Montclair Prep Overruns Fillmore

Say what you want about Montclair Prep--and there’s plenty to say--but the Mounties keep winning.

Friday night in a quarterfinal at Fillmore, Montclair Prep emphatically dispatched any doubters by pounding an overmatched Fillmore team, 35-8.

And if you had two guesses at who carried the victory?

Give yourself a prize if you named the ever-familiar Derek Sparks and Michael Jones, a 1-2 punch that packs a wallop that may be big enough to bowl over all of Division IX.

Sparks scored four touchdowns, giving him 35 for the year, and rushed for 156 yards in 28 carries. Jones, in 21 carries, gained 134 bruising yards, many of which were logged with several Flashes on his back.

Two of Sparks’ touchdowns were scored in just 38 seconds.

Still, it wasn’t until the third quarter--mighty late in Mountie Blowout Time--that this one was sealed. Holding a 14-0 halftime lead after a couple of big plays, the Mounties (12-0) went to their bread and butter in the second half. In an 80-yard drive, 79 yards were covered by Sparks and Jones, who then handed the scoring honors to quarterback Leland Sparks on a one-yard sneak to make it 21-0.

The defense had no trouble protecting that lead. Overlooked this year in the giant shadow cast by the dynamic running backs, the defense shined Friday night.

All told, the Flashes (10-2) netted just 181 yards--65 of those coming late in the game. Chad Van Winkle rumbled 51 yards to account for Fillmore’s only points with just 35 seconds left. Otherwise it was the Fillmore Samba all night--1, 2, 3--kick!

Montclair Prep Coach George Giannini took the win in stride, despite his team being just two wins away from its ultimate goal--a Southern Section title.

“The first half was real tough,” Giannini conceded. “In the second half, we really didn’t make any adjustments. We just went to Michael and Derek, Derek and Michael. Straight old football.”

The Mounties’ first-half scoring wasn’t classic Montclair Prep, but it did the job.

Montclair Prep showed its big-play ability in piecing together its two first-half scores. In a half in which Sparks was held to just 32 yards in 11 carries, the Mounties relied on a 54-yard burst by Jones in the first quarter to set up a two-yard Sparks run.

Without that run, Jones was held to 21 yards in eight carries.

With a 7-0 lead late in the first half, Leland Sparks rolled out from his 20 and threw a short pass to cousin Derek at the 25, for which the latter had to reach back at his hip to make a nice catch. Derek took the ball the remaining 75 yards on a nifty cutback run to make the score 14-0 with 1:29 left in the half.

“The play was designed for the flat,” Derek said. “But Leland said, if I pump it, break up. He pumped and . . . what can I say?”

Which is the attitude Montclair Prep’s coaches seemed to be taking. Some assistant coaches were gleeful in producing a pregame note in a newspaper that said that Fillmore could be the hardest-hitting team they have faced.

The attitude was more than gleeful, actually. It was quite taunting, almost angry.

Which is the stance, one would guess, a victor can claim.