Time for a “scout’s honor” for Father Judge soccer fans:
After falling behind, 1-0, to Archbishop Ryan in the Catholic League championship,
how many out there really felt confident that the Crusaders were going
to find a way to win the title?
For those who continued to believe, buy yourself a treat. For those who
doubted, join the crowd.
Off a rebound shot that he’ll never forget, Judge senior Rich Romano
scored 36 seconds into overtime to lift Father Judge (21-1-1 overall)
to a 2-1 victory over Ryan, securing the school’s second-ever league
championship and first since 1976.
“You never want to fall behind, especially against a team like that,”
said Judge coach John Dunlop, “but I thought that if we kept playing
our game and stayed aggressive, we would find a way to tie it.”
Dunlop took over Judge’s struggling program five years ago and,
despite long odds, talked then about having a five-year plan to get the
Crusaders back into the mix of the Catholic League’s elite.
Meanwhile, against Ryan, as Judge senior Wayne Maminski has done throughout
his marvelous career, he came through with a clutch goal.
Undaunted by outstanding goaltending by Ryan junior Fran Nelms (13 saves)
and his team’s frustration at missed scoring chances, Maminski tied
the game 17 minutes into the second half when his hard shot deflected
off Nelms and into the net.
Judge’s fans erupted, but the Crusader players appeared relatively
calm.
“We still had a lot of work to do,” said Maminski, who finished
the season with 29 goals. “It was definitely a relief to tie the
game, but we still had to score again at some point.”
That point eluded both teams during regulation play, and the contest went
into overtime.
Again, it was Maminski who was an integral part of the game clincher.
His shot in the first minute of overtime was handled by Nelms, but Romano
kicked home the rebound and set off a wild celebration that included an
ecstatic Romano racing toward his teammates with arms stretched high to
the sky.
“It’s not surprising it went into overtime,” said Romano.
“Ryan has a lot of pride and a great tradition. They’ve been
there before.”
“We played hard and they did, too,” said Ryan coach George
Todt, who has won 13 championships in his 39 years. “You go into
overtime and anything can happen.”
Romano can second that.
“It’s hard to put into words what it was like,” said
the likable upperclassman. “Seeing the ball go in, and realizing
what had just happened, and seeing how happy my teammates and coaches
were, and hearing the crowd ….”
John Knebels can be reached at jknebs@aol.com.
Ryan’s
girls soccer team triumphs
Archbishop Ryan’s girls admitted they desperately wanted to declare
themselves the 2007 Catholic League soccer champions.
“We really had one focus, and that was to win it all,” said
junior Christina Zambito. “We had gotten close. Anything less would
have been very disappointing.”
Zambito and her eager teammates didn’t face disappointment at all
— the Ragdolls blanked Archbishop Wood, 3-0, for the league title.
The only emotion that flowed from the sidelines immediately after the
final seconds and throughout a long celebration was pure happiness.
There were many tears, but they were accompanied by smiles and embraces.
And maybe a little bit of relief. After all, Ryan was a team that needed
to defeat defending champion Little Flower in the semifinals, but that
was far from easy.
In fact, it might have been more difficult than winning the championship.
“In a lot of ways, that was our championship,” said Zambito,
a product of St. Christopher Parish School. “Once we got past Little
Flower, I didn’t think it was possible we were going to lose. We
had worked way too hard.”
John Knebels can be reached at knebs@aol.com.