HADDONFIELD -- The Delran High School boys soccer team knew all about the season Haddonfield was having when they entered their Group 2 quarterfinal match on Friday afternoon. They knew about the 15 shutouts the Bulldogs had completed and how they could score a lot of goals.

The Bears would not be denied on this day as they scored the lone goal of the game with just under 20 minutes remaining and never gave one up on the other end.

Sophomore Jeremy Rafanello took care of the scoring while his classmate Phillipe Alves recorded the shutout in only his second career varsity start in goal as the eighth-seeded Bears defeated the top-seeded Bulldawgs, 1-0.

Head coach Mike Otto credited his team’s success to the fact that a team like Haddonfield isn’t new to his squad and they know what they can accomplish on any given day.

“I think it just comes down to the schedule we play,” Otto said. “You look at our schedule all year, we duck nobody, we don’t hide behind our schedule. We are used to this type of competition. We are used to this type of team. I don’t think they were ready for us.

“Our game plan was we weren’t going to adjust for anybody. We just wanted to play the game we have been playing all year. We didn’t adjust to their team at all. We wanted them to adjust to us. I thought we did a great job today.”

One difference for Delran in this game was their goalie. Alves was in after an injury sent the Bears starting goalkeeper to the bench with stiches. Not one for words, Alves felt accomplished after the game, but also wanted to give his teammates some credit.

“It’s a huge honor I guess,” Alves said with a smile. “It was a situation where my team needed me and I was able to come through for them.

“The defense was amazing for me today. If it wasn’t for them I don’t know what I would have been able to do back there.”

Otto loved seeing Alves have success in only his second full game at the varsity level. He described his goalkeeper's game as wonderful and said he was very happy to see him have success.

Rafanello who scored on a pretty header halfway through the second half has been scoring goals for the Bears all year. He expects it of himself as does his coach.

“Jeremy is a sophomore, he’s young and come a long way this season,” Otto said. “He’s the type of player who knows how to put the ball in the net. He’s one of those natural strikers who always seems to come in those clutch situations and he did again today.”

“I knew Rudy (Engel) was trying to get the ball away from the big pack because he doesn’t like playing it there so I knew I had to separate myself,” Rafanello said of his goal. “I knew I had to flick that on just to beat the keeper. The keeper was very good, made some great saves against us, and I knew I had to beat him somehow.”

The sophomore saw this as a very impressive win for his team, and was very respectful of his counterparts from Haddonfield. He knew it wouldn’t be an easy game.

“We knew Haddonfield was a huge and great team,” Rafanello said. “We were coming in as an eight seed and they were the one. We were going to have to play our hardest and we needed to give it our all and we were able to do that.”

With the loss, Haddonfield’s season came to an abrupt end that very few saw coming. After going 18-1-1 during the season with their only loss coming October 23 in the South Jersey Coaches tournament to Eastern, the Bulldogs were not ready to see this day.

Head coach Ryan Nixon knows how good his team was this year and how good Delran has been through the years, and saw the difference in todays game as just one moment.

“Give credit to Delran they’re a great team,” Nixon said. “You look at the history books and we are the top two programs really in South Jersey at least amongst group two and group one schools. It was really just one play in the game that was the difference, otherwise a very even game.

“We were prepared to play, ready to go. As usual they were too. We’re a great team and so are they and unfortunately we came out on the wrong end this time.”

Although Nixon did not see his team go as far as he would have liked, there were a lot of great moments for his squad this season, and not all dealt with actual play on the field.

“For me as a coach, having played here and been through the program it’s almost like my motivation for success of this program is intrinsic,” Nixon added. “I try to think of what we do as bigger than just the game of soccer, something that Joe Falana taught me. You play with pride, play for each other and your town and school.

“This team was the best group of kids I’ve ever been around. They had the most recognizable character especially in big moments, just the best individual people that I have had the chance to coach, especially this senior group. It’s hard right now because I’m going to miss these kids a lot.”