Monday, October 11, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Mikey Taranto scored the first goal of the game and Ramapo added seven more in advancing to the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament.

FRANKLIN LAKES – Give Queen of Peace credit. With their overtime win over Dwight-Englewood in the play-in round, the Golden Griffins had already had a successful run and came into the Round of 16 on Sunday with the intent of playing the game on both sides of the field against top-seeded and undefeated Ramapo.

Queen of Peace did not put 11 defenders inside its own 18 yard line hoping to keep the game scoreless for 100 minutes while praying for a penalty kick shoot out and it went with an offsides trap in an attempt to frustrate the overlapping runs of the favored Green Raiders.

Give Ramapo credit for foiling the Golden Griffins plans at every turn.

Mikey Taranto got the party started with a pretty goal in the 12th minute to open the flood gates. Ramapo scored five more times in the first half and had it all working in an 8-0 win that puts the Green Raiders in next weekend's quarterfinal round against Wallington, a surprise 3-2 winner over eight-seeded Paramus.

Matt Tarantino and QP were coming off a first round win over Dwight-Englewood.

“The kids are excited to play because this is a great tournament and a lot of different guys got involved in the scoring, in the assists and playing unselfishly,” said Ramapo head coach Evan Baumgarten. “We have a lot of guys back [from last year's team that reached the county final], but we are still young. We have only two seniors that start, but we have the experience of last year that we hope will help us moving forward in this tournament.”

Ramapo (9-0) did a lot of moving forward on Sunday and Taranto's opening goal was emphatic. He moved across the top of the 18 from right to left, then planted and hit a rocket with his left foot into the upper 90.

“Sean [Etheridge] laid the ball off for me and I pretty much found myself one-on-one with the goalie, so if I missed that I would have been mad,” said Taranto, a junior. “We knew they were going to play off-side trap, so we just looked to find the through balls in. In the first half we got at least six different people through and we finished most of our chances.”

Only 23 seconds past between Ramapo's first goal and its second. Etheridge found himself chasing a ball played over the top by Brandon Alvarado with Queen of Peace keeper Nick Nardone flying out to challenge. Etheridge win the race and chipped the ball over the rushing keeper for a 2-0 Ramapo lead. Ian Foryessy then made a back post run to get his head on a corner kick by James Bounavita and Ramapo had its third goal in the span of 8:39.

Brandon Alvarado had a goal and an assist for Ramapo.

“We work as a team. We all have our roles and I am just glad that I am able to play mine alongside guys of this quality,” said Foryessy, a sophomore defender who moves up on set piece opportunities. “I think we really show what a team effort should be. We are really tight together on the field and off the field and it shows I in games when we share the ball and help each other.”

Foryessy added his second goal and Ramapo's fourth after Taranto was taken down deep in the right corner. Taranto hit his own restart low in the box, Alvarado kept it moving and Foryessy hammered it home. Chris Nash and James Ortiz added goals before halftime to give Ramapo a 6-0 spread and Alvarado and Michael Bird, off an assist from Doug Smith, had the second half tallies for the Green Knights, who have been on a season-long roll.

“We try to just take it game by game. No one is getting too cocky, no one on this team thinks we are unbeatable and we know we have to go all out,” said Taranto. “We are high in our energy, but we are trying to focus on what is ahead and prepare for every game as hard as we can.”

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