By Greg Mattura / Record Sports

BASKING RIDGE – Glen Rock made a powerful leap to the doorstep of its first state boys soccer title in program history.

Seniors Nick Rogers and Ben Zakowski each scored twice to pace the unbeaten Panthers to a 6-0 victory over Hackettstown in an NJSIAA Group 2 semifinal Tuesday night at Ridge High School.

“They amaze me every game,” Glen Rock coach Casey Schick said. “There’s always something different, or something new, that they pull out, and it’s like, ‘Where did that come from?’”

The Panthers (23-0-1) dominated play throughout and led at halftime, 2-0, with Rogers and Zakowski each capitalizing on corner kicks.

Rogers and Zakowski scored within three minutes of each other early in the second half, with Rogers tallying at 33:05 and Zakowski at 30:42. Wyatt Milbrodt scored at 11:16 and fellow senior Josh Kim closed the scoring at 8:04.

Glen Rock has enjoyed a tremendous season for a small school in Bergen County, winning its first county title, then last week’s North 1, Group 2 crown. Now, on to the Group 2 final.

“Again, all around, our team has been playing extremely well,” said Ben Zakowski, who has 27 goals this season. “We just want to keep up the intensity.”

Seniors Noah Beverin and Ben Bases combined on the shutout, with Bases playing the final 10 minutes. A defense that included senior sweeper Owen Corry and senior stopper Nick Zakowski limited Hackettstown (18-5-1) to just two serious scoring chances.

“Our defense is just playing really well right now,” Schick said, “keeping those zeroes up on the board, which makes it easy and able for our offensive players to get forward and attack a little bit more.”

What it means

Glen Rock advances to the Group 2 final on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Kean University and will face Holmdel (21-0-1). Holmdel topped Delran, 2-1, in the other semifinal. This will be Glen Rock’s third trip to the State final and first since 1991.

“Our school had never won a county title either and we finally did that this year for the first time,” Rogers said. “So the entire team is psyched for this game and I think we have a good chance to put it away.”

Key play

Rogers gave Glen Rock the always-important first goal. Rogers scored on a header at 23:58, via a left-to-right corner kick by junior Connor Daly. The Panthers earned their corner when junior Ryan McCarthy fired a low shot that skipped and Hackettstown goalie Vinny Coccaro could not control it and it deflected off him.

“It’s always big to score it first in a big game like this, because it obviously changes the rest of the game,” Rogers said. “It was good to finally put one away and get the lead, and then we took off.”

They said it

“It means everything,” Schick, a 2005 Glen Rock graduate, said of potentially winning a State title. “Like I was just telling them, it’s not about us, it’s about the town, it’s about the community we have, about our alumni and the future soccer players. All of that is our motivation to win a State title.”