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1996

(Derived from newspaper articles) Montclair High School’s football team entered the ’96 season with high hopes of

reaching the state playoff finals for the third season in a row. Led by squad captains, Tom Sudovar, Ron Cook, Shawn Plummer, and Damon Williams, the Mounties traveled to powerful St. Joseph’s of Montvale for the season opener. The Green Knights’ Coach, Tony Karcich, seemed to have his team totally prepared to dominate Montclair High School. The result was a tough 32-7 loss for Montclair.

The Mounties stormed back to do much the same to Paterson Eastside, dominating the Ghosts, 49-18. Shawn Plummer ran for 190 yards and three touchdowns. Fullback, Anthony Nesbit, lugged the pigskin for 150 yards and tallied three more. Anthony Perna picked up 100 and another TD.

The “Big Mo” (momentum) carried the Mounties in the home opener, upsetting Bergen Catholic, 27-19. After a scoreless first quarter, the Crusaders jumped out to a 12-0 lead, which they held at the half. The Mounties came out smokin’ in the second half, scoring 13 points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth. In the third, Plummer opened the scoring for Montclair High School with a two-yard burst. A 41-yd. sprint by Nesbit put the Mounties out in front, 13-12. Shawn Plummer scored two more times in the fourth quarter on a short run and a 22-yard pass from Junior QB, Brian Roth. This Mountie win snapped a five-game losing streak against BC.

In the wind and rain at Woodman the following Saturday, only about 150 “die-hard” fans witnessed Montclair’s 41-0 rout of Paterson Kennedy who came into the game at 2 & 1. Shawn Plummer scored three touchdowns while Anthony Nesbit crossed the goal line once. Tom Sudovar hauled in a pass from Roth for a TD and senior linebacker, Ron Cook, picked up a fumble and ran to pay dirt.

Over the past three years, Barringer has scored a total of 3 points while Montclair has accumulated 145. In a victory (of sorts) on a Saturday in Newark, Barringer scored 13 points. Montclair “edged” the Bears, 46-13. QB, Brian Roth, threw a pair of TD passes to David Tyree and to Jarred Granderson. Roth also scored on a quarterback sneak. Oh Yeah, can’t forget Plummer, he scored three TD’s – again! The JV’s played the whole second half. Said Coach Lebida, to the Montclair Times, “I like the intensity of our defense in the last few games, they’re playing very well as a unit right now.” Outside linebackers Ron Cook and Corey Bober and Cheo Johnson in the middle have been splendid. The secondary led by Plummer and Damon Williams on the corners and safeties Josh Liggins and Rob Dunneman are improving steadily Anthony Perna and two-way tackle George Stanley have been nursing injuries while out of the last two games.

Clifton and Montclair High School each had 4 & 1 records going into their clash on a Friday night at Clifton Schools Stadium. Each had lost the opener. A fumbled kickoff return by Montclair led to a Mustang TD and the Mounties found themselves behind on the scoreboard, 14-0 with 10:07 left in the first half. Plummer and the two Anthonys, Perna and Nesbit, took over from there to grind it out down to the one where Plummer took it in. After a missed extra point try, the teams went into the locker room at halftime with Clifton ahead, 14-6. In the third quarter, Nesbit scored on a beautiful 53-yard run. Plummer tied the score, 14-14, on a two-point conversion pass reception. The seesaw battle continued. Still in the third, an 87-yard kickoff return put Clifton ahead 20-14. Back from injury, junior fullback, Anthony Perna, perhaps made the play of his two-year varsity career when he took a handoff from

Roth on the Mountie 42 and darted his way through the Mustang’s defense for a 43-yd. gain down to the Clifton fifteen. There, Roth hooked up with Granderson, on a 14-yd. TD pass but the extra point attempt failed and the score remained knotted at 20-20. The game winner came with 48 seconds on the clock when QB, Brian Roth, sailed a 29-yd. TD pass to David Tyree. Montclair 26 – 20.

The Mounties came out flat the following Saturday against visiting Ridgewood. After a scoreless first quarter, Nesbit (who spent the whole first half observing from the bench in his street clothes, while resting a sore knee) scored a 25-yard TD in the third quarter, which was all of the scoring that day by both teams. Montclair High School, 6-0.

Another come from behind victory guaranteed the Mounties a third straight trip to the playoffs. Passaic held a 26-21 lead with 1:21 remaining in the third period, Montclair responded with a beautiful 16-yd. TD catch by Tyree. Roth gave the Mounties a 29-26 advantage when he found Sudovar for a successful two-point conversion pass. The Mounties sewed up the contest when Roth scored on a QB sneak. Montclair High School, 36-26.

Plainfield came to Woodman for the first playoff round. Montclair held a 19-6 lead at the half on TD’s by Nesbit and Granderson and Granderson again on a 23-yard pass reception from Roth. In the third quarter Nesbit took one in from the 17 and in the fourth Granderson scored his third TD on the afternoon when he recovered a fumble in the end zone. Montclair advanced, 32-12.

In yet another come from behind victory, Montclair defeated Bloomfield at home on Thanksgiving Day, 21-10. The Bengals held a 10-7 advantage at halftime but were blanked in the second half while Montclair scored in the third quarter on a blocked punt return and an exciting 78-yd. run, both by Plummer. In the second quarter Tyree hauled in a 51-yd. pass from Roth.

The TV cameras were on hand at Giants Stadium for the Group 4, Section 2 State Championship game between Montclair and Union. The Farmers were out to avenge the 22-0 playoff loss to the BIG Blue in ’94, and they did, in a way, this time, Montclair only beat them 20-0. Before 5,358 spectators, the Mounties rolled. Anthony Perna broke away for a 58-yd. TD and Brian Roth threw two TD passes. The Mountie defense excelled. Union Farmer frustrations came to a head in the fourth quarter when Unions Niimoi was thrown for a loss by Tyree, Cook and Bober. Niimoi came up punching. The benches cleared but cooler heads prevailed and action was continued to its inevitable conclusion. The State Champion Montclair Mounties went off to celebrate a glorious season after winning ten games in a row.

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