The end lasted an eternity.
The final nine seconds lingered for much longer. The referees, after a scrum landed some players in the penalty box, dawdled in restarting the game. A Westfield assistant coach yelled at the refs to resume play, perhaps angry at the protracted agony, perhaps simply venting his simmering frustration.
A ref finally placed the ball in a Ridgewood stick. The nine seconds drained away. The buzzer sounded. That was all. No. 3 seed Ridgewood had stormed into Gary Kehler Stadium and smothered No. 1 seed Westfield, thoroughly controlling the second half of this North, Group 4 sectional final and winning, 10-6.
The Maroons submerged the Blue Devils in the second half. The teams entered halftime locked at 5-5, much to the appreciation of a brimming crowd, but Ridgewood sustained possession in the second half. Westfield’s offensive opportunities grew fleeting.
“Quality offensive possessions, defensive stops,” said Mike Pounds, Ridgewood’s head coach. “That’s been our formula all year long, and when you do it against a team like that, that’s saying something. That’s probably the best job our offense has done with possessing the ball, I would say, all year.”
Ridgewood is a historically dominant program, now the owner of nine sectional titles since 2004. But the previous eight? They arrived in Group 3. Still impressive. Not quite the same.
So this marked a significant milestone for Ridgewood. The Maroons advanced to the Group 4 final. Cherokee awaits. The game is set for Friday, at 6 p.m., at Bridgewater-Raritan High School.
This also was Ridgewood’s second victory this season over Westfield. Earlier this season, the two teams locked horns, the duel rocketing into one overtime, two overtimes, three overtimes, four overtimes. The Maroons finally nabbed a goal to win, 7-6.
A Westfield win Tuesday would have erased that loss, rendered it moot.
“The ball kind of bounced their way,” said William Wertheimer, Westfield’s head coach. He mentioned “a couple weird calls,” but said, “We didn’t put the ball in the net a couple times when we had the opportunity, so just the little things that we needed to put together for victory, we didn’t.”
A unique atmosphere, a physically altered environment, added to the game some texture. An acrid smell punctured nostrils. Little particles stung the eyes. A yellowish hue infiltrated the sky, the sun struggling to shine wanly through.
Smoke. Borne on the wind. The remnants of a Canadian wildfire.
The smoke hovered as opportunities materialized in that crucial final quarter. Transition opportunities, decent looks, shots on target. But Ridgewood goalkeeper Matthew Roughgarden’s net stood unbothered. After one wasted chance, Ryan Waldman, the senior attackman, the Cornell commit, hopped in frustration, staring at the culpable teammate.
Waldman tugged Westfield’s offense through the rough patches. He scored 4 goals and had 1 assist and was just generally brilliant.
“Whenever Ryan has the ball,” said defenseman Trey Brown, “he just amazes me.”
Like the time Waldman scored Westfield’s lone second-half goal, scooping up a loose ball, twisting, falling, shooting, scoring. Like the time Waldman collected a nice feed and calmly stuck the ball in the top corner. Like the time Waldman dodged from X, faking left, going right, wrapping around, falling, scoring. Like the time Waldman turned and jumped and scored.
John McDonald and Danny Hazard scored Westfield’s other 2 goals, Hazard’s coming directly off a faceoff win.
But Ridgewood punished Westfield with a varied attack. Jack Frers scored 3 goals, Charlie Merrick and Myles McCutcheon scored 2 each, and three other Maroons scored.
“There was just a lot of time on defense,” Brown said. “And I think over time that just built up on us, and I thought we just needed to be more fluid throughout the game.”
Westfield also suffered from the absence of defenseman Michael Marshall, who collapsed to the turf in the first quarter clutching his hamstring. Marshall had, evidenced by the black tape wound around the hamstring, grappled earlier this season with a similar injury. Chasing a Ridgewood attacker, midway through a stride, Marshall collapsed onto the turf, face forward. He limped off the field and stood on the sideline, but never returned to the game.
The second quarter delivered a flurry of goals, the teams at one point combining for a dizzying 3 goals in 11 seconds. The stands shuddered to life after a methodical first quarter.
But at the end of the third quarter, Ridgewood led, 7-5. The Westfield bleachers stood relatively mute as the Blue Devils walked off the field. Ridgewood scored early in the fourth quarter, portending Westfield trouble, hope sputtering as the chances slipped by and the time slipped away.
And so it ended, the final nine seconds lingering, until the eternity faded and the buzzer sounded and Ridgewood had won and Westfield had lost.
