Ramapo routs Pascack Valley in Bergen County tournament by Jim McConville special to The Record
FRANKLIN LAKES – Andrew Robbins has been a four-year starter for Ramapo, and the attackman has missed only one game in his high school career. He brings a veteran’s savvy to the Raider offense while also opening up opportunities for teammates.
The senior took matters into his own hands in the Bergen County tournament quarterfinals against Pascack Valley, scoring three of his six goals in a decisive third period. It pushed the Raiders to a 15-6 win over the Indians and a date in the semifinals against Bergen Catholic.
He added a pair of assists to his six tallies and reached a milestone in the process. His assist on the second Ramapo goal of the game was his 200th career point, and he now has 207 in total (134 goals, 73 assists).
“He’s a special player,” Ramapo coach Tom Albano said. “He does so many things in the offense and he’s doing everything we ask of him. He’s the guy we look to when we need a goal or need to run out some clock.”
Ramapo took a 4-1 lead after one period, but Pascack Valley (10-4) scored five times in the second period to forge a 6-6 tie at the half. Zach Olson had two of the goals and Josh Tillis had three assists, including a setup of Jake DeMillia for the tying tally.
“Coach kept saying we can’t play complacent,” Robbins said. “We haven’t played a full game yet this year, but we came out in the third period and kept building the momentum goal by goal.”
“We simply had to be patient,” Albano said. “We got away from that in the second period. We told them look for the layups or the high percentage outside shots, take your time.”
Robbins made sure the Raiders (9-4) would not trail again. He got the lead goal 1:55 into the second half, making a run from behind the net and finding a spot top left.
“Jack (Griffin) set me up perfectly,” Robbins said. “I passed it to him and he got it back to me. I came to the net and just closed my eyes and let it go.”
Robbins added a second unassisted goal with 6:28 left to make it 8-6 and they steadily increased that margin. They outshot PV 14-1 in the third period while scoring five times for an 11-6 lead.
“We played it very simple; win the faceoff, control the ball, possess it and don’t rush anything.” Robbins said. “If they don’t have the ball they can’t score.”
They also got a tremendous effort from Logan Premtaj, who won 16 of 22 faceoffs in the game, including all eight in the second half. He even took a clean on one faceoff and charged the middle and scored his second goal of the season.
“He was our best defender,” Albano said of Premtaj. “He came in this year and showed that, even as a freshman, he was the guy at the ‘x’ and he’s really worked hard at it.”
The Indians were held to 11 shots in the game, with six of them coming in the second period. They were outshot 38-11 in the game and saw Ramapo own two-thirds of the possession after halftime.
RIDGEWOOD 7, GLEN ROCK 3 – Liam Horton’s second goal of the game with 18 seconds left in the first half had Glen Rock within 4-3 of the Maroons and looking for the upset of the top seed.
It wasn’t until 1:31 left in the third period that Quin Peene scored for Ridgewood and they added a pair of fourth period goals to move on to face Northern Highlands in the semifinals on Thursday.
Ben Pounds had 9 saves for Ridgewood, six of them in the second half and three of them while protecting the one-goal lead in the third quarter. Colin Consoli did his best to keep Glen Rock in it, recording 12 saves for the Panthers.