WASHINGTON TWP. — Sister schools, off-season teammates playing against one another, an
under-the-lights atmosphere with a boisterous crowd—and a shiny new spoil awaiting the
winner. Each of these elements played a role in making the Tuesday, Sept. 19, Mendham-West
Morris Central boys soccer contest a match to remember.
But none compared to how the two teams played on the field. The Minutemen and Wolfpack
traded proverbial hits throughout the intense, emotionally charged evening, and the visitors
dealt the final blow.
Senior forward/midfielder Max Bziukiewicz scored both Mendham goals, including the game-
winner in dramatic fashion, as the Minutemen pulled off a 2-1 overtime victory over the
Wolfpack, capturing the inaugural West Morris Regional Cup.
Raul Gonzalez and Anthony Poliska, both seniors, added assists for Mendham. Senior Joey
Hahn scored his first goal of the season in a losing effort for West Morris, with classmate Ryan
Hahn assisting.
Long Night Ends Quickly
On the match’s decisive play, which came just 32 seconds into the first 10-minute extra period,
Bziukiewicz dribbled the ball in front of senior Jason Zacchia, just a few yards inside the sideline to the right of Wolfpack senior goalkeeper Owen Wormann. Zacchia stood his ground, not giving an inch. So Bziukiewicz hesitated for a moment then launched a curving shot that found the top left corner of the West Morris net, putting a surprisingly quick end to a thrilling match.
“I saw that he was flat-footed so I decided to take the shot,” Bziukiewicz said moments later, as
Maxine Nightingale’s 1976 hit, “Right Back Where We Started From” blared from a speaker on
the winners’ bench. “The battle of Central and Mendham is always big. So this was a great win.”
It took extra time to decide a winner because the two rivals battled each other up and down the
field for 80 minutes, alternating between groan-inducing offensive near-misses and defensive
gems. Time and time again a player would dribble through one or two opponents only to be
denied further entry.
The team’s goalkeepers, for example, turned away numerous scoring chances, such as when
Mendham’s Gonzalez fired a crossing shot that Wormann leaped to catch above a gaggle of
would-be scorers—or when West Morris senior Alex Cognetti broke free and sped in alone on
Minutemen junior goalkeeper Will Andrews, only to have the keeper slide forward to yank the
ball away just in time.
Bziukiewicz gave the Minutemen a 1-0 advantage at 9:42 of the first half when he took a header
pass from Gonzalez and banged a shot behind Wormann.
Fifty-three seconds into the second half, West Morris struck back. Taking the ball just outside
the box, with his back to the goal, Ferraro suddenly spun and shot in the same motion. His
attempt deflected off a Mendham defender and floated over Andrews’ head and into the top of
the net, sending the home fans into a frenzy.
Back-and-Forth Battle
From there, the match was a back-and-forth contest with both sides rising to the occasion to
stop scoring attempts, including one each in the final 90 seconds of the second half. They then
settled in for what promised to be a long overtime, until Bziukiewicz booming shot ended the
evening early, shocking both sides.
“This match always feels like we’re in the state tournament,” said West Morris head coach Steve Cukar, in his seventh season at the helm of the Wolfpack. “We always roll up our sleeves and play hard, every game. But this one is special.”
Third-year Mendham head coach Lindsay Schartner agreed.
“The nighttime atmosphere, the crowd, the importance of the game—they all made this a great
match,” she said. “Our boys haven’t faced an effort like West Morris gave us. They disrupted us
all night.”
That was the game plan, noted Cukar.
“We came out and played with speed, physicality and guts,” he said. “We were relentless.”
In the end, though, it was Mendham that captured the first West Morris Regional Cup.
“Steve and I have been talking about doing this year for years,” said Schartner. “Now it’s here,
and we get to take it home.”
In Further Action ...
Following the battle for the Cup, Mendham went on to lose for the first time this season, 2-1, at
home against Delbarton two days later, before shutting out Morris Hills on the road, 1-0, on
Saturday, Sept. 23.