Just about everyone can point to a pivotal moment in their life. For some, that moment is a success. A point in one’s life where they have reached an apex. Where they have traveled so far up, the thought of coming down seems impossible.
Not everyone is as lucky. Some moments end in failure. A potentially soul-shattering loss that gets placed on the shoulders of, well, the loser.
Matt Stanmyre knows what it feels like to be one of the losers. Growing up in Virginia, Stanmyre, now an award-winning sports reporter, was obsessed with basketball and played throughout his youth and eventually into high school. In his junior year, Stanmyre and his team made it to the Virginia state championship game.
After being down 22 points at halftime, Stanmyre and his team made a ferocious comeback. With only a few seconds on the clock, Stanmyre’s team trailed by just two points with the ball in their hands. This was their moment, this was Stanmyre’s moment.
Had they made that last shot it would have been the largest comeback in Virginia State championship basketball history. Unfortunately, the last shot was missed and Stanmyre and his team lost.
While the initial loss stung, over time Stanmyre began to see his loss as beneficial.
“I told the story to friends I met in college about how I lost that game. It just felt so much richer that it was almost a comeback. We were right there on the cusp of history and we fell short. I remember feeling it sucked that we lost the game, but it makes for a better story because the pain of losing is so much deeper and richer than the joy of winning. I think there’s so many more layers to losing than there is to winning, emotionally speaking. That really sparked my fascination with losers, because I was one.” Stanmyre said.
Stanmyre’s interest in losers and the impact of a big loss led him to become a journalist. When he eventually moved from Virginia to Montclair, New Jersey, he had a goal in mind.
“I wanted to find the biggest loss, the craziest and most heartbreaking loss in New Jersey history,” Stanmyre said.
Montclair’s Iconic Loss of A Lifetime
This goal led him to a football game in December 1990 between the Montclair Mounties and the Randolph Rams. A state championship game between two of the best high school football teams in the entire state of New Jersey, attended by roughly 13,000 fans.
Stanmyre wrote a definitive article about the game in 2019. Then, he started getting a lot of positive feedback, including being contacted by production companies to take the story to the next level. Stanmyre, alongside Campside Media, Entertainment One, and XTR Ultimately transformed the story into a podcast.
“Lights Out” is an eight-part podcast series taking an in depth look at the 1990 game between Montclair and Randolph and the impact it had. The series debuted September 12. Two episodes have been released; remaining episodes are set to be released weekly on Tuesdays. Stanmyre believes the story has legs.
“We are very hopeful this will become something else after the podcast,” Stanmyre said, adding that there are preliminary discussions about turning. it into a docu-series or a documentary.
“Lights Out” takes the unique perspective of the Montclair Mounties who were strong favorites against Randolph. The Mounties would go on to lose the game in a rather mysterious fashion. This loss devastated the community and just about every single player, coach and fan involved with the team.
It was a loss so heartbreaking, it still weighs on the minds of those who were involved over 30 years later. The podcast features the voices of people who were directly involved, including some of the iconic players, and shares the lore and long legacy of Montclair football.
“People still have trouble letting go of it till this day.” Stanmyre said. “They really don’t believe they lost. They believe mistakes were made in the final seconds that stole this game from them.”
Moving past any loss is difficult, particularly one placed on the shoulders of a young athlete. For Stanmyre, his loss came in the form of an almost. For the Montclair Mounties, their loss was a what-if. Telling the story of another loss helped heal Stanmyre’s own experience with losing.
“It’s a deeply personal story for me.” Stanmyre said. “Not only do I have my own personal loss but I lived in Montclair for eight years when I moved to New Jersey from Virginia. The fact that I’ve been able to work on this story has been incredibly rewarding and gratifying. I just hope the listeners enjoy the story as much as I’ve enjoyed reporting it.”
“Lights Out” is available on iTunes, Apple podcasts, Spotify, and Google podcasts.
Late in the game, as the temperature dropped, the sun hidden by gray clouds began to set behind the home bleachers. It was like a portent of things to come. At the final gun, we lingered for a while, hopeful that somehow the score would reflect a victory for the home team based on a technicality that would nullify that final fateful play. This was not to be. Like the rest of the Mountie fanbase, I exited Woodman Field heartbroken that rueful December day in 1990. It was like filing out of a public funeral en masse. To lose the state championship in that way was unfathomable. It was the only field goal Randolph’s Mike Groh attempted that season. The post mortem discussion at Ray’s lasted for weeks.
And Mike Groh, who made that kick, is now the wide receivers coach for the New York Giants.