History Halted: Ranney’s Best Boys Soccer Season Ends with State Final Loss to MKA

SOMERSET — For the first time in the history of its program Sunday, the Ranney boys soccer team played in the NJSIAA Non-Public B championship game and earned that opportunity by steamrolling three outmatched opponents in the South Jersey bracket.

In Sunday’s final, the Panthers went from facing outclassed opponents to the class of New Jersey, as Ranney found out with the first two minutes of the Non-Public B final.

Montclair Kimberley Academy — ranked No. 10 in the state by NJ Advance Media — closed out their first state-title run in 13 years with a convincing 5-0 win over Ranney at Franklin High School Sunday, ending Ranney’s deepest run ever into the NJSIAA Tournament.

“That’s probably one of the better teams that we saw,” Ranney coach Donny Gray said. “The goal coming in was to keep it as close as we could. Obviously, we tried and we kept it around two or three to nothing, but credit to that team. They are very good, they’ve got some talented players — the ten, the nine, the goalkeeper is phenomenal. I know (MKA coach) Rob Leather from working with him in the pass, so I knew they were going to be well-coached. I just think it’s one of those situations where they were the better team and they deserved the result.”

After outscoring three South Jersey Non-Public B opponents by a combined score of 13-0, Ranney ran into one of the state’s best sides and one that was coming off a come-from-behind win over Gill St. Bernard’s on penalty kicks. Prior to MKA’s championship victory, Gill St. Bernard’s had won the last six Non-Public B championships and also handed Ranney a 6-0 loss in the Panthers’ 2025 season-opener.

Ranney, meanwhile, coasted to a 4-0 victory over Princeton Day Thursday to capture their first ever sectional championship, with senior Eddie Magherini scoring two-goals and becoming the program’s single-season leader in goals scored with 29.

“This was like playing with house money,” Gray said of reaching the state final after winning division and sectional titles. “We got over the milestone and made history to get into the sectionals and win it. It was big enough for the school, big enough for the players and this was just kind of a one-off game to see if we could maybe keep it close and put them in an uncomfortable situation. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen but I am more than pleased with my kids.”

On Sunday, MKA immediately put Ranney on its collective heels, starting with the first of two first-half goals by junior C.J. Dike. Dike scored in the second minute of the game off a near-post cross from senior teammate Nick Carrascosa, who later scored two goals of his own in the second half.

MKA strikes quick, with CJ Dike finishing a cross from CJ Carrascosa in the 2nd minute. Ranney in an early 1-0 hole. pic.twitter.com/GCxuzasPTe

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) November 16, 2025

Ranney evaded conceding a second goal within the opening flurry from MKA, which included a quick-reaction save by Panthers senior goalkeeper Jake Nagy, but MKA cracked the Panthers defense again in the 19th minute. Sophomore Matias Liermann kept the play near the end-line alive by forcing a save by Nagy, then Gus Rosen collected the rebound and slammed in the Cougars’ second goal of the half.

Dike capped the first-half scoring with a header on a corner kick from Thomas Hunt in the 35th minute.

With its championship hopes hanging by a thread, Ranney’s defense kept MKA off the scoreboard for the first 29:59 of the second half, but could not mount enough of an attack to cut into the lead. The Panthers’ defensive efforts finally hit a snag in the 70th minute, when Carrascosa went down in the box to draw a penalty in the 70th minute. Carrascosa finished off the play by converting the penalty kick for a 4-0 MKA lead.

“I said, ‘No matter what, we fight and we keep going,'” Gray said. “Just keep playing and we did that, but once we gave up the fourth goal, that was the deflating one. The penalty was the killer, we don’t need to talk about the call, but it is what it is. I’m super proud of the way my kids kept playing in the second half.”

Carrascosa added one more goal in the 78th when he knocked in a through-ball from junior Soloman Lucas.

Magherini finishes the season with 29 goals and 11 assists to close out his standout four-year career that included 51 goals. Over the last two seasons, Magherini has racked up 42 goals and 20 assists for a Ranney team that 25-15-3 during that same span.

Sunday’s game caps Ranney’s most accomplished season in program history, during which the Panthers won their first outright Shore Conference division title and the program’s first ever NJSIAA sectional championship. Ranney went 6-0 in Class B Central division play, then dominated the South Jersey Non-Public B bracket.

This season was the ninth of Gray’s tenure as head coach at Ranney and during his near-decade at the helm, Ranney has gradually improved leading up to this season. Taking the next step by becoming a team that threatens in the deep rounds of the Shore Conference Tournament and can hang closer with teams like MKA and Gill St. Bernard’s will be challenging in 2026 with key seniors graduating, but Gray is optimistic Ranney is headed in that direction.

Ranney will miss the services of not only senior Magherini and Nagy, but also center midfielder Tyler Yang, center fullback Alex Lennon and outside back Jack Fallon.

“We got over that one pinnacle,” Gray said. “Can we know, reach this one. Now we have something else to strive for, which is to be overall state champions. I think it’s going to be a little bit tougher now that we move up in rankings and move out of the (Shore Conference Class) B Central. The road won’t be as easy, but I think we’ll be up for the challenge over the next few years.”