OCTOBER 13 – ORADELL, NJ –  This was not your average soccer game.  BC played against an inspired River Dell kettle.  Seniors Luke Lee and Riaan Vora each scored their first career goals to make all the difference in a crucial BCCA Second Round Game.  Luke Lee scored twenty-four minutes into the opening half and it provided all the scoring there would be until late in the second half.
     This game was going to be a battle as the Golden Hawks kept 10 men within 25 yards of their goal, making penetration of that space extraordinarily difficult.
     In the game's sixty-third minute a River Dell forward beat his defender to the ball.  Goalkeeper John Coleman was in between moving for the ball and retreating to get in the goal.  The ball was lofted over his head as he tried to make an over the head save.  Unfortunately for him, and the Crusaders, the ball sailed just a little too far and bounced into the goal, tying the score at one.
     BC attacked fiercely for the remaining time on the clock, especially the last 5 minutes in which Kyle Braithwaite just missed on a header and John Semelsberger got off a sideline free kick with 1 second left.
     Tensions rose as the teams played through the first overtime.  The visiting Hawks hoping for a euphoric victory.  The hosting Crusaders, deadly focused on accomplishing what would be needed to advance, one possession at a time.
     As time was running down in the second overtime, the Crusaders had an opportunity off a throw-in from the side by Semelsberger.  Riaan Vora headed the ball past the River Dell goalkeeper to secure the sudden-victory win for BC.
     The Crusaders advance to the quarterfinal round of the counties against the winner of #8 Northern Highlands and #9 Wallington.  The game will be played at Ramapo HS in Franklin Lakes.
 

TEAMS	1	2	OT1	OT2	FINAL
#16 RD (9-2)	0	1	0	0	1
#1 BC (11-0-2)	1	0	0	1	2

NOTES:

• BATTLE OF ORADELL:  The Crusaders lost the first game between the Oradell high schools in 1972.  Since then, they have won four straight, including the last three in the BCCA tournament.  All of these last three games have been decided by one goal.
• HISTORY OF THE ORADELL HIGH SCHOOLS:  Bergen Catholic actually opened its doors in 1955, a year before River Dell Regional HS, though classes were first held in Visitation School on Farview Avenue in Paramus.  River Dell opened in 1956 and BC first held classes in 1956 on the corner of Forest and Oradell.  Both schools graduated their first classes in the spring of 1959.
• BERGEN COUNTY COACHES ASSOCIATION TOURNAMENT HISTORY:  BC has played in five county finals since their inception in 1972.  BC's first title was under alumnus coach Hugh Beattie in 1985.  Coach Beattie's former player, alumnus Jim McGirr led the Alecko Eskandarian 1999 Crusaders to a county championship over Don Bosco Prep.  The Crusaders won a county title under BC alumnus coach Pete Berkanish in 2019.  BC also reached the county final in 2001, 2009, 2012 and 2025.