MONTGOMERY WILDCATS – SUNDAY 10/7 GAMES

MONTGOMERY MIDGETS

The Montgomery Wildcats Midgets played their best game of the season in a closely fought battle with the Maplewood South-Orange Packers. In the first quarter, the Packers got on the scoreboard first with a 43 yard run, but missed the extra point. During the second quarter, the Wildcats defense came to life with strong tackling performances by Thomas Smith, Alec Mikrut, Brian Papsin, and Franky Aguilar. Seconds before the end of the first half, the Packers drove to the Wildcats 1 yard line, but were unable to score after a great defensive team effort led by Michelino Sferra, Ian Gorman, Mikrut, and Kyle Stevens, forcing a fumble at the 1 yard line, that Billy Eldridge recovered seconds before the half, keeping the margin at 6-0 at the half.

After a Wildcats offensive drive stalled at the beginning of the third quarter, the Wildcats were forced to punt near midfield, with Eldridge punting the ball inside the Packers 20 yard line. Exceptional punt team coverage kept the Packers from returning the punt for any yardage, starting their offensive series deep in their own territory. After solid defensive play from Eldridge, Smith and company, the Packers chose to punt on fourth down from their own 8 yard line. Strong Wildcat defensive play lead to the Packers punt being blocked by the Wildcats, and the ball was recovered by Mikrut in the end zone for a Wildcat touchdown. Eldridge’s extra point kick was successful, putting the Wildcats up 8-6. On the Packers ensuing offensive series, Papsin forced and recovered a fumble, but the Wildcats ended up turning the ball over on downs.

The fourth quarter began with the Wildcats recovering another Packer fumble, this one by Chris Frezza. After a series of strong running plays by Eldridge, the Wildcats ended up turning the ball over on downs deep in Packer territory. The Packers came back with a couple of long runs and scored again with about four minutes left to play. The Packers led by 4 points after missing the extra point. Once the Wildcats got the ball back, they started off with a series of strong runs by Aguilar, Jake Lipowski, and Eldridge behind the blocking of Gerard O’Neil and Drew Jones, but end up turning the ball over on downs on the Packer 49 yard line. On the next play, a swarming Wildcat defense forced a Packer fumble, with Papsin recovering his second fumble of the day. The Wildcats began their last offensive series of the game from the Packers 45 yard line, with less than two minutes remaining. The Wildcats moved the ball downfield with strong runs by Eldridge, and Lipowski, supplemented by a 15 yard pass completion from Eldridge to Smith, which placed the ball on the 3 yard line with less than 20 seconds to go. With 2.7 seconds to go in the game, the Wildcats were unable to complete a pass into the end zone. The final score ended 12-8 in favor of the undefeated Packers.

MONTY JR. MIDGETS

The Montgomery Wildcat Junior Midgets won a thrilling physical battle over Maplewood on Sunday 33-13 to even their record at 3-3. The wildcats gained over 360 yards of total offense and scored four touchdowns of over 40 yards.

Montgomery jumped out early, scoring on their first offensive play with a 64 yard pass from QB Josh Reinson to Ryan Boyle. These two scored the next two touchdowns on the ground for the Wildcats, ending the first half with a 20-6 lead. But the team from Maplewood wouldn’t quit and battled back to make the score 20-13 early in the second half, then drove to Montgomery’s 12 yard line mid-way through the fourth quarter with a chance to tie the game. But David Bergida’s first of two interceptions at the one yard line put an end to Maplewood’s final threat. Two plays later, Josh Reinson darted untouched 98 yards to put the game away.

Montgomery’s win was truly a total team effort. Matt Charlton, Louis Colonna, Jake Colangelo, Michael Boyer along with Reinson and Boyle all had quarterback sacks. Ari Gutman registered 7 solo tackles. The combination of Montgomery’s cornerbacks Ben Kalan, Kevin Johnson and David Bergida blanketing the speedy Maplewood receivers and the pressure from the defensive line of Zach Slotkin, Boyer, Colongelo, Charlton and Colonna stymied the dynamic passing attack of Maplewood, Finally, the Wildcats dominated the offensive line led by C.J. Griffith, Sean O’Brien, Nick Mertz and Tyler Ajamian.

MONTY PEE WEES

The Montgomery Pee Wees lost to the Maplewood Pee Wees 32-0. In the first quarter the Monty defense made two nice stops on 4th down attempts by Maplewood. One was a stop by Sam Oltmans and the other was Wade Baldwin breaking up a pass play. While Maplewood rushed for two touchdowns in the first half, Montgomery blocked both extra points. Montgomery launched a nice drive late in the first quarter, with some nice running by Josh Lipowski. The drive stalled and Maplewood lead 12-0 at the half. During the third quarter, Wade Baldwin returned a kickoff to the Montgomery 48 yard line.

Leading tacklers for Montgomery were: Angelo Colarusso, CJ Gatt, Baldwin, Oltmans and Mark Maslanka. The Pee Wees play away at South Plainfield next week.

MONTY MITEY-MITES

The Mitey Mites won a tough battle with Maplewood, final score of 14-12. The Wildcats were led by Matt Stagnitta, Wyatt Colangelo,Brandon Szigeti , Joe DeMato and Mike Patrizio. Providing the blocking up front was led by Noah Golestani, Paul Tedeschi, Austin Kelly, Anthony Lopresti, Jack Winge, Mitchell Chugonov and Michael Remson. The defense was led by Jarod Reinson, Jake DeMato, Kyle Marrapodi, Liam Fitzgerald, Gavin Sudano , Taylor Gatt, Joseph Mercurio and Kevin McLester. The scoring drives were exciting to say the least. Passing plays working to perfection as Stagnitta connected with Mayo , DeMato connecting with Patrizio and John Riggins like running by Zach Masessa.

MONTY GREEN FLAG

The Montgomery Wildcats Green Squad hosted Maplewood – South Orange on Sunday. The Wildcats played tough on defense against a big and fast opponent. Will Griesinger led the team with 6 tackles and a sack. Shane Ajamian, Jack Helberg, Ryan Furey, Max Wendling and Evan Goldsmith all contributed with several tackles.

The offensive line, led by Tyler Internoscia, Michael Milano and Lee Poirier controlled the line of scrimmage for most of the game. The O-Line opened huge holes for Ryan Tollefsen, Christian Binford. Binford’s 40 yard touchdown run in the first half highlighted the Wildcat rushing attack, which was complimented by Gavin Kirk, Lucas Kopecky and Danny Boyer, who combined for an additional 107 yards on the ground.