Don Bosco’s Late Surge Seals Victory Over Bergen Catholic, 9-6

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Heading into the Bergen County Final hosted by Mahwah High School at Egidio Caporale Stadium, the No. 24 nationally ranked Don Bosco Prep Ironmen with a 10-4 record had secured the #1 seed in the tournament and had beaten Glen Rock and Ramapo en route to the final. While the #3 seeded Bergen Catholic Crusaders with a 9-7 record had taken care of business against Ramsey and Ridgewood for their right to play for the county title.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This deep-seeded rivalry featured a slew of talent and excitement heading into the county final, with both fanbases traveling to show their support and making their presence felt all game long. The Ironmen came in looking for their fifth straight county title, while the Crusaders were looking to climb the top of the county for the first time since 2015.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It didn't take long to open up the scoring, after only 34 seconds off the clock, All-American senior leader [player_tooltip player_id='14548' first='Brady' last='Scioletti'] (Duke), found sophomore midfielder [player_tooltip player_id='129881' first='Heston' last='Halesworth'] in an unsettled situation for a quick score. Both defenses played well to start, but Don Bosco was dominating possession time as sophomore Dashiell Lane connected with a cutting Brady Kushner (Loyola) to stretch the lead, and then Scioletti took it himself for his first goal of the night to extend the lead to three after the first quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The second frame started with some good defensive stands, with Ironmen senior net-minder James O'Hara (Siena), recording three quick saves and giving some more life to his group. Lane found Kushner once again on the same-looking play, before the Crusaders started stringing together some solid possessions, while capitalizing on multiple Don Bosco Prep errors. Back-to-back unforced errors on clears eventually led to sophomore midfielder Liam Ericksen finding the back of the net on a good, hard alley dodge, and then senior midfielder Peter Gallo also took it himself, sweeping across the middle for another goal to start to shift momentum in the favor of the Crusaders. Scioletti tallied his second goal, but the Crusaders showed no quit with a slick cross-crease feed from Chris Riccardi to Eamonn Twomey to cut the lead to two goals at half.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The story at the half was senior goaltender Rocco Venezia (VMI) coming up with multiple big saves on prime opportunities for the Ironmen and keeping the Crusaders within striking distance. Venezia along with upperclassmen like Jack Walker (Connecticut College), Joseph Angeli (Lafayette), Ian Holmes (LIU) among others, did a great job of forcing turnovers and making it challenging for their matchups to get into any kind of rhythm. On the other hand, senior FOGO [player_tooltip player_id='28069' first='Scott' last='Conte'] (Delaware) has won 5 of 9 face-offs and had done a nice job of controlling the time of possession for his team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The late first half momentum for Bergen Catholic carried over into the start of the second, with sophomores Trey Taromina and Liam Ericksen each tallying a goal to break even and make it 5-5, before Don Bosco started their late run with goals from juniors [player_tooltip player_id='17484' first='John' last='Devir'] (Yale) and [player_tooltip player_id='123374' first='Aidan' last='Kang']. Scioletti completed his hat trick with a rocket-shot, sweeping across the middle and Kushner later matched him with a sweet back-handed goal coming from X for his third and extended the lead to four goals late in the game. Twomey added another for the Crusaders with under a minute, but it wasn't enough as Don Bosco Prep stays on top of the county with their 5th straight Bergen County title.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both teams fought hard and it was a physical and spirited game on both sides, with Bergen Catholic fighting hard until the final whistle and with a good young core group of guys, the Crusaders will no doubt use this as a learning experience and come back even stronger moving forward, with a quick turnaround as they travel to Summit on May 13th for their next game at 4:30P.M.. For the Ironmen, their next game will be home against Chatham on Thursday, May 15th at 6:30 P.M..</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":["not_in_db"],"_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"field_62cca28ffa4e7","player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"James O'Hara","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"field_62aba4c9ecf2f","player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"2025","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"field_62aba4ddecf30","player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"5'10u0022","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"field_62aba4e8ecf31","player_evaluations_0_player_details_weight":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_weight":"field_65b288425ecf6","player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"144","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"field_62aba4f0ecf32","player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"Don Bosco Prep","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"field_62aba4fdecf33","player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"Mad Dog East Elite","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"field_62d20e723441a","player_evaluations_0_player_details":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details":"field_62aba4afecf2e","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-68235c612c513"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Siena commit had a great game between the pipes for the Ironmen, recording 10 saves on the night. His productive play fueled Don Bosco's early start to the game, shutting out the Crusaders in the first quarter. He came up with a few big saves in tight, and from distance, he was tracking the ball well and not giving up anything easy. The New York native has good instincts and athleticism and has proven to come up clutch in key moments for his squad. With a few self-inflicted mistakes by the Ironmen, O'Hara stood tall in net and was able to kickstart some momentum. He doesn't force passed on fast break and stays patient with the ball.