VIDEO: Late Middle goal ruled out as Cedar Creek hangs on to claim CAL National title

Posted: October 16th 2025

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – For a good portion of the second half of Wednesday evening’s game, the Middle Township HIgh School boys soccer team had a defeated look about it.

But after a fortunate bounce led to a goal, the Panthers appeared unstoppable.

In the end, however, Middle fell short in what served as the Cape-Atlantic National Conference title game as a late goal was ruled out due to an offside infraction. That allowed visiting Cedar Creek to hold on for a 2-1 victory, the Pirates (12-1-1 overall, 10-1-1 CAL National) extending their unbeaten streak to 11 games (10 wins, one draw).

“It’s tough to put into words how frustrating this is,” Middle coach Scott Kurkowski said. “I’m proud of how the guys played hard to the final whistle. We got a goal called back to where maybe we’re in overtime right now. But I’m proud of the group. They worked hard.”

The play in question occurred in the game’s dying moments. With less than two minutes remaining, Middle defender Ren Tomlin, at the end of a terrific, hard-charging run with the ball, sent a long shot toward goal from about 30 yards. The shot short-hopped in front of Cedar Creek goalkeeper Luis Santiago, who spilled the rebound into the path of Middle’s Angelo Panzini for an easy finish. The apparent equalizer sent Middle’s players into a euphoric celebration that quickly turned into frustration when all involved saw a raised flag from the assistant referee, who had ruled that Panzini was in an offside position when Tomlin’s original shot was taken. A video clip of the play taken by CapeAtlanticLive.com did not provide clarity on the decision.

Much earlier, Cedar Creek appeared on its way to a convincing victory. The Pirates opened the scoring midway through the first half when Elias Moradel converted a penalty kick after Middle was judged to have pulled down a Cedar Creek player in the penalty area as he was chasing a through ball.

The Pirates increased their advantage early in the second half when Mario Jacobo converted a pass from Jacob Freeman, who had dribbled across the left byline before cutting the ball back to his surprisingly unmarked teammate 10 yards from goal.

Cedar Creek went on to control play for quite a while following its second goal. But the tenor of the game quickly changed with a little more than 10 minutes to play when Middle was the recipient of an awkward bounce. A Pirate back who tried to deal with a shot from outside the box failed on his clearing chance, instead deflecting the ball toward Amine Cherifi, who didn’t miss from six yards. Cherifi was initially judged by the AR to be offside but the referee correctly overruled the call since the Pirate defender had deliberately played the ball.

“We were deflated when we got down 2-0,” Kurkowski said. “But I knew deep down we could get back in it if we could get something out of one of our dynamic guys, whether it was a good tackle, a good chance on goal or even a goal. Fortunately we got the goal and you saw how well we played after the goal. That’s part of being mentally tough.”

Even after Panzini’s potential equalizer was erased, Middle generated two more good chances. With 30 seconds remaining, a free kick taken by Middle goalkeeper Miles Stafford from 40 yards created angst for the Pirates, who cleared the ball over the byline. With Middle having all 11 of its players pushed forward for the ensuing corner kick, Cedar Creek was able to clear that chance just before the whistle sounded for full time.

Middle handed Cedar Creek its only loss to date through a 1-0 result back on Sept. 11. But the Panthers had previously stumbled to a conference loss to Bridgeton, which left Cedar Creek atop the conference following Wednesday’s result. Middle would have won the title with a win or a draw.

Despite the defeat, Middle (10-3, 10-2) has still qualified for the six-team CAL playoff tournament and will play at Ocean City on Friday. It’s a rematch from a game earlier this season that the Raiders won by a 1-0 scoreline.

“We’ve got to pick ourselves up the only way we know how at Middle, which is to put our heads down and get back to work,” Kurkowski said.