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Triton's Hawk is tough on the ball, and tough with it
Triton's Hawk is tough on the ball, and tough with it
John A. LewisBurlington County Times
RUNNEMEDE – You can't help but notice Triton's Max Hawk, on a soccer pitch.
He literally looks like a man among boys. He's broad shouldered, bearded and dreadlocked. And those boys bounce off him ineffectually, when he has his mind set on winning the ball and shielding it.
The dreads are the product of 12 years of growth. There was a time when they were occasionally used as a weapon against him.
“I used to not tie them up,” he said. “And that caused some problems.”
There are no problems now. Hawk combines his physicality with surprising finesse on the ball. He's a beast -- but he's also a beauty.
“Max is a beast when he needs to be,” Triton coach Brian Ekstrom said. “He's developed well. He's big, he's strong; I think he's stronger than he was last year and I think he's got more patience with himself, which I think is going to be a huge help for him this year.”
Hawk had two goals Monday as the Mustangs, ranked 14th in the South Jersey Mean 15, overcame an early deficit to stop fifth-ranked Kingsway, 3-1.
As often happens, Hawk had an assist that was even more impressive. He chased down a long overhead pass while running stride for stride with a defender in the second half. He had no room to take it to the net, so he pushed it toward the end line, then sent a hard, rolling cross to the far post.
“I just went baseline and saw someone in the middle, so I squared it,” Hawk said.
Beytulla Ozbas was the man on the end of the pass. “He said he was going to cross it in, so I was like, all right, I'm just going to get it,” Ozbas said. “And it was a great cross. I just thought, Max saved the game.”
It actually needed saving twice. Triton keeper Joe Bilgic dived to his left to knock away Chris Spicer's penalty kick, after a takedown in the box in the 23rd minute.
The Dragons' Evan Martin finally found a way around Bilgic on a counterattack about seven minutes later, but the next foul put Hawk on the spot with 28:22 left in the game. “I've been working on PKs all through quarantine,” Hawk said. “I took the goalie out of the equation and just did what I've been doing.”
Ozbas' go-ahead goal came nine minutes later and Hawk scored the clincher in the final minute, off a cross from Ozbas. “It was a good pass,” he said. “It just dropped to me, I shot it and it went in.” It brought a good end to a great time, as far as Hawk was concerned.
“I love when games get physical,” he said. “That's where I feel like I shine the most. I feel like I can go shoulder to shoulder with anyone. Growing up, I was bigger than everyone, and people have been starting to catch up, so I'm in the gym, trying to get bigger and making sure I win whatever I can win, and go after everything.” Many teams have a player like that. But he's not usually the guy you're looking for to generate offense. Hawk has three goals and two assists in his first two games. “It's just years of going to the park every day,” he said. “Finishing, doing drills and stuff like that.”
John A. Lewis is a sports writer for the Burlington County Times and Courier Post. E-mail him at jlewis@thebct.com or follow on Twitter @JohnLewis19
Joe Bilgic, the @MustangAth keeper, with the PK save, but @Dragons_AD gets one in later on the counterattack. #halftimehighlight
https://twitter.com/i/status/1313219591435358208
Triton Keep Joe Bilgic More Than Just Athletic
Triton Keep Joe Bilgic More Than Just Athletic
Thursday’s 1-0 win over Clearview provided a good example. The Pioneers had some possession and earned some chances, but Bilgic seemed to be in the right spot every time. He was quick to the ball when he needed to be and bold, when it came time to wade out and claim it in traffic.
But a signature moment? A do-or-die circumstance where he had to dive to palm a shot away? It never came. That’s a result of reading the game well and being where he needed to be. “Athleticism bails me out, in the end game, if I have to make any crazy saves,” Bilgic said. There are now three clean sheets to his credit, and he did make a PK save against Kingsway last week. But that's an emergency measure.
“Joe means a lot to us,” said Beytulla Ozbas, who scored the only goal in Thursday’s game. “He’s really well rounded, and it’s been all clean sheets, mostly.”
The Mustangs are off to a 5-0 start. They were South Jersey Group 3 champions a year ago. Bilgic posted four straight shutouts in the sectional playoffs to help secure that status.
“He’s a wall. He’s great,” Triton coach Bryan Ekstrom said. “He’s becoming more and more vocal, which is great, so the defense knows what to expect. He’s growing. We talk to all of our keepers, to make sure they’re very loud and vocal. If they see the whole field, they should be able to direct the defense to where they need to be.”
It doesn’t come easy, though, Bilgic admits to not being a take-charge guy.“ I’ve always been a quiet person, so it was (hard), but after learning the game more, and learning how my players play made organizing them a lot easier, now that I’ve played the game more,” Bilgic said. “This is my second year starting.”