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":["not_in_db"],"_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"field_62cca28ffa4e7","player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"Brady Kushner","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"field_62aba4c9ecf2f","player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"2026","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"field_62aba4ddecf30","player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"5'11u0022","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"field_62aba4e8ecf31","player_evaluations_0_player_details_weight":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_weight":"field_65b288425ecf6","player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"142","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"field_62aba4f0ecf32","player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"Don Bosco Prep","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"field_62aba4fdecf33","player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"Primetime","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"field_62d20e723441a","player_evaluations_0_player_details":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details":"field_62aba4afecf2e","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-68235c612c5b0"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kushner had a great game for the Ironmen, totaling 3 goals in the contest and showing the ability to be versatile in the role he plays. His first two goals came off of cuts inside where he was able to feel the defense and time up his cut with Dashiell Lane, and the final goal came in the 4th quarter where he beat his defender from X, turned the corner and bounced a back-handed shot past Venezia. He works hard with and without the ball to help his team succeed and without Hudson Villaruel for this game, the Loyola commit came up big for Don Bosco Prep in the county final and they will need similar production moving forward.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":["not_in_db"],"_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"field_62cca28ffa4e7","player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"Rocco Venezia","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"field_62aba4c9ecf2f","player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"2026","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"field_62aba4ddecf30","player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"6'0u0022","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"field_62aba4e8ecf31","player_evaluations_0_player_details_weight":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_weight":"field_65b288425ecf6","player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"144","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"field_62aba4f0ecf32","player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"Bergen Catholic","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"field_62aba4fdecf33","player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"Mad Dog East Elite","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"field_62d20e723441a","player_evaluations_0_player_details":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details":"field_62aba4afecf2e","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-68235c612c69e"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The VMI commit had a great game, where he saw a ton of shots for high-level shooters and stood tall in cage and helped his team fight back into the game. I counted 11 saves on the night for Venezia, which consisted of high velocity shots and good placement, but Venezia consistently denied the shooters. He came up with a few man-down saves and with his larger build, it was impressive to see his quick reaction and timing on low shots that he was able to see well and get a stick on. He plays with a lot of passion and confidence and helps the offense get going with quick outlets off of a save.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":["not_in_db"],"_player_evaluations_0_not_in_database":"field_62aba48cecf2d","player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_selected_featured_image":"field_62cca28ffa4e7","player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"Jack Walker","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_player_name":"field_62aba4c9ecf2f","player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"2025","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_graduating_class":"field_62aba4ddecf30","player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"null","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_height":"field_62aba4e8ecf31","player_evaluations_0_player_details_weight":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_weight":"field_65b288425ecf6","player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"148","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_position":"field_62aba4f0ecf32","player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"Bergen Catholic","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_school":"field_62aba4fdecf33","player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"Brotherhood","_player_evaluations_0_player_details_club_team":"field_62d20e723441a","player_evaluations_0_player_details":"","_player_evaluations_0_player_details":"field_62aba4afecf2e","player_evaluations":1,"_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"preview","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-68235c612c78d"} --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The first thing I noticed about Walker was the heart he plays with. He has quick feet and good ground balls skills as a LSM for the Crusaders, but the determination he shows is impressive. The Connecticut College commit puts in a lot of effort on the defensive end and even showed great hustle, beating out the offense to the end line a few times early in the game when Bergen Catholic was trying to get their offense clicking. He's a great team player who has shown the ability to stay on the field for long stretches of time and not seem fatigued. He plays smart and stays out of the penalty box in order to always be available and he'll need to keep that production up as the Crusaders head into the end of the regular season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- /wp:acf/evaluation-block -->