How an outsider crashed the party to reach the Bergen County boys lacrosse semifinals

HILLSDALE – There is something unusual happening in the Bergen County semifinals this year.

It's not the presence of Ridgewood, Don Bosco or Bergen Catholic – three traditional lacrosse powers with more titles and prestige than anyone else in the draw.

It's the arrival of Tenafly, the party crashers from outside the sport's top division. The varsity team that wasn't even around a decade ago. The one that lost by seven goals to Pascack Valley last month before flipping the script in the quarterfinals Tuesday.

"They always say don't compare yourself to other people," senior David Levine said. "But I think in lacrosse, it's fair to say that you have to look at things in comparison. When you see your name Tenafly next to these power programs, it's like, wow, we really created something here that was not here before."

Starting from scratch

In just a short time, Tenafly (11-3) has created something out of nothing under coach Eric Quaranti. He started the lacrosse program at Pascack Hills, then agreed to do the same at Tenafly in 2014 after being offered a PhysEd job.

Since then, Tenafly has made the Bergen County tournament six times while moving all the way up to the Jacobson Division. But until this season, the Tigers had only two county wins under their belt and none past the preliminary round.

Changing that history was a goal for this Tenafly team with a group of seniors who were part of the feeder program from the start.

"We had these intentions going into the year," said senior Cooper Roberts, whose team gets No. 1 seed Ridgewood on Thursday. "We all play together in the offseason. So this is really no surprise to us. Maybe to surrounding teams in Bergen County, but we knew this was coming."

Over the last decade, underdogs have not been welcome in the Bergen Final Four. The only team from outside the Gibbs to make it in that span was St. Joseph in 2019 – the final year before the Montvale school bumped up to the premier division.

For Tenafly, getting to this point has taken a collective effort. The Tigers can win games behind their faceoff play, the goaltending of Chris Piluso or an offense that's filled the net at 12 goals per game. Seemingly every loose ball winds up in the stick of Levine or senior Devin Knause.

The other ingredient is confidence. A one-goal win over Bergen Catholic last week helped ignite a five-game win streak.

"We had the whole town behind us that game and it just really showed what we can do," Roberts said. "Bergen Catholic has been to Final Fours and Bergen County championships since lacrosse was around in Bergen County. For us to beat them as a 10-year program really solidified us."

Righting the ship

Tenafly used that momentum to pull a five-over-four upset in Tuesday's quarterfinal, reversing a one-sided loss to Pascack Valley with a 15-7 win back in Hillsdale.

Everyone in the starting offense found the back of the net for the Tigers, led by Roberts and Wyatt Dabby with matching hat tricks.

The second quarter turned into a personal highlight-reel on defense. Tenafly had back-to-back pole goals in transition at one point, then held Pascack Valley without a shot during a full-minute, 6-on-4.

"We were here about a month ago and got kicked in the face," Roberts said. "We just came back and battled. We knew what we had to do."

"I told the guys before the game it's the opposite of last year," Quaranti said. "We were a young team that started off hot and then flaked off a little bit out of the end of last year. Now we're playing the best lacrosse we've played at the right time. When you have a senior-based team, you know it's about tournament time."

By the end, Quaranti had a good problem to have with no clear choice on who to give the game ball. While he deliberated with his assistants, a player handed a ball back to him to celebrate the historic victory.

"It feels nice to fight for something we've never had," Levine said. "It almost feels like you've got nothing to lose but we're here for a reason and we're not going to let it slip. We don't care who we're up against or how good they are. We can beat anybody who steps in front of us."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Tenafly boys lacrosse breaks through to reach Bergen County semifinals