Toms River North Boys Soccer Closes Out Fifth Straight Class A South Title

TOMS RIVER — Over the last five years, the Toms River North boys soccer team has established championship expectations, both within Shore Conference Class A South division and in the NJSIAA Group IV Tournament.

With games against Southern Regional and Central Regional two days apart this week, the Mariners had a chance to add to their half-decade run of division titles with a pair of good performances, but the two games meant much more than that, according to coach Joe Mahon.

With a division title on the line against two opponents that have the talent to challenge Toms River North, Mahon’s team was about to play a dry-run for the state tournament.

If Monday’s win at Southern and Wednesday’s win over Central — both 1-0 Mariner victories — are any indication, Toms River North is primed to challenge for its fourth NJSIAA sectional championship in six years, not to mention its first Shore Conference Tournament championship in 19 years.

“There is no easy game in this division,” Mahon said. “All the boys on these teams know each other, so every game feels like a rivalry game. Playing the teams we do out of conference — those are South Jersey Group IV caliber games. When you do that earlier in the season, you’re ready for weeks like this, which was also like a South Jersey Group IV week.

“These last two games could have been like a quarterfinal and semifinal in South Jersey Group IV. Central and Southern, either of those teams can win South Jersey Group IV, so this was a real test for our guys. That’s what we’re getting the guys prepared for. We knew they would take some lumps, but it’s going to prepare us for late October, when we want to be at our best.”

For now, Toms River North’s players will celebrate a second straight outright Class A South championship and fifth straight season in which the Mariners have won at least a share of the A South title. It is also the second time during this five-year run in which Toms River North posted a perfect record within the division.

“I think it’s the culture,” Mahon said. “Since we came into this program, the alumni come back, they play and they let the boys know what’s expected — the expectations and holding each other accountable. That’s the number one thing. There’s not much we’re doing as a coaching staff that is anything special; it’s just the alumni that runs this thing, and for the players who are here, they don’t want to let the guys from the past down.”

It took only two goals this week for the Mariners to pick up those two championship-clinching wins. Those goals came from their duo of forwards who complement one another with completely different styles — exemplified by the two goals they scored. At Southern, senior Cristian Caso controlled a pass from classmate Christian Assante out of the air, volleyed the ball to himself, spun around while the ball was still in the air and ripped a shot before it hit the ground for the game-winning goal in the 73rd minute.

“I’ve got a lot of faith in Cristian,” said fellow senior forward Josh Brazier. “He’s a great player. He’s one of the best in the Shore, so I’m going to let him do his thing and whenever I get open, I’ll do my thing. I let him take the reins, and I’ll finish anything he has for me.”

On Wednesday against Central, it was Brazier’s turn. He collected the ball on the left side of the 18-yard box in the 48th minute, powered through Central senior center fullback Devont King-Reilly and blasted a shot past junior goalkeeper Kaden Stout.

“That’s my boy Devont back there,” Brazier said. “I love Devont; I used to play with him on club, so it was good to have a match-up against him. That’s what I have been working on all offseason – getting bigger, getting stronger. I knew he was going to be strong, so I just had to use my body there. It’s all about finishing and that’s what I did.”

The power and finesse combination creates dilemmas for defenders like King-Reilly, widely regarded as one of the Shore’s best.

Josh Brazier bullies his way to a shot and gives Toms River North a 1-0 lead in the 48th. pic.twitter.com/kvY6h9cxsz

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) October 2, 2024

“Devont covers so much ground and he is good in the air,” Mahon said. “He is like Ed Reed from the Baltimore Ravens. He sits back there and gobbles up everything. But not too many guys around here work as hard as Caso. He’s got an edge to him and Josh is just a specimen. He is bigger and stronger than he thinks and we’re trying to teach him that. It’s a dynamic duo up there.”

“Being able to play dynamically with Caso to his feet with one-two’s, but then you also have the option of giving Josh a ball over the top,” Assante said. “He can go get it, everyone gets in the box, he crosses a ball and we can go head it in.”

Assante, junior teammate Brady Gillman, senior Frank Toledo, senior James Homyak and senior Mike Venagas were key in countering Central’s junior midfield trio to of Ilyas Ciltepe, Madden Leszczynski and Landon Kavanagh, which established control for Central during the first 10 minutes of the match.

“They are very intricate in their movement in the middle of the field,” Mahon said of Central. “A lot of one-two’s, a lot of one-touching. They play with three in the middle of the field, plus the two wing backs and their forwards are very dynamic as well. Sometimes they end up with five in the middle of the field just because they are so versatile. You have to be very disciplined and I think we did a pretty good job today.”

Central’s clean start generated its best change of the match, when Kavanagh hit sophomore Danny Palheta in stride with a through-ball to free him up for a 1-v.-1 opportunity on goal. Toms River North senior goalkeeper Alex Roman, however, smothered Palheta’s attempt.

Good start so far for both sides as far as creating chances. Closest call was this save by TRN GK Alex Roman on a 1-v-1 for Danny Palheta. Still 0-0 in the 18th. pic.twitter.com/X8ofv7u4Qh

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) October 2, 2024

Roman and sophomore Gavin Stryker have been splitting games and did so again on Wednesday to share in the shutout. Stryker also came up with a big save, making a diving stop of a top-of-the-18 rip by Central senior Jordan Benzon in the 71st minute.

“It’s a good competition between those two,” Mahon said. “They have been sharpening each other in practice and (assistant coach) Joe Swanton is doing a great job getting them ready in practice.”

After absorbing those first 10 minutes from Central, Toms River North and its midfield asserted itself as the first half progressed and maintained control of the game through the midway point of the second half before Central finally started to generate an attack once again.

“The goal is to just score,” Assante said. “We don’t want to give a team a chance to come back. We have struggled with that a few times this season. Against South, they came back and tied us, against East, we were up 3-0 and they scored two goals. Holding a lead isn’t our strongest quality so we want to keep adding.”

Toms River North’s sophomore-led defense, with Chris Ruggerio and Nico Pasnicu playing in the middle, kept Central’s potent attack off the board.

Despite sporting an unproven starting lineup to open the season, Mahon loaded up the front-end of his team’s schedule to prepare them for the postseason, during which the expectation is to seriously challenge for a championship. Toms River North’s first two games of 2024 were at Kearny — the 2023 Group IV runner-up — and at Lenape and the Mariners later took a trip to played reigning Shore Conference Tournament champion CBA.

All three matches were losses — the only three losses suffered by Toms River North this season — but those experiences sharpened the Mariners’ edges for October.

“Coach (Mahon) always says about this program: as the season goes on, we get better every game,” Assante said. “He scheduled us Kearny first game of the season. We got it handed to us, but there is no way we’re going to play a team better than that. We played Lenape, who is a really good team and we probably should have beat them.

“I think we’re definitely a top-five team in the Shore. I think we’re a little lower than we should be going into the season most years, but that’s just me. I take pride in the team. We went to CBA and it wasn’t our best performance, but we know we can play with them if we see them again.”