Before that, he was more of a winter sports guy. “For my 12th or 13th birthday, I went tubing in the Poconos,” he said. “I’d skated before that, so I said let me try snowboarding, and I thought that was really fun. I’m going to Colorado to go snowboarding again. Get in a lodge. It’ll be fun.”
It will also give him a chance to visit his aunt, Dylan Henson, who’s been one of his inspirations. “I want to study radiation therapy,” Bilgic said. “My aunt does it, helping out people in need. Sometimes in their last moments you have to comfort them. She thinks it’s really rewarding.”
For now, Bilgic is content to deny rewards from his spot between the sticks .“Now that I’m a senior, I’ve been playing with these guys for a couple years,” Bilgic said. “I’m more comfortable with the chemistry. We’re a lot more organized, we play really hard and in the end game, we always come through with the win.”
John A. Lewis is a sports writer for the Burlington County Times and Courier Post. E-mail him at jlewis@thebct.com or follow on Twitter @JohnLewis19. Please support local journalism with a subscription to the Courier Post.
NJ.com boys soccer final
NJ.com boys soccer final
Top 50 rankings for 2020
Top 50 rankings for 2020
26-Triton (13-0)
26-Triton (13-0)
Triton’s season came to an end prematurely on Nov. 10 following a win over Deptford because of a shutdown. Triton was the top team in the Tri-County Conference this season and was poised for a deep playoff run. Ryan Gale led an attack that scored 62 goals in 13 games with Gale accounting for 12 of them. Michael Donaghy had eight goals and a team-high eight assists.
Boys Soccer: Final conference rankings for 2020
Boys Soccer: Final conference rankings for 2020
TRI-COUNTY CONFERENCE
TRI-COUNTY CONFERENCE
1-Triton (13-0)
2-Schalick (10-4-1)
3-Pitman (14-1)
4-Kingsway (9-2-1)
5-Williamstown (7-5-2)
6-Clearview (8-4-1)
7-Gloucester Tech (7-4-2)
8-Palmyra (9-5)
9-Wildwood (10-5)
10-Glassboro (4-6-1)
26-Triton (13-0)
26-Triton (13-0)
Triton’s season came to an end prematurely on Nov. 10 following a win over Deptford because of a shutdown. Triton was the top team in the Tri-County Conference this season and was poised for a deep playoff run. Ryan Gale led an attack that scored 62 goals in 13 games with Gale accounting for 12 of them. Michael Donaghy had eight goals and a team-high eight assists.
TEAM OF THE YEAR
Every coach was bracing for the dreaded call this season that would inform him his team had to shut down for COVID-19 reasons. For Triton’s Bryan Ekstrom, it could not have come at a worse time.
“I got the call on the Sunday before the playoffs,” he said. “That’s how I started my day.”
The Mustangs were coming off a 13-0 regular season in which they captured their third straight Tri-County Conference-Liberty Division championship, also defeated every team in the Royal Division and outscored their opponents 62-6. They were seeded first in the South West D, Group 3 tournament and had a strong chance of claiming their second sectional title in a row.
As much as losing that opportunity hurt, Ekstrom had an important message for his players when he finally got to talk to them.
“We tried to be as positive as possible and explain that life throws you curveballs sometimes,” he said. “The boys worked really hard last year and earned a lot, and they were hoping to do even more this year. Obviously, things changed with COVID.
“But being seeded first for the South West was great. They were No. 1 in power points and went undefeated. Going undefeated in our division was a goal we set this year, but then we went and beat the upper division also. To have a 13-0 season, score 60-some goals and only allow six, you can’t ask for anything better than that.”
Triton has added South Jersey Times Team of the Year honors as well. Fresh off an 18-6 season in 2019 and the program’s first-ever sectional title, the Mustangs picked up right where they left off.
Ekstrom was impressed by their unselfishness, their high soccer IQ and the way they stayed focused on each game in front of them, never looking too far ahead.
“Teenagers need to know that every game is a battle and that they have to prepare for it, and they were prepared,” he said. “We did a lot of mental stuff this year that was team-oriented. We would break down the game we just played, talk about our plusses and minuses. A lot of the players last year, it was their first year of experience. Now they had a second year of varsity experience and they really stepped up. They played a lot smarter and they played a lot of games where they were possessing the ball more than the other team and putting the pressure on, which was a little bit different than last year.”
Senior captains Aiden Sommers, Mike Donaghy, Tyler Guadagno and Bobby Foster helped set the tone and the rest of the team followed their lead.
“We had four captains this year and they each brought something to the table,” Ekstrom said. “We had two captains on defense and two in the midfield, and we tried to stress that when you communicate with each other, you have to be positive. You can’t be negative. You have to break down a play real quick, and improve if you get that play again, and they did it. They talked to each other and supported each other.”
