Junior Alec Lam has yet to give up a goal in Northern Highlands’ two wins this season. He will face a big challenge in Saturday’s showdown with Big North Freedom rival Ramapo Saturday.
The weather may be starting to cool off, but things will be heating up in boys soccer this week. Several big-time rivalries will take center stage over the next seven days with huge division implications and the possibility of reshaping the upper ranks of The Record’s boys soccer Top 25, highlighted by the first of what could be several meetings between rivals Ramapo and Northern Highlands on Saturday.
Unbeaten Don Bosco, which has scored 16 goals in three games so far, has division showdowns against DePaul and Bergen Catholic while Clifton and Bergen Tech will face off in a rematch of last year’s Big North Liberty battle that went down to the final game of the season.
But let’s start with Highlands and Ramapo, which will take place Saturday night (7 p.m.) as the nightcap of a girl-boy doubleheader between the two rival schools at Ramapo.
It seems like every time these two teams meet, there is something big on the line like a chance at a county or state sectional title or the top spot in one of the toughest divisions in North Jersey. Even when it comes in the third or fourth game of the season.
Saturday’s game will go a long way to marking just where each team stands this season. Highlands, which has shutout wins over Indian Hills and Ridgewood in its first two games, is young but experienced with strength down the middle. J.P. Julian, who has three of the Highlanders’ five goals this season, and Danny Aversano have created a nice scoring tandem.
Alec Lam, who had eight shutouts last season, already has two so far this season.
But he faces a daunting Ramapo offense that has retooled since the graduation of several top scorers last year. Chris Nash, Pat Hammer and Ryan Campbell all have two goals in the Raiders’ three wins while Dylan Rocchio has become a good playmaker in the middle with three assists.
Bergen Catholic’s Erick Alonso
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Don Bosco has a big week hosting games against Big North United rivals DePaul tonight and Bergen Catholic and sniper Erick Alonso Monday.
The Ironmen (3-0) opened the season with 12 goals in out of area games against Shore Regional and Summit before coming back to Bergen County for a 4-0 victory over St. Joseph.
Chris Bazzini has five goals and Mark Sisco has four in Bosco’s fast-moving one-touch offense. But coach Vinny Sileo is happier with the one goal Bosco has given up so far this season.
DePaul (2-0) has already handed Bergen Catholic its one loss of the season, 1-0. The Spartans also have a win over Paramus Catholic.
They have been succeeding so far with defense this season. They will also face Clifton next Thursday, Sept. 26 in a rematch of last year’s Passaic County final won by Clifton in overtime.
Bergen Catholic (2-1) has been led by Alonso who has three goals and Justin Yacovino, who has a goal and four assists. Yacovino has been a big spark for the Crusaders after missing all of last season with an injury.
Finally, Bergen Tech (2-0) face a huge challenge on Tuesday when it hosts Clifton (3-0) with both looking to draw first blood in the Big North Liberty Division race.
Clifton has outscored its opponents by 14-1, helped by a big 8-0 victory over division rival Kennedy on Tuesday. Justin Olaya has six goals while Kevin Arce has three goals and five assists.
The battle for the division title went down to the final day of the regular season last year with Clifton winning to take the crown.
Clifton’s Justin Olaya has six goals in three games for the Mustangs.
Bergen Tech is led by Daniel Zehirov, who has three goals and three assists, and Jeremy Schwartz, who has two goals and two assists.
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