ROBBINSVILLE — Max Goldberg may officially only be 5-foot-11, but he plays a lot bigger for the Robbinsville High varsity boys’ soccer team. The junior midfielder/back has been helping head coach Jeff Fisher’s Ravens at both ends of the field this fall. Goldberg’s production was especially critical Friday when he assisted on the winning goal, then helped the defense preserve its 13th shutout of the season as second-seeded R’ville held off fourth-seeded Delran, 1-0, in the final of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group II Central Tournament at the Steven J. Mayer Athletic Complex. With the win, the Ravens (19-1-3) move on to play at South Jersey champion Sterling Tuesday in the state semifinals. The 11-5-6 Silver Knights, who were fourth-seeded in the SJ II Tournament, defeated seventh-seeded Haddonfield, 1-0, Friday to earn the home field. The sectional crown was the third in a row for Robbinsville, which reached the Group III state final each of the last two years, winning it all in 2022. “This is a big moment for us,” said Goldberg, who was on the Group III state championship team as a freshman. “It has been an exciting year. We’ve proved a lot.” “It’s special,” Fisher said. “After all we’d accomplished the last two years, people were probably doubting us a little. But the guys have shown that they plan to keep the program on the rise.” Goldberg is at the heart of that growth plan. He came close to scoring in the first half, but his header off a corner kick banged off the crossbar. Following 46-plus scoreless minutes, Goldberg helped his team connect on a new play, which led to the rarest of goals. The Ravens got a throw-in deep in the Bears’ end. Leo Daniels, who was celebrating his 18th birthday, took the throw and led sophomore Chris Lewis. Lewis then flicked the ball to Goldberg in the center of the box. Goldberg, in turn, leaped and headed the ball forward, where senior Ethan Pagani also leaped to head it again. Pagani was near the post, and his shot went into the net with 33:01 left to play. “We’ve been working on that in practice,” Pagani said of his 13th goal of the year. “This is the time of year you work for set pieces,” Fisher said, “We don’t want our plays to get stale, especially against a team we’ve already played. So we added some new ones.” Pagani’s goal was crucial considering Delran (12-8-2) had put two goals in the net in the first half, only to have each disallowed because of an offside call. Head coach Tommy Orr’s club, which had been South Jersey Group II champion for nine years before being lifted into Central Jersey this season, kept getting dangerous drives from Nilmar Ferreira, Martim Marques and Daniel Kasprzak, only to see R’ville senior goalkeeper Brody Kaplan (eight saves) and his backline come up big time and again. There was some concern when Goldberg, who dealt with a knee injury earlier this season, had to leave the game with 14 minutes left after going down with a tender ankle after a late tackle. Worse yet, a minute later, the Ravens lost junior fullback Nico Mathews to his second yellow card, which forced the home team to play a man down for the final 13 minutes. Goldberg returned at that point, and though he was a bit hobbled, did not exit until the final horn. “Fisher has done a great job coaching us this year and plugging in guys where we need them,” Goldberg said. “The bond of this team is very good. We all want to help each other succeed.” With juniors Will Berdan and Justin Schreyer doing yeoman’s work to aid Goldberg and Daniels in the back, Robbinsville was able to hold off Delran. Kaplan made a point-blank save on Kasprzak with 3:15 remaining to keep the score frozen. Bears’ senior midfielder Matt Rocha then received his second yellow card with 1:25 to go to even the playing field once more. Delran (12-8-2)              0   0    —    0 Robbinsville(19-1-3)      0   1    —    1 Goal: Pagani (R); Assist: MGoldberg (R). Shots: 9 (D), 10 (R); Saves: Salvitti 7 (D), Kaplan 8 (R). PDS FALLS IN SHOOTOUT MOORESTOWN — The sixth-seeded Panthers kept the pressure on the top-seeded Foxes by scoring three times in the second half to get the game tied, 3-3, through two 10-minute overtime sessions in the NJSIAA Non-Public B South Tournament final. But Moorestown Friends returned to the state final by taking a penalty-kick shootout by a 3-0 score. Todd Devin tallied twice for Princeton Day School. PDS (8-13-1)                 0   3   0   0    —    3 MrstwnFrds(11-7-2)       1   2   0   0    —    3 (Moorestown Friends advances on pks, 3-0) Goals: Fullman, Devin 2 (PDS), Verma, Galanis, Schlotterbeck (MF); Assists: Liu Nowakoski, Nahas (PDS), McFadden, Verma, Galanis (MF). Shots: 12 (PDS), 12 (MF); Saves: Yakoby 9 (PDS), Anaya 6, McFadden 3 (MF).