Ridgewood earns repeat BCT championship by Jim McConville special to The Record
MAHWAH – Ridgewood has always been a team with talent; the Maroons showed that mental toughness is just as important.
Ramapo gave them all they could handle, but when the boys lacrosse game got down to the crucial second half, Ridgewood took control from the defensive end forward. It added up with an 8-5 win over the Raiders that allowed the Maroons to repeat as Bergen County champions.
It was the fourth overall title for Ridgewood (2008, 2011) in their seventh final in 10 seasons. Ramapo, making its first championship game appearance since its 2007 crown, fell prey to a stout Maroon defense.
The Raiders overcame an early Jack Kiernan goal and scored three straight to close out the first period up 3-1. They were controlling the momentum until back-to-back penalties gave the Maroons a chance.
They struck for two man-up goals 40 seconds apart to get the game even at 3. Dylan Peabody got the first one and Quin Peene got the game even with 3:29 left in the half.
“We’ve been struggling a bit on the man ups recently, so it was emphasized this past week,” Kiernan (who had one of his three assists on the first man up goal) said. “Getting those two goals gave us some good momentum.”
Ramapo continued a tournament trend by getting a goal in the final seconds of a period, this time with 9.2 seconds left in the first half. Matt Karsian’s second of the game off a feed from Mike Kowal sent the Raiders off at halftime with a 4-3 lead, but it didn’t dampen the Maroon spirit.
“We’ve been down before,” senior defenseman Zach Feagles said. “It’s about not being content and having a forward mind-set. We didn’t get down on ourselves; we knew there was plenty of game left.”
Ridgewood took advantage of another man up chance as Jack Barclay scored to tie it up at 4. Kowal then put the Raiders ahead 5-4 with 6:11 to go in the third period, but that would be the last tally for Ramapo.
With Maroon goalie Ben Pounds recording six of his 10 saves in the final 18 minutes and the Ridgewood defense of Feagles, Charlie Messineo, Jack Kennedy and Aidan Toomey keeping Ramapo on the perimeter, Ridgewood could afford to be patient on the offensive end.
“Our defense played amazing,” Kiernan said, “and they really held up their end. They gave us the chance to do what we had to do.”
“They’re tough,” Ridgewood coach Mike Pounds said. “Having Jack back healthy (after taking a ball to the ear in the last Ramapo game) is big, and he does such a great job in the interior defense. Aidan has great stick skills, and we kind of rotated them.”
Peabody scored back-to-back goals to close out the third period, the first on an unassisted right to left run across the crease and the second off a Dan Gioia pass with 1:14 left in the third period that put Ridgewood up 6-5.
When Vincent Riggio scored from the right side off a Peabody pass from behind the cage with 7:31 to go, Ridgewood had its first multi-goal lead of the game. They forced a turnover and were able to run a few minutes off the clock before Gioia scored with 2:19 to go to all but seal the win.