Montville Wins a Family Affair

Mustangs gets 1st win, 14-0 over Pequannock
by Andew Sidebottom for MCHSS.net

Montville and Pequannock both opened up their conference schedule in Montville looking to bounce back from opening weeks loses. Montville came in needing to regain their swagger after six turnovers in their lost to Newark West Side, while Pequannock looked to give new coach Ed Kopp his first victory. Also, Montville needed a win to start off on their journey to repeat as conference champs. Coach Kopp is Coach Gerry Gallagher’s nephew-in-law so bragging rights at the holiday gatherings were at stake.

After the Montville defense stopped forced a punt, the Mustang offense drove for what turned out to be the deciding score, when Jim DelGrosso scored on a 9 yard run with 2:35 in the quarter and Eric Toporoff made the score 7-0 with the PAT. That drive was fueled by a 40 yard run by DelGrosso and a 14 yard reception on a 3-14 by Anthony Chierici on the down preceding the touchdown. The score remained 7-0 until the third quarter as both defenses controlled the line of scrimmage.

After the half, Montville extended their lead to 14-0 on their second drive of the half. The Mustangs were able to drive to the Golden Panther four yard line with the help of their new attack offense, where faced with a 4-goal, Coach Gallagher called the split end reverse to Chierici and he ran easily for the score at 1:35 and Toporoff’s second PAT of the day gave Montville a 14-0 lead. The Mustang defense dug in for the rest of the game only letting Pequannock in the Montville half of the field after an interception.

Montville's defense, seen here in a preseason scrimmage, recorded their 1st shut out of the season.

Montville ran for 167 yards and had 224 yards on offense for the day. Montville was lead by Toporoff with 67 yards on 22 carries and DelGrosso with 62 yards on 8 carries and a touchdown. Chierici caught three passes for 52 yards along with his touchdown run. On defense, Toporoff was all over the field recording 11 tackles and Phil Benevenga seemed unblockable logging 8 tackles and a sack. After the game Montville ran over to where they had buried and burned the game ball from last week’s shameful performance and stomped on it to show they had moved on. Montville moves on to face the Caldwell Chiefs on Thursday at 4 at Bonnel Field, while winless Pequannock and Butler face in Pequannock on Friday with 1 team getting a win.

________________ 1 2 3 4 - F
Pequannock (0-2) 0 0 0 0 - 00

Montville. (1-1) 7 0 7 0 - 14

Montville – Jum DelGrosso 9 yard run (Eric Toporoff kick)
Montville – Anthony Chierici 5 yard run (Eric Toporoff kick)