Montville Football Falls in Opener

The Montville High School football team opened the season with a 28-7 loss to Mountain Lakes on Friday night.

For a second, full photo gallery from the game, head here.

The Lakers put together 22 unanswered points and shut out Montville in the second half to earn the triumph over its neighbor. Montville struggled at times offensively, with its only success on a 71-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback John Jespersen to give the Mustangs a 7-6 lead with 6:55 left in the first quarter.

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Total

Mt.Lakes (1-0)

14

7

0

7

28

Montville (0-1)

7

0

0

0

7

IN SHORT
It was a rough start for the Mustangs, which have implemented Jim Delaney’s new offensive and defensive systems. However, there were encouraging signs against Mountain Lakes, a game opponent which usually dominates its division and has played in its same successful style for decades.

Offensively, Montville had one touchdown called back in its opening series due to a penalty and showed spark by responding to a Mountain Lakes touchdown with Jespersen’s long distance run. Mountain Lakes took a 21-7 lead at the half and looked close to sealing it with a third-quarter drive but Joe De’Alesandro’s interception near the end zone gave Montville fresh energy. The contest wasn’t over until the Lakers recovered a Mustangs fumble midway through the fourth quarter and Tyler Batesko took it in from 11 yards out with 5:11 left to make it a 28-7 game.

MUSTANG OF THE GAME
John Jespersen, Quarterback—Learning a new system isn’t easy and something that looks as tricky and deceiving as the “Flexbone” is going to take awhile. Add in the pressure of opening day jitters and only a limited amount of varsity experience and a recipe for disaster could be there. All things considered, he did OK. His rushing touchdown early in the quarter answered a Herd score and gave the Mustangs life. Montville moved the ball at times and was competitive until midway through the fourth quarter.

TOP MUSTANG OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCES
PASSING: Jespersen (2 of 4 for 37 yards)
RUSHING: Jespersen (15 carries for 78 yards; one touchdown)
RECEIVING: Mike Abate (1 catch for 21 yards)

TOP MUSTANG DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCE
Joe DeAlesandro’s interception kept the Mustangs alive. Late in the third quarter Mountain Lakes had a seven-play drive going that started at midfield. On a first and 15 at the Montville 18-yard line, DeAlesandro picked off a Pete Breslauer pass at the 5-yard line and returned it to the 45. A Herd score would have given them a three TD advantage.

”He’s a great kid,’’ Delaney said. “He works hard. He’s the first one out in practice and the last one to leave. He’s very coachable. He’s only a junior but he’s a leader. You can’t say enough about him.’’

Montville’s defense also blocked a first-quarter extra point. The Mustangs stopped the Herd on downs to end a long drive to start the third quarter with the help of a David Liebowitz sack. They also had a fumble recovery by Gerry Czyzewski, which gave Montville a chance to score before the first half ended but Travis Feather’s 32-yard field goal attempt sailed wide.

TOUGH OPPONENT
Pete Breslauer (Mountain Lakes quarterback): Breslauer does a good job of finding his receivers and they usually get good yardage for him. He found Ethan Lubowicz for a six-yard score and Max Boerstoel for a 74-yard TD toss. He finished 6 of 14 for 142 yards. A close second was Herd back Tyler Batesko who rushed for 114 yards on 21 carries.

THEY SAID IT
"We put a good half of defense together and we put a good half of offense together. ... We have to execute (on offense). We have to play a little bit lower. We have to play a little bit faster. We have kids out there that want to be good and that’s important. We’re going to look at the film evaluate and try to get a little bit better each week."–Montville head coach Jim Delaney

Up Next—Vernon next Friday at Vernon, 7 p.m.