Boys Soccer: Ramapo Overwhelms Middletown South in Group 3 Final

SOMERSET — Evan Baumgarten has coached in 10 NJSIAA state finals prior to Saturday, but his current group of Ramapo High School boys soccer players had never had the pleasure of playing in one.

While the setting and the stakes at Franklin High School were new to this Ramapo roster, the Group III championship game against Middletown South was no different than any other game for the Raiders, who scored early and scored often.

Ramapo scored twice in the first six minutes and broke out for three more goals in the second half to finished off a complete dismantling of the Shore Conference’s best team of 2025, with the Raiders handing Middletown South a 5-1 loss to end the best season in the history of the Eagles program. Ramapo’s state title is the eighth in program history and the first since 2016.

Senior Caden O’Connell and junior Jacob Preziosi each finished the Group III final with two goals and an assist, with O’Connell scoring each of the first two Ramapo goals in the first six minutes.

“They are a really good team,” Middletown South coach Dan Riverso said of Ramapo. “They get it forward fast, the combinations — we worked on it all week, but nothing in training can match the pace they play with going forward. The deserved to win.”

“This is the season we have been planning on for so many years,” said O’Connell, whose team lost to Ramsey in last year’s North Jersey Section 2 Group III championship game. “As soon as it came, we knew we had all the quality, all the chemistry, so I’m just so happy we were able to put it all together.”

Preziosi split a pair of defenders with a through-ball in the fourth minute and with a defender at his hip, O’Connell one-timed a shot over Middletown South goalkeeper Carson Perry for a 1-0 lead.

In the sixth minute, Preziosi won the ball against two Middletown South players and played it through to Julian Cuttita near the end-line on the left side. Cuttita put a shot on goal that Perry saved, but senior Jordan Hunt knocked the ball loose and delivered a pass to O’Connell, who buried a follow-up to the far-right side netting for the second goal in the first 5:42.

“All year, in the big games, we have come out with a certain level of intensity that most teams can’t handle,” O’Connell said. “As soon as we got one, it felt like another was coming immediately.”

Ramapo scored 55 seconds into its sectional final win over Ramsey on Nov. 15, less than four minutes into a Bergen County Tournament championship win over Bergen Catholic and in the 11th minute of its 3-0 win over Cranford in the Group III semifinal on Tuesday.

Middletown South avoided conceding a third Ramapo goal during a barrage that continued for seven more minutes, then used a fortunate bounce to climb right back in the game. Senior Jack Cohen blasted a 60-yard ball into the box than bounced in front of Ramapo senior goalkeeper Julian Lora and into the goal as Lora scrambled to adjust to the unexpected bounce.

The keeper miscue pulled Middletown South within 2-1 in the 19th minute and Middletown South played even with the Raiders over the final 20 minutes of the first half. Lora atoned for his error in the 37th minute, when he made a leaping save to the upper 90 on a 32-yard shot by Middletown South sophomore Luke Strukiewicz.

“Whatever side you’re on — up 2-1 or down 2-1 — it feels like the most dangerous score in soccer,” Riverso said. “Anything can turn on a dime. We were positive at halftime. We thought in the last 20 minutes of the second half, we had some good go at it. We thought we could open them up, especially after we settled down after the first two goals. Credit to them, they are a fantastic team.”

“Most of halftime was just about calm down, put it on the ground and get it back together,” O’Connell said. “After that goal, I feel like we were panicked a little bit. We started going long, losing possession and that’s not us.”

Ramapo earned the momentum back with a superb sequence in the 46th minute that ended with Cuttita playing a give-and-go with Hunt and slamming a left-footed shot off the far-left post and in for a 3-1 lead.

In the 59th, Preziosi missed a chance at his first goal of the game with a shot wide of the right post, but got a nearly identical chance three minutes later. On the second opportunity, Preziosi tracked a through-ball from O’Connell and tucked it to the far-right corner of the goal for Ramapo’s fourth goal and a commanding three-goal lead.

Preziosi then capped the scoring in the 70th with a 20-yard volley that cut through the crowd of players and found the back of the net to complete the second brace of the day for Ramapo.

Middletown South found itself with a chance at halftime with a one-goal deficit and momentum. Ramapo owned a 7-4 shot advantage, but Middletown South made up for that with a 3-0 edge on corner kicks. All seven of the Raiders’ first-half shots were on frame.

In the second half, Ramapo made it a one-sided affair by out-shooting Middletown South, 13-2, and did not allow Middletown South a second-half corner. Lora saved three shots, while Perry stopped seven for Middletown South.

Ramapo finishes its season with 21-1 with 15 shutouts and an 18-game winning streak.

Middletown South, meanwhile, ends a 17-4-1 campaign that included both the program’s first strip to the state final and first ever NJSIAA sectional championship. The Eagles had not trailed since a 2-1 win over Neptune on Sept. 25 and had not trailed by more than a goal since a 4-2 loss at Manasquan on Sept. 12. Middletown South entered Saturday on a 14-game unbeaten streak that extended back to a 1-0 loss to Wall on Sept. 22.

“We don’t look at a lot of stats, but we checked out YouTube and watched some of their games to try to find some advantages,” O’Connell said.

Senior Luke Strada and Connor Saul have carried the Middletown South offense through championship runs in both the Shore Conference Tournament and later in Group III. Strada posted five goals and five assists in tournament play, while Saul went for eight goals and one assist across the two tournaments. Prior to this season, Middletown South had never won a tournament championship of any kind.

“It’s obviously a great achievement for us,” said Riverso, who took over the program ahead of the 2021 season. “Today is not the day to tell them that, but this has been the culmination of what we have been building for four years and hopefully, we can keep getting better.”

Ramapo kept both Strada and Saul off the board on Saturday, which was just the second time in 10 postseason games in which neither Strada nor Saul logged a goal or an assist.

“We were really concerned,” Baumgarten said. “We saw them on film and were very concerned about (Strada). He is dangerous and they had other guys.”

Strada, Perry and Saturday’s goal-scorer, Cohen, are three of six seniors in Middletown South’s starting XI in the championship game, with defenders Brett Denery and Ryan Kapler and midfielder Joey Fielding also playing their final games. Senior Mason Petke also played significant minutes — both as a starter and off the bench — throughout the season and will be a key piece for the 2026 team to replace.

Saul, Strukiewicz, junior defenders Brody Illingworth and Charlie Welsh and junior midfielder Mason Pipercic will be the core returners who started on Saturday, with sophomore Liam DiStefano also due back in 2026, when the Eagles will try to build on the most decorated season in program history.

“We have some good players coming through and we’re hoping we can put together good seasons year-in and year-out,” Riverso said. “Not every season is going to be 17-3, but we’re always competing for something.”