Montclair Prep Creed Calls for Zero Tolerance

Montclair Prep has racked up seven shutouts this season.

With one more, Montclair Prep’s season would be perfect, and not just because the Mounties would remain unbeaten.

Montclair Prep (13-0) plays in the Southern Section Division XII championship game at 7:30 tonight at Valley College against defending champion Paraclete (12-1), which is 3-0 against the Mounties the previous two seasons.

“That was our whole goal of the year, to beat Paraclete and win the championship,” said free safety Jason Spratt, a 5-foot-6, 155-pound junior affectionately known as “The Virus.”

“I’m small and deadly,” said Spratt, the team’s leading tackler. “It’s all about hard-nosed football.”

Paraclete defeated Montclair Prep, 35-34, in the Division XII quarterfinals last season. The Mounties also lost to the Spirits in regular-season games last season, 30-22, and in 1998, 19-6.

“We want to get our revenge,” Spratt said.

For help, the Mounties will turn to their defense, a new, complex system installed by Reggie Smith Jr., son of the former major leaguer and a veteran Montclair Prep assistant in his first season as defensive coordinator.

The set, which Smith calls “a customized 46,” is fashioned after the scheme employed in the mid-1980s by defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan of the Super Bowl-champion Chicago Bears.

Ever-changing stunts and aggressive zone blitzes are used to confuse an offense. Quick feet and quick thinking are required.

“The main thing is, we have to concentrate,” said senior cornerback Deron Smith, a four-year varsity starter who plans recruiting trips to Colorado State, Weber State and Utah State. “We all know our positions and we know what each other is going to do, but we change things as we go.”

The Mounties focus on stuffing the run with a front line that includes tackles Delroy Parke (6-3, 295) and Travis Russ (5-11, 190), nose guard Matt Jacobs (6-0, 290) and defensive end Jamaal Allen (6-3, 225). The group has stopped opponents in their tracks, allowing an average of only 63.8 yards rushing per game.

They pressure the quarterback with linebackers Marques Franco (6-0, 225), a freshman, Robert Lewis (6-4, 195), a sophomore, and Brandon Berry (6-0, 210), a senior.

Speedy cornerbacks Smith, who is no relation to the coach, and Gary Sonkur, and safeties Spratt and Justin Goss cut opponents off at the pass. The Mounties have intercepted 24 passes, eight by Sonkur and seven by Goss, and are allowing 88.3 yards passing per game.

“We do it all,” Coach Smith said. “Our players can adjust. They have to be able to read offenses and think on the fly. Our defense is about 90% mental.”

There has been plenty of heads-up plays this season.

Montclair Prep, making its first appearance in a championship game since winning the Division X title with a 53-13 victory over Orange Lutheran in 1994, has surrendered a region-low 152.1 yards per game.

The Mounties have outscored opponents, 607-66, including a 164-6 margin in three playoff games.

A freelance team, the Mounties have to look far and wide for opponents, and they benefit from often playing overmatched teams.

But Montclair Prep players don’t believe a soft schedule should take away from their hard-hitting play.

“We go hard anyway,” Goss said. “That’s all we can do, and we’ve got this whole mind-set that we’re going to go undefeated.”

The Mounties’ defense has gotten into the offensive act, combining with special teams to outscore opponents, 91-66.

Points have been produced on five interception returns, two fumble returns, four punt returns and two blocked punts.

“Everybody gets to the ball. We’re all going after it, all the time, so everybody makes more plays,” said Parke, who is planning recruiting trips to Colorado State and Nevada Las Vegas.

Montclair Prep defenders come at opponents from all angles.

“I promise you, these guys bring it,” said Kilpatrick co-Coach Scott Faer, whose team lost to Montclair Prep, 50-0, and to Paraclete, 51-6, during the regular season. “It gets confusing. First, you think there’s going to be someone there, and then they’re not. I swear to you, they looked like [a] Pac-10 [team]. I just couldn’t believe what was happening in front of me.”

There is a method to the frenetic, mad-dash defense.

With only 25 players, Montclair Prep makes a point of getting off the field as quickly as possible to minimize fatigue, and the defense’s exploits frequently shorten the field for the offense.

The Mounties will need a strong all-around effort against an experienced Paraclete squad that is going for its fourth consecutive section title.

“Every game, all of our players have been going as hard as they can,” Deron Smith said. “We made it this far. Now we need just to do what we’ve been doing all year.”