Offensively, Triton was paced by junior Ryan Gale, who had a team-high 12 goals and three assists. Donaghy added eight goals and eight assists, Guadagno and Brian Dividson scored seven goals apiece and Max Hawk and Beytullah Ozbas each found the back of the net six times.
That kind of balance made the Mustangs difficult to defend.
“We had 14 different players score goals this year,” Ekstrom said. “One of the coaches and I are hockey fans and we joked that we were rolling lines in there like a hockey team. ‘Here’s your seven minutes of soccer; work hard and come out.’ We did that with our strikers, we did that with our midfield and we did it with our defense. Players got lots of minutes this year.”
The defense was just as impressive. Senior goalie Joe Bilgic recorded seven shutouts and did not allow more than one goal in a game. The back line in front of him was paced by Sommers and Foster at center back, along with Bilgic’s twin brother Dan, Ryan Riddle, Jeremy Pfiffer and Nirjal Thapa contributing at outside back.
Put it all together and it was a great way for a remarkable group of seniors to end their high school careers. Even though they didn’t get to defend their sectional crown, it is clear that players like Sommers, Guadagno, Donaghy, Foster, the Bilgics and all the rest left their mark on the program.
“They set the plate last year. They set the goals that we could achieve as a team,” Ekstrom said. “Having all of those juniors come back as seniors this year, with their skill, their knowledge and their leadership and having them just talk about the game and figure things out, it was amazing to watch. It showed their growth as players and also their maturity.
“In all of my years of coaching – and I’ve been coaching high school ball since 2001 – this is probably the most well-rounded, hardest-working team that I’ve ever had. It’s going to be hard to come up with another group like these guys, who work as hard, are as team-oriented and understand the implications of each game and what they’re going to do in training during practice and during the offseason. I couldn’t be prouder of these boys.”
TRI-COUNTY CONFERENCE BOYS SOCCER YEAR IN REVIEW, 2020
TRI-COUNTY CONFERENCE BOYS SOCCER YEAR IN REVIEW, 2020
Team of the Year: Triton
Coming off last year’s remarkable run to the Group 3 semifinals, Triton was on track to compete for a sectional championship this season as it finished the regular season with a 13-0 record. However, Triton’s season came to an end prematurely following a 8-1 win over Deptford on Nov. 10 because of a shutdown due to the coronavirus.
The result was an unbeaten season and the No. 26 ranking in the state, but a season that probably leaves coach Bryan Ekstrom and his team a bit unfulfilled. Ryan Gale led the team with 12 goals this season and Michael Donaghy added eight goals and eight assists.
South Jersey Times boys soccer postseason honors, 2020
South Jersey Times boys soccer postseason honors, 2020
Joe Bilgic, Triton, Sr.
Bilgic has been one of the best goalkeepers in the area for the last two years and helped Triton post a 31-5 record over that span. He became more of a leader in his final campaign and was able to confidently direct the defense in front of him. He made more than 60 saves – including stopping a penalty kick in a win over Kingsway – and recorded seven clean sheets while allowing just six goals in 13 games.
Tyler Guadagno, Triton, Sr.
Guadagno started all four years of his career at Triton and was so explosive and creative that opponents often had to use two people to mark him. Being strong with both feet allowed him to finish from all over the field, but he was also an unselfish player who would gladly give up the ball to a teammate. A captain, he recorded seven goals and five assists this season to help the Mustangs capture their third straight Tri-County Liberty title.
Aiden Sommers, Triton, Sr.
A two-year captain and four-year varsity player, Sommers was the consummate leader for the Mustangs. He started his career as an offensive playmaker and was one of the team’s top scorers before shifting to center back in the middle of his junior season and leading Triton to the first sectional title in program history. He remained on defense this year as the Mustangs went 13-0. Possessing a top-notch soccer IQ, Sommers was also superb at initiating the offense and finished with four goals and three assists.
FIRST TEAM
MF-Ryan Gale, Triton, Jr.
SECOND TEAM
MF-Michael Donaghy, Triton, Sr.
THIRD TEAM
D-Aiden Sommers, Triton, Sr.
Boys Soccer: Final group rankings for 2020
Boys Soccer: Final group rankings for 2020
GROUP 3
GROUP 3
1-Montville (13-1-2)
2-Wall (17-0)
3-Triton (13-0)
4-Northern Highlands (7-2-2)
5-Millburn (7-3-1)
6-Moorestown (11-1-3)
7-Ramapo (9-1-1)
8-Northern Burlington (6-0-3)
9-Steinert (10-2-1)
10-Colts Neck (15-2)
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