Montclair Prep Outruns Desert in Second Half

When the respective captains from top-ranked Montclair Prep and Division IX playoff opponent Desert met at midfield before the second-half kickoff Saturday night at Pierce College, words were exchanged.

“You guys play some pretty good ball, but now we’ll see what’s up,” the Mountie captains told the visiting Scorpions.

And junior Derek Sparks made good on that promise, returning a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. Senior Michael Jones added a 65-yard touchdown run as Montclair Prep broke loose to post a 28-14 win and advance to the second round of the Southern Section playoffs.

“I’m so happy that we had problems with these guys in the first half,” Montclair Prep Coach George Giannini said. “We came into the locker room and, real calmly, discussed what we had to do. We were tested big-time and we responded great.”

Doing most of the responding was the tandem of Sparks and Jones, whose second-half heroics snapped a 7-7 tie. Jones, in particular, was outstanding, rushing for 207 yards and three touchdowns in 26 carries.

But it was Sparks’ kickoff return with 2:45 left in the third quarter that broke the back of Desert (7-4) and made the score 21-14.

“It was a major deflator,” Desert Coach LeRoy Matthews said of Sparks’ run. “If you had to point to a turning point, that was it.”

Certainly, it took such exploits to finally subdue Desert quarterback Pat Aument, who completed 15 of 31 passes for 234 yards.

The score was tied, 7-7, at halftime, the first time all season that Montclair Prep (11-0) went into the locker room without the lead.

Much of the credit had to go to Desert, which matched the Mounties hit for hit and yard for yard throughout the first two quarters and outgained the Mounties, 141 yards to 107.

Montclair Prep took a 7-0 lead when Jones capped a 71-yard drive with 8:26 left in the first half with a five-yard scoring run. Desert roared back with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Aument to Darryl Chevis with 4:24 left in the half.