Boys soccer: League rivals to face off in Bergen County final between Ramapo and Ridgewood

RAMSEY – One is the Dream Team. The other is the Redeem Team.

The Big North Freedom will take center-stage in the Bergen County final on Saturday with Ramapo and Ridgewood taking their own separate paths to the 50th annual championship game. The Raiders are the top seed and the unbeaten defending champions. The Maroons have clawed their way back a year after missing the tournament entirely.

Their 6 p.m. final at Indian Hills High School will be a rematch of last month's divisional game won by Ramapo, 2-0. Either the Raiders will extend their tournament record by winning a 15th BCT title or the Maroons will collect their first since 1993.

"To play in the county final is always a special thing," Ramapo coach Evan Baumgarten said. "I loved it as a player. I love it more as a coach."

"I think you can see that we're coming together," Ridgewood senior Joseph Kim said. "They beat us pretty bad on own field the last time we played them but we're a much better team than we were back then."

Here's a look at how both teams advanced from the semifinal round on Saturday.

Ridgewood goalie does double duty

Lucas Barrales did everything but keep the lights on Saturday night.

The senior keeper scored his team's only regulation goal and came through with two huge stops in the shootout to lift the Maroons past Cliffside Park, 3-1, in penalties.

Barrales only had three minutes to bask in the achievement before the field went dark at Ramsey High School, as the timer was set for 10 p.m. Maybe the only thing keeping Barrales from a college soccer career is his preference for track and field.

"He's not a tall kid but he plays tall," Ridgewood coach Aidan McCluskey said. "When he gets up in the air and catches the ball, you think he's 6-foot-2 and he's not. He's just athletic. He's a very, very good goalkeeper."

Lucas Barker, Aidan Linnington and Kim all buried their kicks for Ridgewood (9-3-1) in a bizarre but effective shootout for the third seed. There was a long delay before the tiebreaker began to figure out which goal would be used. (The officials changed their decision twice before opting to use the brighter side).

Barrales saved the first two Cliffside Park attempts and appeared to have won the match by fending off a shot in the bottom of the fourth round. However, the Ridgewood celebration was cut short as Barrales moved too early on the play.

"When I saved it, I knew I was off the line early," Barrales said. "I felt myself leaning before he shot."

Cliffside Park tried to change shooters on the re-kick, but was denied and watched the ensuing shot sail wide.

"It speaks volumes to our program," Kim said. "We do the same things over and over again. We possess over and over again. We knew we would wear them down. We knew they were getting tired and cramping up so we just kept at it."

The 100 minutes of soccer turned into a war of attrition with both trainers earning their keep. Cliffside Park went up in the 12th minute when Mateas Moreno pounced on a rebound off a counter-attack. Ridgewood owned a considerable possession advantage overall with its ability to move as a team and build from the back – with defenders Trevor Rose, Dexter DeMarco, Parker Wilson and Nicholas Cho.

Barrales evened the score right before the break with a free kick from midfield that the opposing goalie couldn't corral through traffic. It was the first goal for Barrales since his time as a field player in middle school.

"Words can't describe what I'm feeling," Barrales said. "I'm beyond happy that we won and we're in the finals. We're going to go in and give everything we got."

Ramapo stays perfect

The Raiders moved one step closer to winning their seventh county title in 11 years with a nail-biting but well-earned 2-1 victory over Bergen Catholic.

Dylan Bodart opened the scoring for the Raiders in the last minute of the first half and Kevin McDonough knocked in the eventual winner on a penalty kick in the 44th. A goal midway through the second half by Bergen Catholic's Sebastian Ortega turned what looked like a sure-fire win into a chaotic finish.

"We high-pressed them," Baumgarten said. "They are good. We were saying that we didn't want to give up free kicks for long services into the box. Overall, I'm real proud of the kids."

Ramapo (11-0-1) has only lost one regular season game in the last three years and was able to assert its dominance from the early going. The Raiders hemmed Bergen Catholic in its own end with their star-studded defense (Cole Duschang, Jacob Marcos, Nick Marino and Jayden Onal) quickly redirecting clearing attempts back into the offensive zone. A handball in the box opened the door for McDonough and Co.

"I feel like everyone was moving really well," McDonough said. "We kind of play simple. We didn't force a lot of passes. It was about creating gaps since it was open in the first half. After the first 20 minutes, they kind of figured it out and starting pressing us more in the middle. They were really strong defensively so it was hard to break."

Both Barrales and Kim were in the crowd at the 2019 championship game when Ridgewood lost to Bergen Catholic. Kim was pulling for a rematch and a chance for redemption, but will gladly accept a second shot against Ramapo.

"They were much better than us the first time," McCluskey said. "They deserved to beat us. But this is a final. This is a one-off. We'll have to make some changes and figure out how to deal with them."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ boys soccer: Ramapo and Ridgewood advance to Bergen County final