just to the right of dead center, Maghenzani found the upper 90 on the left side as the ball went in clean. Two of Highlands' three first half goals came on restarts and the multiple opportunities played right into its strengths.

“We worked on trying to counter [attack] in practice and we are dangerous on set pieces, we are dangerous on long throw-ins and corners,” said Devore. “We thought if we could get the ball wide and serve it in that we would be successful.”

They were and it did not sit well with Paramus Catholic head coach Len Lewandowski, whose team fell to 1-1-1 with the loss. The Paladins, who play a pretty brand of soccer when in synch, were unable to connect their passes to create lanes in the defense.

“We didn't make any adjustments to their style of play. Sometimes you have to make the game ugly and if we could have made the game ugly and been satisfied with that for a while, our skill would have prevailed,” said Lewandowski. “Every game we play on our schedule is going to be tough and we are going to have our ups and downs, but I don't have a whistle where I can call a timeout and say 'Hey, we need to start playing ugly and reorganize. It is something we have to be able to recognize on the field and we were unable to do that today.”

Brendan Wishard had one of PC's best half scoring chances.

A Rami Mamary goal 8:47 into the second half gave Highlands a 4-0 lead and its final goal of the game, while PC was able to break up the shutout in the 77th minute. A corner kick bounced off the scrum in front of the net and fell to Wayne Ewers, who gave Paramus Catholic its lone goal.

Highlands has put its opening loss well behind it as it moves into Thursday's matchup against Fair Lawn and then looks forward to its first match of the year against Ramapo, which it beat in overtime in last season's Bergen County Tournament final.

Sure, it's one at a time and all of that, but with Ramapo right around the corner it is hard for the Highlanders to not at least sneak a peak at what's coming up on Sunday.

“It's so hard [not to think about Ramapo] because those games are always fun. Every time we play them it feels like the biggest game of the year,” said Abplanalp. “But we can't worry about them yet. It's Fair Lawn first then we can get ready for Ramapo.”

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