Montclair Prep Wins Title, 20-7

It was halftime at Kennedy High on Saturday night and tailback Eliel Swinton was in a funk.

His team, Montclair Prep, was tied with Village Christian in a game that would decide the Alpha League championship. But on his own scoreboard, Swinton charted himself a big loser.

“My brain was in another space,” Swinton said of a first half that included three fumbles and 31 yards in 12 carries. “I wasn’t mentally prepared in the first half. I just sat at my locker thinking.”

Here’s to the power of positive thinking. Swinton carried eight consecutive times on Montclair Prep’s first drive of the second half, marching the team 53 yards for the go-ahead touchdown in the Mounties’ 20-7 victory.

The win was the Mounties’ second in a row over Village Christian (6-2-1, 3-1 in league play), and gave them a leg up in a rivalry considered among the strongest in Southern Section Division X. Coming into the game, Village Christian and Montclair Prep were ranked second and third in the division.

Montclair Prep (6-3, 4-0) administered the final blow when Ed Cibrian took a reverse and galloped 43 yards for the game’s final touchdown with 3 minutes 32 seconds left in the third quarter.

All that was left was for the Montclair Prep defense to tighten the clamps on Village Christian for the final 12 minutes. The Mountie defense, which allowed 133 first-half yards, limited Village Christian to 60 in the final two quarters.

“The difference in the ballgame was their size just wearing us out,” Village Christian Coach Mike Plaisance said. “It was a case of size overcoming desire.”

To be sure, Village Christian came out fired up. The Crusaders scored the first touchdown when Mark Vail scrambled six yards--the final two yards through two Mountie defenders--in the first quarter. The run capped an 83-yard drive and swung momentum Village Christian’s way.

But things soured in the second quarter when Village Christian fumbled a punt and Montclair Prep recovered on the Crusader 31. Four plays later, Swinton scored from six yards on a fourth-and-one play with 8:38 left in the half.

“We talked about some assignments at halftime,” Montclair Prep Coach George Giannini said. “We just straightened some things out.”

Swinton did, too, gaining 106 of his 137 yards in the second half.