By Avinash Sabnani ’27
RAMSEY, NJ – The 2024 Don Bosco Prep soccer season has come to a close
The Don Bosco Prep Varsity Soccer team finished with the impressive record of 14-6-1 under Coach Casey Schick during his first season as Don Bosco Head Soccer Coach. The JV and Freshman squads also had a great season. The JV team finished 13-4-2 with an impressive run to the Bergen County Semi-Finals, where they lost in overtime. The Freshman team finished with a 10-7 record and were the 2024 Bergen County Freshman Champions. Along with Coach Schick moving up to Varsity, former JV Coach Kieran Walsh moved up to Varsity, and the program welcomed JV Coach James Lagunas and Freshman Coach Ferdinand Calderone.
2024 Varsity Squad
2024 JV Team
2024 Freshman Team
Regular season
Varsity
The Varsity team kicked off its season playing national soccer powerhouse and 2024 NJSIAA Non-Public A champions, St. Benedicts, at Hinchliffe Stadium in Newark. The Graybees were expected to deliver a shutout, but the Ironmen showed they could compete, playing hard and even scoring a goal in the second half.
Next, the Ironmen played their first home game against St. Joseph’s Regional High School. The Ironmen delivered their first 7-0 win to make a statement after their first loss. The Ironmen played Bergen Catholic twice during the season and battled hard to compete against their rivals, but ultimately were defeated.
As far as the rest of the season, Bosco dominated at home as the team shut out Paramus Catholic twice during the season. The Bosco team continued to dominate as they shut out Regis, Bergen Tech, Kellenberg, and Pascack Valley.
The Iromen played a tough game against Paramus High School, going to overtime and ending up tying 1-1. Bosco had a tough game against DePaul Catholic and ended regular time 1-1, but conceded in overtime to lose 2-1. The Ironmen wanted to redeem themselves as they reversed the score-line and beat DePaul 2-1 in their rematch later in the season.
On Senior Night, the 15 graduating Seniors and their families were celebrated in gratitude for all their contributions and efforts to the Ironmen Soccer Program. In the game against Northern Highlands after the ceremony, Bosco defeated Highlands 4-2.
The 15 Senior Soccer Players being celebrated on Senior Night
Photo Credit: Amy Ledlow
JV
The JV Team started its season off at Manville with a 7-0 win and a 3-0 win against St. Joe’s at home. The Ironmen then played two tough games against Bergen Catholic and Delbarton which would be their only losses before the County Tournament, where both teams scored very late second half goals. The JV team did not like the loss and continued on a winning campaign, beating Paramus Catholic and DePaul 7-0. Bosco traveled far to play Chaminade, one of the team’s strongest opponents, but was able to hold the defense and tied in a scoreless match. The Ironmen continued besting opponents in the regular season, defeating Northern Highlands, Bergen Tech, Paramus, and Pascack Valley. The Ironmen also beat Bergen and Delbarton in their rematches during the season, 2-1 in both games. The Ironmen concluded their regular season on a winning note, and the 2023 County Runners Up were ready to play in the 2024 County Tournament.
Freshman
The Freshman started their season strong with a 7-0 win against St. Joe’s. The Freshman team then struggled in their next few games against strong opponents Bergen Catholic, Delbarton, and Chaminade. After these losses, the Freshmen were ready to come back and started a winning streak, beating Northern Highlands, Bergen Tech, St. Joe’s, and Paramus. The Ironmen rematched the teams they lost to early in the season. They beat Bergen 3-0, but fell short against Delbarton. The Freshman had concluded a 6-5 regular season, but knew the score-line restarted and were ready for their first County Tournament.
County Tournament
The Varsity team had a great run in the Bergen County Tournament, reaching all the way to the Semifinals, where they fell to the ultimate victor, Ramapo.
