Brearley wins first title since 2015
NORTH ARLINGTON — Thomas Pugliese has scored in each of the state tournament wins for Brearley and on Saturday night, Pugliese did it one more time. His goal gave the Bears a 2-1 lead over North Arlington during the North 2, Group 1 sectional final. Pugliese got so excited that he took his jersey off to celebrate and was awarded a yellow card for the celebration.
“I felt it,” said Pugliese. “Tears were coming out of my eyes. I knew it was mine.”
Pugliese knew what he was doing, but because there was no official time on the scoreboard, there was just one problem: there were still seven minutes left in regulation.
“I didn’t realize there was so much time left,” laughed Pugliese. “I thought there was maybe a minute left so that’s why I did it.”
The Bears tightened up defensively to have Pugliese’s tally stand up as the game-winner, a 2-1 victory that gave Brearley a championship for the first time since 2015.
“We’ve shared stories of our teams of the past and many of those guys from those previous teams were in the stands,” coach Vinny McGowan said. “In the locker room, I told them there are no more stories to tell. Go write your own.”
Moments after it went official, Brearley players could be heard saying “third time’s the charm.”
Two seasons ago, the Bears fell in the quarterfinals to Cedar Grove. Last season saw them reach the final, only to lose in penalty kicks to eventual Group 1 winner Glen Ridge. Overtime loomed over Brearley with a tie score before Pugliese’s strike.
“We were mindful of it, but each game has to stand on its own,” McGowan said. “At the end of the day, sometimes the ball is gonna go in and sometimes it’s not. Last year, it didn’t and it did for us today.”
The game was a scoreless first half and remained deadlocked until North Artlington struck in the 60th minute. Nick Stanzione’s header gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead. That lead would last less than two minutes as Rashon Thorne put in a goal of his own, his 12th of the season, to tie the game once again.
It wasn’t until the 73rd minute when Pugliese, who has six points in four state tournament games this fall, would connect with his 15th of the season and give the Bears the title.
Brearley now will face Mountain Lakes on Wednesday in the Group 1 semifinals. The Lakers beat Waldwick on Saturday for the program’s first sectional title since 1995. Brearley was the No. 6 seed in their bracket while Mountain Lakes was seeded No. 9, making the two teams the lowest remaining seeds in the state tournament.