It was a motivational speech that might have saved the Montclair football season.
Down 10-0 at halftime in Livingston, the Mounties coaches went to work to get their charges going.
And the team, especially the offense, took it to heart.
The Mounties would score 21 unanswered points in the third quarter to take a controlling 21-10 lead and would never look back en route to a 31-17 victory in a North Jersey Super Football Conference Freedom White Division game on a blustery Thursday night, Sept. 22. The win evened their record at 2-2.
Junior quarterback Drew Pfeifer, who threw for one touchdown and ran for another, described the halftime discussion.
“They (the coaches) really came in and motivated us at halftime,” Pfeifer said. “We were really flat in the first half.” He noted that the team had only 49 total yards in that half.
But on the second play from scrimmage in the second half, Pfeifer rolled left and hit senior running back Samaj Adams in stride. Adams was able to get past the Livingston defensive backfield and sprinted 52 yards for a touchdown.
“It was a flat route,” Adams said. “I saw where the defenders were, and Drew rolled out, so I went down the sideline.”
In 25 seconds of the second half, it seemed the entire first half was wiped out. Montclair kicker Gage Hammonds hit the point after, and the Mounties were only down 10-7.
Montclair took advantage of the momentum on its second drive of the half.
Pfeifer this time had a long run for a touchdown, and it stayed on the scoreboard. Twice in the last two games, including in the first half of this game, he scrambled for a long touchdown, but both would be nullified because of penalties.
On the play, the quarterback scrambled toward the Montclair sideline, shrugged off a couple of tackles, sprinted 83 yards and was finally brought down just before the end zone, but he dove to cross the goal line. On the day Pfeifer ran 11 times for 142 yards and completed 4 of 15 passing attempts for 72 yards.
Hammonds kicked the point after, and in about five minutes Montclair had taken the lead, 14-10.
The Mounties would end their 21-point third quarter when Justin Bernal intercepted Livingston quarterback Aidan Healy’s pass in the middle of the field. Bernal would maneuver his way 35 yards for a touchdown. Hammonds kicked the point after for a 21-10 Mounties lead.
In the fourth quarter, Montclair pretty much put the game away as Adams would push his way for an 11-yard touchdown run. Hammonds’ point after made it 28-10, a minute into the quarter.
While Livingston would get a touchdown off a kickoff, the Montclair defense, led by seniors Nelson Claremont, Tylor Mcauley, Richard Fortune and Jahaad Williams and junior Kal Wilson, kept the Lancers’ top offensive producers, Healey and running backs Jaylen Dixon and Sam McNair, at bay.
Along with the four extra points, Hammonds showed why he is one of the top kickers in the state by hitting a 47-yard field goal in the fourth quarter that made it a 31-10 Montclair lead.
Montclair has another tough contest this week when it hosts East Orange on Oct. 1 at home at 2 p.m. While the Jaguars are 0-3 this season, they lost to three teams that only have one loss in total among them. East Orange went 13-0 last season, including defeating Montclair, 37-28, in the 2021 season opener.
Pfeifer said the key to defeating East Orange will be to follow what head coach Jermain Johnson and the coaches preach: to play in the game like they practice. “We have to have a great week of practice,” Pfeifer said.
Montclair Football Schedule
(Dates and times subject to change)
Oct. 1 East Orange, 2 p.m.
Oct. 8 at Irvington, 1 p.m.
Oct. 14 at Ridgewood, 6:30 p.m.
Oct. 21 Columbia, 1 p.m.