MHS Just 48 Minutes Away From State Title Game

Montclair football players know that they are just one victory away from the game that they have been hoping for since last year.

A Mounties victory on Saturday at home against West Orange in the semi-finals will not only give them a 10-0 record, but also a trip to MetLife Stadium and the Group 4 North 1 championship game in December.

There is a whole slew of Montclair players who remember last December's game during which the Mounties were defeated by Randolph, 19-0.

If Montclair defeats the Mountaineers on Saturday, Bloomfield on Thanksgiving Day, and either Union City or North Bergen in the state title game, it would be the first time that the school's football team would go 12-0 in its long, illustrious history.

"That is something to shoot for," said Montclair Head Coach John Fiore about going undefeated.

The Thanksgiving Day game is sponsored this year by Investors Bank, which will present the victorious team with the Investors Bank Cup. The school will keep the cup in their trophy case until the Bengals and the Mounties meet again in 2012.

But first and foremost is Saturday's game in Montclair.

Indeed, at 1 p.m., the Mounties will be going up against a familiar foe in West Orange (7-3) at Woodman Field.

Montclair defeated the Mountaineers on Sept. 27 to the tune of 48-24 in Montclair, but the Mounties were actually down 24-21 in the third quarter, one of the few times they were in this position this season.

For Fiore, all the talk of who played what and where in the past is mute.

"All we are worried about is to get to the Meadowlands," said Fiore. "We just have to win that one on Saturday."

In the first game between his Mounties and West Orange, Fiore admitted that the team did not play its best game on that day and finally woke up in the third quarter thanks to quarterback Khalif Herbin.

"We saw that we were making a lot of mistakes," said Fiore about the halftime talk and the adjustments. "And then Khalif took over."

Herbin would run for four of his touchdowns in the second half including a 72-yard scramble for a score to put away West Orange. On the day, Herbin would run for a career-best 299 rushing yards.

Since that game the Mountaineers have won seven games in a row.

For this season Herbin, a senior, has just continued to add to his Mounties resume that will surely not be forgotten for several years. The result was a first-round state playoff victory, 44-0, over Memorial of West New York.

With the six touchdowns against Memorial the senior signal caller scored his 37th touchdown which set an Essex County record for one season.

For Fiore he can go on and on about Herbin in terms of his football and being a player.

"He's one of the most coachable kids that I have had," said Fiore. "He's the best player in the state."

In the win over Memorial, Herbin ran for 165 yards and three touchdowns as the Mounties took control from the start and were ahead 44-0 at halftime.

Herbin does not only pass the ball and run the ball, he is one of the deadliest returns in the state. The senior returned two punts for touchdowns against Memorial including one for 67 yards.

Defensively, Montclair has Stephaun Marshall and Julian Pinnix-Odrick, who is going to play football at Rutgers University, leading the way in tackling. In addition, the Mounties defense is led by Tyrone El and Donte Bellamy.

The Montclair defense will look to do a better job against West Orange quarterback John Loehwing, who completed 23 of 46 pass attempts for 292 yards and a touchdown. While the Mountaineers top running back Lance Smith only ran for 70 yards against the Mounties defense, he has improved significantly since that time, running for 343 yards in the 34-0 win over Irvington on October 23.