Southern celebrates its first ever Group IV championship. (Photo: Matt Manley)

Donnelly’s Two Goals Deliver Southern Boys Soccer Its First State Title

Matt Manley|November 24, 2024|Last Updated December 9, 2024

SOMERSET — Among the mottos that carried the Southern Regional boys soccer team to Sunday’s NJSIAA Group IV championship game vs. Scotch-Plains Fanwood at Franklin High School — the first state final in the history of the program — was “keep our heads down and keep working.”

With 2:47 remaining in the Sunday’s Group IV final, senior Aidan Donnelly knew he had worked enough. After burying his second goal of the match and 30th of his season, the final two minutes and change were a formality. He flung his shirt off, accepted the yellow card that came with the act and let his emotions go. For the first time in the history of Southern boys soccer, a season-ending, championship celebration was underway.

Donnelly capped a brilliant NJSIAA Tournament run for himself and his team with a championship-game brace and Southern downed Scotch Plains-Fanwood, 2-0, to capture its first ever state championship.

“When you get to that situation, the clock is going unbelievably slow,” Donnelly said. “Once the clock hits zeroes, it’s a feeling like no other. Once we got to the end of the season, we went through the coaching change, we realized we had to put everything else to the side and just get focused on states. It was strictly business for the last four weeks and now, we’re state champs.”

Southern is the first Shore Conference team to win the Group IV championship since Toms River South in 2009 and Donnelly’s 30th goal gives him the Shore Conference lead to close out the 2024 season.

Like all but one game during the six-game championship run by Southern, the Rams jumped out to an early lead and as was the case in Tuesday’s Group IV semifinal win over Princeton, it was Donnelly that got the scoring started. Junior Brody Nacarlo and Donnelly battled a host of Scotch Plains defenders inside the 18-yard box during the 13th minute and after a failed attempt at a clearance by the defense, Donnelly pounced on the loose ball and blasted a shot past Raiders goalkeeper Shawn Guzman from point-blank range.

“You’ve got to be physical in those situations,” Donnelly said. “Most goals come in the first five minutes and the last five minutes, so I think it’s important to come out strong looking for that first goal so you have that cushion throughout the game.”

“His footwork is very good, but his power is extraordinary,” Southern coach Guy Lockwood said of Donnelly. “His balance is great, and then his finishing touch is spot-on. He can hit 50, 60 percent of his shots onto frame, in a dangerous spot, where other players are at a lower percentage. He’s just that dangerous.”

Donnelly’s icebreaker ended a 12-minute feeling-out period for both sides and opened up the game to more offense. Scotch Plains-Fanwood did not have a shot prior to Donnelly’s goal, but came back with three quality chances in a span of 11 minutes.

“Every game during our six-game run has been our goal first,” Lockwood said. “It looked like we slipped from our game and Scotch Plains really started to put pressure on.”

The first Raiders opportunity was a breakaway for junior forward and leading scorer Jayvon Young, who chased down a long pass from freshman Anastasio Pavlou before Southern goalkeeper Ryan Schweigart denied his attempt by smothering his shot at a 19th goal of the season.

Pavlou later fired a shot wide of the far-left post and Young made another bid for a goal with a volley off a set piece that skipped wide of the far-right post as well.

Southern regained control of the match during the second half, with Schweigart shutting down his box and making one more save in the second half to go with his first-half stop of Young.

“We were ready for a defensive game,” senior center back Shane Holden said. “We knew they were going to play the ball up to (Young), so I knew I had to sit back. We just had to put the effort in and make sure they didn’t get any more chances than they did.”

On the other end, however, Southern was stuck on one shot for the first 62 minutes of the match. Donnelly ended that drought with a left-footed strike that sailed wide of the left post and classmate Jefferson Rubi Cruz later hit the Rams’ second shot-on-goal of the match, with Guzman securing the save.

“We settled down in the second half and were able to create a couple of chances, but not many,” Lockwood said. “But you know Donnelly. He doesn’t need more than two or three chances to score two goals in a game.”

Led by senior center back Shane Holden, Southern’s defense held Scotch Plains without any dangerous chances in the second half and in the final minutes of the game, Donnelly delivered the knockout blow. Senior Jonathon Mandell flipped a throw-in to Donnelly’s feet on the right side of the 18-yard box and after negotiating for some space amid a group of Raiders defenders, Donnelly belted another left-footed strike from nearly the same spot that he missed earlier. This time, however, he buried the shot to the left corner of the goal and unleashed his celebration with 2:47 left.

“The wind was a factor, so on the first one, I tried to hit it with power and it just didn’t work out,” Donnelly said. “On the second one, I saw the opportunity again and I knew I had to curl it in and that’s what I did.”

Southern held off the desperation effort by Scotch Plains-Fanwood to close out its second consecutive shutout after going four rounds without one to open the tournament. For as dominant as Southern’s goal-scoring attack was in its five prior games (19 goals), Scotch Plains-Fanwood bested the Rams with 23 goals in five games leading up to Sunday and no fewer than three in any of the five matches.

“We have been searching for a center back that matches my style and Nick Leiriao has been able to put in the effort, give us some man-marking ability and just do his job,” Holden said. “It has let me take more control of the back line and for everybody to just play how we play.”

“That back line came so into form for this state tournament,” Lockwood said. “Johnny Mandell, Leiriao, (Caden) Schweigart and Shane Holden have really done the job. We sat Shane Holden in a more stopper-sweeper role than we had going into the tournament. It was necessary today, when (Young) is getting behind you pretty quickly on the counter. They were fantastic. Two shutouts in the state semifinal and final, plus our goalkeeper’s performance. Just stellar.”

“I don’t think our back line gets enough credit,” Donnelly said. “The task they have had to take on, it’s unreal. They do a brilliant job.”

Donnelly scored two goals on three shots, which accounted for all but one of Southern’s shots in the game. Scotch Plains outshot Southern, 6-4, but Southern held a 3-2 edge in shots on goal.

“I told our guys, if we lead with our attack, instead of playing a defensive attack, we will outscore this team,” Lockwood said. “I just didn’t think it would be a shutout.”

Southern closed out its season on a nine-game winning streak, which coincided with Lockwood taking over for Rob Muñoz as acting head coach ahead of the Rams’ 3-0, regular-season win over Wall on Oct. 22. The Rams finished their season by beating a Scotch Plains-Fanwood side that lost just one prior game during the season and had allowed two goals in a single game just three times all season — although two of them came during the NJSIAA Tournament, including Tuesday vs. Ridgewood.

“There was some doubt going through the team, to be honest,” Donnelly said. “We just stuck together and look where we are now.”

“It was all about uniting as a group,” Lockwood said. “We needed to unite. It was collective across the whole program: players, coaches, families. We all came together and committed that we were going to support this group to the end and these boys were not getting to the end without each other.”

Southern celebrates its first ever Group IV championship. (Photo: Matt Manley) - Southern Group 4 Champs

Southern celebrates its first ever Group IV championship. (Photo: Matt Manley)

In all, Southern scored 21 goals in six NJSIAA Tournament games and Donnelly finished off nine of them. He entered Sunday one goal behind Colts Neck sophomore Sean Moore for the Shore Conference lead and passed the Cougars’ standout with the two goals that capped the greatest season in program history for Southern boys soccer.

“The thing that went through my mind is, ‘We did it,'” Donnelly said. “Two minutes left, two goals up, we knew they weren’t going to come back. Knowing that was it, the feeling was amazing.”

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