West Morris 8 (13-6), Ramapo 7 (12-7)

Friday, June 1, 2007

John Williams produced three goals for the third time in four games and Jeremy Dowiak stopped nine shots to send West Morris, No. 18 in The Star-Ledger Top 20, to an 8-7 victory over No. 16 Ramapo for the NJSIAA/Star-Ledger Group 2 championship in Basking Ridge.

It was the first state title for West Morris (13-6), which had lost to Randolph in the Group 3 final in 2005. Ramapo (12-7) won its first crown last year in Group 2.

Brett Bonanno and Scott Thurber scored two goals each for West Morris, which fought back from a 5-2 deficit in the second half. It outscored Ramapo, 5-1, in the third quarter and then forged an 8-6 lead when Tyler Bernsten converted a pass by Evan Guarini two minutes into the fourth quarter.

Guarini was the hero of West Morris' 9-8 semifinal-round victory over Princeton on Tuesday, connecting on the game-winner with 16 seconds to play. Williams did not score that day though he had drilled in six goals total in his previous two games to help spark his team's late-season surge.

Tom Boswick collected two goals and two assists and Seamus Schofield had two goals and one assist for Ramapo.