P.J. Ringel scored twice one day after his father passed away and helped Marlboro to a state tournament win over Colts Neck.
P.J. Ringel has become the face of one of the best boys soccer teams in New Jersey this fall, but on Monday, the Marlboro striker needed his teammates to help him through the toughest game of his life.
Ringel opted to play in Marlboro's first-round game in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 4 state tournament, just one day after the passing of his father.
Jack Ringel, a respected high school basketball coach, was killed in automobile accident Sunday morning.
As he has done all season for No. 8 Marlboro, Ringel delivered in a big way, scoring two goals, including the golden goal in overtime, to honor his father and guide the 3-seed Mustangs to a 3-2 win over Colts Neck. Marlboro will play in the quarterfinals Thursday against 6-seed North Brunswick at 3 p.m.
Colts Neck gave Marlboro the flexibility to move the game from Monday, and Marlboro coach Dave Santos and assistant coach Brian Nash extended that offer to the Ringel family after spending most of Sunday with them.
After mulling over the options, Ringel and his mother decided that the game should stay on Monday, and he would play.
"P.J. has done nothing but impress me throughout his career," Santos said. "I already held him in extremely high regard before Sunday morning. His maturity, his team-first attitude, his work rate, his character, he's just been an absolute joy to coach for the last three years. What's happened over the last 48 hours has only strengthened that feeling for him."
Ringel scored early and teammate Steven Karp added a goal to stake Marlboro to a 2-0 lead over it A-North rival, only to see Colts Neck rally back and score late in the second half to send the game to overtime. In a flash, Marlboro's outstanding season hung in the balance.
And that's when Ringel, to little surprise, sent home the game-winning goal in overtime -- with his weak foot.
Ringel scored goals No. 19 and 20 on the season in the win.
"It was emotionally-draining, no doubt," Santos said. "Most of us had tears in our eyes during the pregame ceremony. As you would imagine, it was a somber attitude in the pregame huddle and there certainly wasn't any rah-rah going on before the game. The game itself was a roller coaster ride of emotions. He scored early, which was so inspiring and the team had this tremendous elation.
"It was a hard speech after regulation to get the guys up. I kind of left it to them that we need to continue to fight for each other and if we fight for each other, good things will happen. That's what happened."
Ringel is better known as a basketball player. His father, a noted basketball coach throughout his life, had affected many by his work, which became evident with the outpouring of support from the basketball community on social media throughout the day on Monday.
Ringel coached at Grady High School in Brooklyn for 24 seasons, and was inducted into the New York state high school basketball Hall of Fame.
Just heard @pj_1311 scored the game winning goal for Marlboro in 1st rd of states. Jack is bragging about his boy to the angles tonight.
— Coach Mike Rice (@CoachMikeRice) October 31, 2016
Marlboro, which wore black arm bands during Monday's game to honor Ringel, will host sixth-seeded North Brunswick in the quarterfinals at 3 p.m. on Thursday. And with Ringel's family on its collective mind, there is even more motivation for Marlboro to get the job done now.
"That's certainly a part of it and our theme all year has been sticking together and that's never been more important than the last 48 hours," Santos said. "I think the kids were suitably inspired to play for each other and to shoot for this first-ever state title for the program and for the school before the weekend. You can argue we're that much more motivated now."
Brian Deakyne may be reached at bdeakyne@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianDeakyne. Like NJ.com High School Sports on Facebook.