Wednesday, November 9, 2011

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

James Ortiz scored in the 50th minute to put Ramapo ahead for good on the way to a 4-1 win over Old Tappan in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional semifinals on Tuesday afternoon.

FRANKLIN LAKES – The tailgate is a time-honored tradition inside the Ramapo boys soccer program. It takes up more than a few parking spaces at whatever tournament venue the Green Raiders are playing at, it is comprised of a handful folding tables loaded with all manner of concessions, coolers packed with soft drinks of all stripes. Ramapo wins most of its boys soccer games, the mood is usually joyous as the team parents feed the team players and a variety of others, including the odd media member stalking a free meal.

It was different on Sunday night. Because of the loss of daylight savings time and because they turned off the field lights at Indian Hills High School, it was dark. A chill was in the air and it was quiet after the Green Raiders suffered their first loss of the season in the Bergen County Tournament final against Old Tappan.

But you know what happened next? The sun rose on Monday morning and on Tuesday everything was back on track, the disappointment erased by three goals in the second half of the rematch in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional semifinals. While the Golden Knights ended Ramapo's hopes of a perfect season two days earlier, the Green Raiders returned the favor by ending Old Tappan's best ever season with a 4-1 victory on a brilliant late fall afternoon in Franklin Lakes.

Nathan Bodenstein scored midway through the first half to bring Old Tappan into a 1-1 tie.

“It's my senior year, my last couple games of high school [soccer], so the way I saw it was that if I wanted to keep going, I had to put everything else aside and worry about the game at hand,” said Brandon Alvarado, one of only two seniors in Ramapo's starting lineup. “We couldn't let a stupid county game get in the way. We have bigger goals in front of us and that is all I thought about.”

Alvarado was the one who swept away any lingering doubts that Ramapo might have had when he scored the game's first goal in the 10th minute. Mikey Taranto's long throw from the right side rattled around in the box and Alvarado was a step or two inside the 18 when he hit a low dart into the lower right corner to give Ramapo a 1-0 lead, a drastic turnaround from the county final when the Green Raiders were down 2-0 by halftime.

Old Tappan got even at the midway point of the first half on a pretty combination that covered half of the field. Vinny Capazzi won a ball and quickly played it wide to Adam Bodenstein, who worked a 1-2 with Jack Galfund along the left sideline. Bodenstein's second touch sent Tyler Walsh up the left and he pulled the defense before centering a pass for Nathan Bodenstein, who was left alone in the middle of the box. Nathan Bodenstein hit a no-doubter right into the middle of the net to tie the score.

As could have been predicted after Sunday's physical county final and the familiarity between the two teams, there was some chippiness and some chirping going on and of the two yellow cards shown in the first half, one of them went to Old Tappan's Ryan Walsh for dissent. It was a turning point even if it didn't show up right away.

Brandon Alvarado, one of Ramapo's two senior starters, opened in the scoring in the 10th minute.

Although it did not generate too many chances in the first half, Old Tappan was still in good shape. I was tied at 1 at the half and Ryan Walsh is one of those players who doesn't need too much help to get in on a ball and turn it into a goal. But just three minutes into the second half, Ramapo was awarded a free kick and Ryan Walsh was inside the 10-yard cushion mandated between defender and restart. While inside that zone, he made an attempt to disrupt the free kick as it was struck, thereby subjecting himself to a rigid interpretation of a rule that calls for an automatic yellow card. It his second yellow of the game and Ryan Walsh was forced to watch the final 37 minutes of his final high school game from the bench.

Needless to say, it was a harsh blow to Old Tappan's chances, but head coach Mike Hanchar did not use it as an excuse. He was quick to pay respect to the opposition, but also did not shy away from giving his view of the situation.

“First off, congratulations to Ramapo. They got their job done today. Obviously both teams expended a lot of energy on Sunday, you could see it in both teams. They are banged up, we are banged up. Looking at it at halftime we felt real comfortable. We thought we had gained the momentum at halftime and we were confident that we were going to get the job done today,” said Hanchar. “That being said, we had to deal with officials that became the centerpiece of the show here. I am an official. I referee youth games on the weekends, I have reffed this [high school] level and I have reffed on the college level and I understand how difficult it is, but there has to be a common sense approach to everything. They changed the game today. Taking Ryan off the field...to the letter of the law was it correct? Yeah, it is correct but you have to show some common sense at times.”

Tyler Walsh assisted on the last goal of Old Tappan's brilliant season.

After that, Ramapo owned just about all of the scoring chances and converted on three of them with the first being the prettiest. Chris Nash made a hard run to the left corner and sent in a low cross right at the cleats of Sean Etheridge, who was making a front post run. Etheridge then back-heeled the ball toward the far post where James Ortiz ran onto it to give Ramapo the lead for good with 30:43 to play in the game.

“All of our coaches were telling me to take the ball down to the end line because that is the best place to get a cross off against [Old Tappan],” said Nash, a sophomore. "I listened to what they said, I got the cross off and Sean kind of flicked it back to Ortiz and he put it in. It was a good feeling because the coaches called for that and it worked on all ends.”

If the go-ahead goal was sweet, then the third goal was ironic because it came on a play that was the carbon copy of the one that Old Tappan pulled off to score the game-winning goal in the county final when Ryan Walsh flicked in a 20-yard header off a free kick just inside the center stripe.

This time it was Etheridge who was fouled just inside the right sideline and Matt Deziel moved up to take the direct kick. He left-footed the restart to the top of the box where Etheridge got up over the crowd and used his head to flick it back over Old Tappan keeper Frank Favata, who had started out but could not get into the scrum. That made it 3-1 and two minutes later a Taranto throw-in from the left skipped off the keeper's glove for the touch needed to make it a legal goal with 16:01 left in the game.

Sean Etheridge heading home Ramapo's third goal.

“This is why high school sports is fun. Even talking to people after we lost on Sunday, I was down, I am human, but this is what it is about,” said Ramapo head coach Evan Baumgarten. “This was a challenge to step back up and we were fortunate we had the opportunity against the team that did beat us to show that we could win in convincing fashion.”

So that put a wrap on the most successful season in the history of the Old Tappan boys soccer program. Only six teams will end the season with a win and although the Knights won't be one of them, there was certainly plenty of meat on the bone that was the 2011 campaign.

“We told them that they are a class act and that they can walk out of here with their heads held high. I am proud of them, the community is proud of them and this is the best team in Old Tappan history,” said Hanchar. “Fifteen wins, semifinals of the state sectionals, county champs...it will be hard-pressed to beat what this team did for a long time to come.”

To meet its fitting end, Ramapo still has some heavy lifting to do as it will play another rival in the section final on Friday. When the Raiders host Northern Highlands in Franklin Lakes, it will mark the fourth match-up of the season between the two programs with Ramapo having won the previous three.

After the grind that has been the last month of the season, Ramapo can see the finish line, but crossing the tape first is not going to be easy.

“It's the fourth time that we will play them and it will be another battle, but at this point I am glad we are playing them because the alternative is packing up the uniforms and going home,” said Baumgarten. “We are looking forward to it."

FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.