Montclair Prep Runs Past Paraclete, 31-8

Hello, hello, is there anybody from the Inland Conference out there?

Montclair Prep calling. They’re the guys from the weak Alpha League, remember?

And they’re going to the Inland Conference title game next week.

The Mounties always believed they were going to the title game but, because of the paucity of competition in their league, nobody else did.

Riche Swinton rushed 23 times for 247 yards and two touchdowns to lead Montclair Prep to a 31-8 Inland Conference semifinal victory over Paraclete at Antelope Valley College Friday.

Ontario Christian could have warned Paraclete. The Mounties did nasty things to Ontario Christian last week with a 35-0 win.

Montclair Prep’s defense, wishing not to be overshadowed by a superb offense, stopped long Paraclete drives thrice, stifling a fine Spirits’ offense led by quarterback Allen Adams.

“I don’t think our defense played as well as it did last week,” Montclair Prep Coach John Hazelton said. “This team moved the football too well for us to play as well on defense as we did last week.”

Hazelton, perhaps, is a diplomat. The Mounties’ defense made the big plays, which are always good in big games.

After the Mounties couldn’t move on their first possession, Adams moved the Spirits to the Montclair Prep 12. Three plays and a sack by Wayne Nogosek later, Montclair Prep had the ball first and 10 at the Paraclete 20.

There wasn’t much of a decision to be made on the Mounties’ sideline: Swinton took the ball on the first play and ran 57 yards to put the Mounties on the Paraclete 23. Five plays later, quarterback Reggie Smith hit Robbie Briggs in the endzone. P.C. Shaw hit the PAT and it was 7-0.

“I noticed that they were stacking that side of the line every time,” Swinton said. “Luckily on that play the hole opened up and I got away.”

And Montclair Prep started getting away from Paraclete. Shaw hit his first field goal of the season in the second quarter to give the Mounties a 10-0 lead at intermission.

The second half was more of the first. Paraclete’s Adams led a big drive, evetually giving the Spirits the ball on the Montclair prep 29. But Holland Smith dropped Adams in the backfield, and Eric Treibatch intercepted Adams to again give Montclair the ball instead of kicking it to them.

The Mounties’ offense couldn’t do anything and Paraclete again got the ball, again drove almost the length of the field and again were stopped only a few yards from the goal line by Montclair Prep’s bullying defense and a punishing sack of Adams by Damion Bendaw.

That gave the Mounties a first and 10 on their own three. If you were the Montclair Prep coach and you were on the three, you might want to give the ball to Swinton. He has 24 touchdowns and 2,120 yards rushing this season, so you can’t blame Hazelton for giving the ball to Swinton on first down. He likes to think of such situations as first and goal from his own three. The senior honor student ran it 97 yards, leaving dazed Spirits in his wake, to put Montclair Prep up, 17-0.