This week in Montclair football history: Sept. 15-21
This week in 1998, junior RB Justin Ashe set what was then a Montclair single-game record for rushing yards with a 28-carry, 364-yard, 4-touchdown day in the Mounties’ 39-21 comeback win over Paramus.
As part of our mission to celebrate the past, present and future of Montclair High School football, each Wednesday we’ll be taking a look back at some of the notable moments, biggest wins, and most thrilling finishes in program history from each day that week in history.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2007 — Montclair opens its regular season with a hard-fought 8-2 win over Union in a defensive struggle. Tahron Green’s 3-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the first half, plus Marlon Calbi’s 2-point pass to Ryan Smith, provides all the Mountie scoring. Union gets on the board in the third quarter when a punt was snapped out of the end zone, but the Farmers could not manage to reach the end zone against a strong MHS defense.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2000 — Curiously, Montclair’s easy 34-7 victory over Barringer at Schools Stadium in Newark is the only game MHS has ever played on this date. Rikki Cook runs for 112 yards and 3 touchdowns, and also catches a 37-yard TD from Tyrone Griner, as the Mounties cruise to a 27-0 lead during the first three quarters.
SEPTEMBER 17, 2011 — Khalif Herbin puts on a show as Montclair rallies in the second half to knock off a tough West Orange squad, 48-24. The senior quarterback becomes the fifth player in program history to rush for 300+ yards in a single game (he finishes with 312 on 17 carries, averaging better than 18 yards per carry) and recording the second six-touchdown game in program history (Herbin had also done it in October 2010). And on that day, the Mounties also needed their speedster to escape a jam: trailing 24-21 in the third quarter, Herbin ran for touchdowns of 63, 35, 71, and 48 yards to ensure the win.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2010 — Almost exactly a year earlier, Herbin cemented his nickname, “Game Over,” by scoring a walk-off 14-yard touchdown run in overtime to defeat North Bergen, 26-20. It was the second straight game Herbin scored the game-winning TD on the final play of the game; he scored on a Hail Mary pass from Nate Crutchfield to beat Union City seven days earlier. Herbin scored on a 65-yard punt return and a 12-yard run earlier in the game as well. Michael Smith’s 68-yard touchdown pass to Marquis Salley put the Mounties ahead 20-14 in the fourth quarter, but North Bergen tied the score on a late touchdown run. MHS then blocked the Bruins’ PAT kick to force overtime and set up Herbin’s heroics.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1998 — Running back Justin Ashe makes Mountie history during a 39-21 win over Paramus at Woodman Field. His 364 yards (on 28 carries) sets a new school single-game rushing record, surpassing the mark previously set by Ira Williams in 1976 (323). This game is notable because it is also Montclair’s largest comeback victory ever: trailing by 15 points in the second quarter (21-6), the Mounties outscore Paramus 27-0 in the second half behind three Ashe TDs and a Hanif Suluki interception return. Ashe’s 364-yard game is still the second-highest rushing total in a game for MHS; only David Caldwell’s 389-yard game in October 2004 has surpassed it since.
SEPTEMBER 20, 1986 — Frank Cuozzo becomes the first MHS QB to throw for at least 200 yards in six years, posting an 18-for-31, 226-yard game in a 14-6 defeat against Bergen Catholic. The Mounties trailed 14-0 at halftime, but Cuzzo’s 17-yard scoring toss to Erwin Sampson gets them on the board midway through the third quarter.
SEPTEMBER 21, 1979 — The Mounties kick off their campaign with a 19-0 Friday afternoon victory over Irvington at Woodman Field in what was, at that point, the earliest season opener the Mounties had ever played. Chris Frasier puts MHS on the board in the second quarter with a five-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, and Steve Puryear (game-high 160 yards rushing) puts the game out of reach with a pair of one-yard TD plunges in the second and fourth quarters.