North Arlington senior defender Moises Polanco (16) moves forward with the ball and away from Brearley’s Darion Ferrera
during last Friday’s NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I boys’ soccer sectional championship game at Rip Collins
Field in North Arlington, a game won by Brearley, 3-0.
Vikings lose to Brearley in sectional title game; all three grid playoff teams fall
The local fall sports seasons all came to an end last Friday, with North Arlington acting as the last boys’ soccer team left standing.
Soon after the Vikings dropped a 3-0 decision to Brearley Regional of Kenilworth in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I boys’ soccer championship game last Friday afternoon at Rip Collins Field, the North Arlington football team also fell to Brearley, 35-6, in the opening round of the North 2, Group I football state playoffs.
Also on Friday, Lyndhurst lost to Rutherford, 35-12, in North 2, Group II and Nutley suffered a tough 28-7 setback to West Essex in North 2, Group III, ending all local hopes of a state championship.
Earlier last week, the soccer gods were not kind to either the Kearny boys’ or girls’ teams, to the Lyndhurst girls and to the Harrison boys. All saw their seasons come to crashing halts last week with sudden losses in the state tournament.
The Kearny boys, the top seed in North 2, Group IV, were sent packing last week in the sectional semifinals in shocking fashion, falling 2-1 in overtime to Newark East Side, who eventually lost to Elizabeth in the sectional final.
Incredibly, that was the only loss the Kardinals suffered all season and it came in the sectional semifinals. John Najarro capped his brilliant season by scoring his 28th goal of the season in the setback.
The Kearny girls advanced to the North 1, Group IV sectional title game, but ran into nationally ranked Montclair and dropped a 5-0 decision.
Both the Kearny boys and girls won the HCIAL regular season titles as well as the Hudson County Tournament championships, but it’s safe to say that there had to be some sense of disappointment in the Kardinal boys’ team losing in the sectional semifinals. This appeared to be a year where the Kardinals had all the ingredients for a state champion – and it didn’t happen.
The Harrison boys lost to Garfield via the hideous penalty kick situation that is used to determine a winner after two teams play to a tie in regulation, then two 10-minute overtime sessions.
The Blue Tide played Garfield to a 2-2 draw in regulation, with Deydiry Chamba and Ney Moreno scoring the goals for the Blue Tide, then there was no scoring in the overtime sessions. The match went to the penalty kicks and Garfield emerged victorious.
There has to be a better way to settle ties than by taking wide open shots at a goalie. To think that’s how Harrison’s fine season with its young team came to an end is a travesty. The NJSIAA should look into other ways to break ties, like playing with less people on the field until a true winner is crowned.
Top-seeded Lyndhurst was upset in the semifinals of North 2, Group II by fourth-seeded Parsippany, 3-1. Amanda Fulcher had the lone goal for the Golden Bears and Izzy Castagnetti turned aside 10 shots in vain.
It left North Arlington’s boys as the last local team standing, playing Friday with the hope of securing the Vikings’ first state sectional title since 2007.
But it wasn’t meant to be from the outset, as Brearley, which won the overall Group I state championship in 2013, scored early and then took control of the game. The Vikings managed just one shot on goal for the entire game – and that came with just 13 minutes left in regulation.
Sophomore goalkeeper Ali Timur did whatever he could to keep the Vikings in the game, collecting 16 saves.
North Arlington freshman midfielder Dylan Jurado (right, 12) tries to stay step
for step with Brearley’s Justin Estremera (11), who scored two of his team’s
three goals in Brearley’s 3-0 win over North Arlington in the NJSIAA North
2, Group I state championship game last Friday at Rip Collins Field in North
Arlington.
“After I let up the first goal, in my mindset, I had to make sure that nothing else got passed me,” Timur said. “At least if I did that, we could hope we could bounce back. But we were getting pretty frustrated. We couldn’t control the ball. Their defense was much stronger and they attacked us a lot. I tried to make the saves I could, but I couldn’t save them all.”
But coach Jesse Dembowski’s team is very young. Sure, standout leading scorer Cristiano Neves graduates, but the majority of the Vikings will be back next season.
“We’ve been trying to build up the entire program,” Dembowski said. “We started a lot of freshmen out there. I hope it means good things for the future. Once they took the lead on us, we tried to do different things to try to get things going. Instead of taking shots, we were waiting for the perfect shot. We need experience in games like this. They have more experience and it showed.
Added Dembowski, “But this is a great step for us moving forward. I’m proud of all of them. We had a fantastic season, an amazing season. We won our first league title since 2004 and took it this far.”
The Vikings finished 14-6 overall.
“I think it was a very good experience for all of us,” Timur said. “I think we learned about different teams and new players. We learned a little about what it takes to get this far.”
Junior Hudson Ribeiro, who had the lone shot of the game for the Vikings, agreed.
“We came this far and it was a good experience,” Ribeiro said. “We’re all going to learn from this. We really couldn’t get to the ball and we weren’t used to that. It’s not an excuse. It’s just something we have to learn from.”
The Vikings gained some experience and used the state playoffs as a good experience for the future.
“In other years, we would have put the balls and uniforms away,” Dembowski said. “But we played for a state sectional title. No one expected that. It was a phenomenal season.”
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Jim Hague | Observer Sports Writer
Sports Writer Jim Hague was with The Observer for 20+ years — and his name is one of the most recognizable in all of sports journalism. The St. Peter’s Prep and Marquette alum kicked off his journalism career post Marquette at the Daily Record, where he remained until 1985. Following shorts stints at two other newspapers, in September 1986, he joined the now-closed Hudson Dispatch, where he remained until 1991, when its doors were finally shut.
It was during his tenure at The Dispatch that Hague’s name and reputation as one of country’s hardest-working sports reporters grew. He won several New Jersey Press Association and North Jersey Press Club Awards in that timeframe.
In 1991, he became a columnist for The Hudson Reporter chain of newspapers — and he remains with them to this day.
In addition to his work at The Observer and The Hudson Reporter, Hague is also an Associated Press stringer, where he covers Seton Hall University men’s basketball, New York Red Bulls soccer and occasionally, New Jersey Devils hockey.
He’s also doing work at The Morristown Daily Record, the very newspaper where his journalism career began.
During his career, he also worked for Dorf Feature Services, which provided material for the Star-Ledger. While there, he covered the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets.
Hague is also known for his announcing work — and he’s done PA work for Rutgers Newark and NJIT.
Hague is the author of the book “Braddock: The Rise of the Cinderella Man.”