Montclair Football: Mounties roll over Bloomfield, 48-0 — Rapid Reaction
by Andrew Garda
garda@montclairlocal.news
BLOOMFIELD — After a disappointing loss to Seton Hall Prep on Oct. 12, the Montclair Mounties needed to get back on track if they were going to make a run at a playoff spot this season.
They more than accomplished that on Friday night, as they scored early and often to defeat Bloomfield High School (0-7, 0-6 SFC) 48-0 on Oct. 18.
The Mounties (3-4, 2-4 SFC) kicked things off by scoring on their very first play from the line of scrimmage, a touchdown run on a jet-sweep by Donovin Bell.
Less than 30 seconds had elapsed in the game.
Montclair's defense immediately shut down the Bengals' offense, but MHS couldn't move the ball on their next drive, stalling out in the Bloomfield end.
The two teams would trade punts until junior running back Jordan Diggs broke off a 58-yard run to score his first of two touchdowns on the night. Before the end of the evening, Diggs would cross the 1,000 yard mark for the season.
Bloomfield continued to find no room to run against a Mounties defensive front which seemed bent on re-establishing their bona fides by manhandling the Bengals at every turn.
Meanwhile Diggs broke off another 50-plus yard touchdown run to make it 20-0. That was followed by a wild play where quarterback Michael Robinson threw the ball up for receiver Anthony Jackson. Bracketed by a pair of defenders, Jackson had to fight for the ball, which resulted in it popping back up in the air. Jackson kept focus and caught the ball on it's way to the turf, then broke for the end zone.
He likely wouldn't have reached it had it not been for senior tight end Shawn Collins throwing a tremendous block to clear the way for his teammate.
During the next series, Diggs had a chance to catch his breath as Jordan Williams showed his athleticism and speed getting to the outside and making defenders miss on his way to a touchdown, improving the Mounties lead to 41-0.
At that point the Mounties pulled most of the starters and key personnel off the field to avoid injury, and the get some minutes and experience for the younger players. Jackson scored his second touchdown of the evening with a nice run up the middle tat saw him dodging defenders and crossing the goal line untouched.
Bloomfield got one more shot to erase the shutout, even calling a timeout with six seconds left to try and score, but the Mounties backup defense did a good job of shutting the pass down, and the Mounties left Foley Field with a big win.
Now Montclair will turn its attention to next Friday and the game at Livingston High School, which has a game against an injury depleted East Orange squad on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 2:30. The Lancers' (2-4, 2-4 SFC) wins came against the same winless Bloomfield team Montclair just beat up on as well as an undermanned East Side team which is also still seeking its first win.
However, the Mounties can ill-afford to look past Livingston if they want to gain a playoff spot. It won't matter if they beat Irvington at Woodman on Nov. 2 if they lose to Livingston next week and miss the playoffs.
For complete coverage of the game including quotes from head coach John Fiore, as well as Jordan Diggs, Shawn Collins, and Anthony Jackson, check out the print edition of the Montclair Local as well as this website later this week.