The Varsity team started its run in the Bergen County Coaches Association Cup as the 18th seeding playing against 15th seeded Northern Valley Demarest. The game was intense, but the Ironmen were victorious after scoring in overtime to win 2-1. They continued to the next round as the underdogs going against defending Bergen County Champions, 2nd-seeded Ramsey. After a tied first half, the Ironmen scored again to upset the 2023 Champion and move on to play Rutherford. The Ironmen showed they were determined to compete in the tournament and delivered a 5-1 victory to play against the 2023 Co-Champion, Ramapo, in the Semifinals. At the Semifinals, Ramapo showed its strength, and the Ironmen fell to the ultimate victor of the tournament. Although the County Tournament didn’t end the way the Ironmen wanted, they looked forward to the State Tournament.
Junior Nick Okay heading the ball in the box
Photo Credit: Amy Ledlow
JV
The JV Team was seeded 2nd going into the tournament, and so they received a bye to practice and prepare. The Ironmen played their first game under the lights of the JV and Freshman Field against Waldwick, where they secured an early goal which got them the victory. Next, in the Quarterfinals, they played a tough game against Lyndhurst where both teams were unable to put a goal away. As the game wound down to the last minutes, the Ironmen were able to find the back of the net and secure their spot in the Semifinals. The JV squad played its rival Bergen Catholic and was ready to defeat the Crusaders, who had beat them in the 2023 JV Tournament Final. After Bergen scored an early goal, both teams kept battling until late in the second half when the Ironmen scored a late header to send the game to overtime. Just a few minutes into overtime, a questionable call was made to give Bergen a penalty which they were able to capitalize on and end the JV’s 2024 soccer season.
Freshman
The Freshman team went into the County Tournament seeded 5th, receiving a bye to the first round. In the second round, the Freshmen defeated Tenafly 3-0 to move on to the next round. In the third round, they knew they had a tough matchup as they played Ramapo at home, but emerged victorious, winning 3-2. In the Semifinals against 9th seeded Old Tappan, they proved themselves once again and got the win 1-0. The Don Bosco Freshman team had gotten the chance to play in the Bergen County Finals at Fort Lee against second-seeded Bergen Catholic. The Ironmen knew the game would be intense, and after trailing by one goal, they scored in the second half to come back and send the game into overtime. With a lot of support from the upperclassmen and fans, the Freshman scored a golden goal securing the 2024 Bergen County Freshman Tournament title.
Freshman celebrating their Championship
Photo Credit: Holly Smirnov
Varsity State Tournament
The DBP Varsity team started its state run in the North Non-Public A Division, making it all the way to the Quarterfinals and falling 2-0 to Delbarton, the second- seeded team. The seventh-seeded Ironmen kicked off the Non-Public A Tournament at home against tenth-seeded Newark Academy, and after a 0-0 in regulation and overtime they emerged victorious in a 4-3 penalty.
The Varsity celebrated with the student section after beating Newark Academy.
Photo Credit: Holly Smirnov
The Varsity traveled to Delbarton to compete and to advance in the North Non-Public Tournament. The Ironmen had fallen 1-0 to Delbarton in the 2023 Tournament and looked to emerge victorious in this rematch. Unfortunately, the Ironmen could not capitalize and fell 2-0 to end their 2024 season.
Awards
Below are some of the individual accolades for different Ironmen. There were even two Ironmen , the two All-County players, who represented Don Bosco Soccer at the Bergen County All-Star Game on November 27.
All-County
Sonny Nagle – 1st team
Griffin Bobnick – 3rd team
All-League (Big North United Division)
Griffin Bobnick -1st team
Harrison Carolan -1st team
Sonny Nagle -1st team
Brandon Alvarez – 2nd team
Kyle Koch – 2nd team
Maz Velez – 2nd team
Matthew Skinner – Honorable Mention
Scholar/Athlete Award: Griffin Bobnick
Unsung Hero Award: Gregory Celariste
Richard Zawacki Champions Award: Harrison Carolan
The Ironmen were celebrated at the end of the Season Banquet. The Don Bosco Soccer Program would like to thank Coach Casey Schick for his first season as Head Coach. The whole Soccer Program would also like to thank Coach Kieran Walsh, Coach James Lagunas, Coach Ferdinand Calderone, and the Director of Soccer Operations, Victor Ortiz, for their efforts in making the 2024 season successful.