Montclair Prep Romps to Victory Over Serrano

As impressive as its second half was, there was something about Montclair Prep’s 37-0 whipping of Serrano on Saturday night at Pierce College that seemed less than spectacular.

Perhaps it was the Mounties’ 2-0 lead at halftime. Maybe it was their glaring inability to pass the ball successfully. Or the distinct possibility that they were overzealous in their victory.

Montclair Prep, the top-ranked Division IX team and home to two of the Valley-area’s finer running backs, scored five touchdowns after halftime--four in the fourth quarter--to turn a potential upset into a runaway.

Michael Jones, who rushed for 1,514 yards as a junior, had 154 yards and three touchdowns in 27 carries for the Mounties, and running mate Derek Sparks added 89 yards and two touchdowns.

Sparks was the state’s sophomore player of the year last season at Banning.

Most of the Mounties’ yardage came after a dismal first half when Montclair Prep managed only 78 yards in total offense--they were also penalized 50 yards.

“I’m an angry man,” Montclair Prep Coach George Giannini said afterward. “We looked terrible in the first half.”

Perhaps, but not nearly as angry as Serrano Coach Gary Weiberg. As he saw it, too much of Montclair Prep’s yardage came too late in a contest that was already decided. For example, Sparks scored from 15 yards to make the score 37-0--with 17 seconds left.

And Jones scored on a 41-yard run with less than three minutes to play. That made the score 30-0 and made Weiberg angry.

“You keep your No. 1 tailback in the game when it’s 30-0 in the fourth quarter,” Weiberg said. “That’s not too classy. We’d like to play them again next year, if they’ll play us.”

Regardless, the Mounties finished with 286 total yards, all but four on the ground. Serrano was effective in the first half by clogging up the running game, but its defense wore down and eventually succumbed.

“We weren’t worried,” Jones said. “Everyone came together and did the job.”

When the offense wasn’t, the Mounties’ defense was doing its job. The Diamondbacks managed only 101 total yards and Montclair Prep intercepted three second-half passes.

“We got real predictable,” Giannini said. “We have to open it up a little bit. They had 10 men within three yards of the line of scrimmage.”