Boys’ soccer team to face Pompton Lakes Saturday
By: Sean Moylan
Bordentown’s Taylor Martucci was literally a marked man in Tuesday night’s NJSIAA Group I state semifinal boys’ soccer game versus Palmyra at Tom’s River North High School.
Yet it was Martucci who ended up making his mark in Bordentown history by scoring all three goals in the Scotties’ 3-1 win over the Panthers. For the first time since 1986, Bordentown will play for a Group I state title when it takes on the North I champs Pompton Lakes at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon at Hillsborough High School.
"Martucci had a hat trick. The turf seemed to agree with him," said Mike Brennan, the very happy head coach of the Scotties. "The turf field was beautiful."
Brennan’s Scotties have plenty of speed and athleticism so when they get a chance to play on a fast, expansive field, it’s a treat. Consequently, Bordentown treated its fans to some great soccer on Tuesday evening.
It didn’t start off well for the Scotties, though, as Jason Lewis tallied his 25th goal of the season to stake the Panthers to 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the contest. Yet the 2005 Scotties are known for staying composed under fire. And 25 minutes into the first half, track standout Steve "Turbo" Turgyan made a key steal and cranked his engines to full blast to get the ball to Martucci, who banged in his first goal.
With five minutes to go in the opening half, it would be another Bordentown track star, Chris Phipps, who made a big play to find Bordentown’s magic man for a crucial go-ahead goal.
"The second goal was a pretty goal, but that was all Chris Phipps (on the setup)," remarked Brennan.
Phipps won a ball, dribbled about 25 yards through traffic before delivering a long pass to Martucci, who faked out his man to score the goal.
Six minutes and sixteen seconds into the second half, Bordentown added an insurance goal to its lead when the Scotties’ master technician Scott Conover took the ball up the left side and delivered a sweet pass right to Martucci’s feet. And, of course, the Scotties’ all-time leading goal scorer (Martucci has 65 career goals) scored.
"When you get Scotty (Conover) on turf, he’s very dangerous. He was beating his man consistently," said Brennan.
Blessed with incredible strength and cat-like quickness, Martucci was unstoppable once he got the ball near the goalie’s box. The Panthers thought they had an answer to Martucci in talented Jason Lewis, but after he tallied the initial goal of the game, Jesse Harrison and Dean Kreiser took turns covering him like a blanket the rest of the way. In fact, Palmyra only took four shots all game long as Joey Eckelmann, Chris Mallet, Mike Brown, Kreiser and Turgyan played terrific defense throughout the contest. Bordentown goalie C.J. Dixon made three saves to earn the win. Bordentown had 12 shots on goal.
"C.J. (Dixon) ran his box very well and that’s all we had asked him to do," said Brennan, who is a former college goalie himself.
The Scotties never play that "kick and shoot" style one often finds in Group I high school soccer. In fact, they play more of college style where they work the ball from the back with crisp passing and good decision making. But, of course, the ultimate goal is always to find an open Martucci in or near the box.
"He (Martucci) has 23 goals and counting," said Brennan, who has grown to expect great things out of his sensational senior striker, who now has eight playoff goals.
No one can accuse the fifth-seeded Scotties of taking the easy way to the championship game. They opened with a 5-1 victory over the New Egypt, a four seed. Then the Scotties defeated top-seeded Highland Park, 1-0, and they beat a second-seeded Point Pleasant Beach club, 2-1, to take the Central Jersey Group I title game. And, of course, they beat South Jersey’s top-ranked Panthers to qualify for the championship game against the North I’s highest ranked team, Pompton Lakes.
The 11-7-3 Scotties have played all of their playoff games on the road but that doesn’t matter because they’ve learned to treat every field as their home.
"As much as tonight (Tuesday) is great. Come tomorrow it’s back to work," said Brennan, who refuses to lose his focus this late in the game. "It feels like we have to win one more game to achieve our goals."
BHS 2, PPB1
By never playing "emotional and sloppy" soccer, the Bordentown Regional High School boys’ soccer squad was able come away with its first NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I title ever with a 2-1 victory at Point Pleasant Beach on Friday afternoon.
Once again, the Scotties coolest customer under pressure was senior forward Taylor Martucci, who blew right through Point Pleasant’s double and triple teams to tally a pair of magnificent first-half goals.
The Scotties had previously won a South Jersey Group I in 2000 and a state title in 1986, but Friday’s championship was special because Central Jersey is known for its extremely talented soccer programs. In fact, many of South Jersey’s toughest teams have made the move to Central Jersey in recent years.
Bordentown likes to come out with a strong flurry to take the other team out of the game early and Friday’s game was no exception as Martucci converted a Scott Conover pass into a score five and a half minutes into the contest.
"Taylor (Martucci) continues to be clutch and he seems to rise to every occasion," said Mike Brennan , who has also rose to every occasion, in this his first season as the Scotties’ head coach.
This year Brennan introduced a style of play which calls for his players to become even more calm and focused as the pressure mounts in a game. For the 2005 Scotties, emotion can only lead to failure. So when Point Pleasant’s swift superstar Sean Farrell banged in a goal a few minutes after Martucci’s first goal, the Scotties never panicked. They just became even more focused in what they were doing as a team.
"He (Farrell) was definitely the fastest kid we’ve played against all year. But we play a flat back four so we’re never chasing him around with just one player," said Brennan.
In fact, Bordentown’s defense (Chris Mallet, Joe Eckelmann, Mike Brown and Dean Kreiser) did a nice job of directing Farrell from one defender to another. And by the end of the first half, they were leaving him no clear openings to the goal. Meanwhile, Point Pleasant was trying to mark Martucci with various one-on one open field match-ups which played right into the Scotties’ hands as the Scotties’ senior striker broke through with the go-ahead goal with 26:59 remaining in the opening half.
"When you mark him (Martucci) all over the field you turn every 50-50 ball into a foot race. And Taylor is going to win every foot race because he’s quick. His second (goal) was on a foot race," Brennan remarked.
Holding a goal lead, the Scotties met every desperate attack by Point Pleasant’s offense with composure and skill.
"I wish I could take all emotion out of the game. But I told them to do things with intensity and counter intelligently," said Brennan, who got a strong game out of goalie C.J. Dixon, who made 8 saves as Point Pleasant finished with 10 shots. Bordentown only took a half a dozen shots in the game, but that didn’t matter because this contest was all about holding a lead and winning a championship and not about piling up stats. "C.J. played well. He did what he needed to do."
When asked after the contest what its like to win a title Brennan responded, "It feels good. But I don’t want to reflect on that right now."
Like all good coaches, Brennan has realized that the most important game is always the next one.

