Monday, December 8, 2014

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Brad Smith scoring three first half rushing TDs and Mountain Lakes held off a spirited Lincoln charge to claim a second straight state sectional title with a 36-28 win on Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

EAST RUTHERFORD – When Robert Hampton took over as the head coach at Lincoln, his mission was to bring a state title back to Jersey City. That seemed laughable being that a Jersey City public school has not won a section title in decades and Lincoln was toiling in mediocrity, but each year Hampton saw his team inch closer and closer to that goal. On Sunday, the Lions had finally reached a section title game against perennial small-school power Mountain Lakes and, although the Lions came up on the wrong end of the scoreboard, they showed that a team does not necessarily have to be crowned a champion to show that they have the heart of a champion.

Mountain Lakes took advantage of a turnover and scored with one second left in the first half to take a commanding lead. Lincoln was down by 22 but cut it to a one-possession game late before eventually falling, 36-28, in the North 2, Group 2 state final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.

“I knew we were going to fight hard the whole way and that's what we did,” said Hampton. “When you make mistakes against a great team, those mistakes turn into points. The turnover was a game-changer and them scoring right before the half was tough to bounce back from.”

Mountain Lakes has made its mark by getting off to fast starts then quickly pulling away from the opposition. That was not the case against the Lions, who rode the back of Devell Jones to grab an early lead. The Lakers brought the house and quarterback Zymire Gordon floated a perfectly-timed screen pass to Jones out of the backfield. He went all the way up the sideline, breaking two tackles while tiptoeing along the sideline for a 77-yard touchdown. Gordon then hit Frank Darby for the two-point conversion and an 8-0 lead.

Jason Harrison caught this second half TD pass for Lincoln, which finished the season with a 10-2 record.

Lakers' quarterback Brad Smith was a nightmare for the Lions all game long. He answered with a 21-yard TD run and a two-point conversion pass to Brian Olshanski that knotted the score at 8. Lincoln marched right back down the field with Jones punching it in from a yard out for a 14-8 lead. It was the first time all season that the Lakers had trailed at the end of any quarter.

After Smith went over from a yard out and the PAT was good to give Mountain Lakes the lead, it pulled out a kickoff play that it had been working on the entire season. Virtually every kickoff the Lakers do is a spinner toward the left side in the area between the two kick returners and the blockers in front of them. The ball looked like it was going to spin out of bounds before it came to a dead stop just inside the sideline. With the Lakers bearing down on the loose ball, one of the Lions picked it up and tried to make a play. However, he got hit and fumbled with Mountain Lakes' Sean Breslauer recovering.

The Lakers took advantage of the short field with a two-yard run from Bobby Frawley to make it 22-14. Then on their next drive with a fourth-and-goal from the two, Smith collided with two defenders at the goal line but was able to fall forward for a TD that gave the Lakers a 29-14 lead that was not indicative of how evenly played the first half was.

“We knew we had to get some stops and create some turnovers to get the momentum back,” said Smith. “Recovering that fumble on the kickoff and scoring was a huge confidence boost. Lincoln is a very athletic team and we knew that we had to put as many points on the board as we possibly could.”

Brad Landry scored on a 10-yard run early in the third quarter for a 22-point advantage but the Lions had no intentions of getting this far and merely fading away. Gordon led them on a drive late in the third quarter, capping it by dropping in a pass over the shoulder of wide receiver Jason Harrison for the touchdown.

Jake Spagnola and Mountain Lakes finished the season with a perfect 12-0 record and a second straight state title.

With time winding down in the fourth quarter, Gordon used his legs to find the end zone from three yards out with Darius Wade running in the two-point conversion to make it a one-possession game, down only eight with less than two minutes to play. But the Lions were not able to recover the onside kick and Mountain Lakes held on for a second straight state title.

Jones finished with 80 yards rushing on 19 carries to finish as the school's all-time leading rusher with 3,452 career yards for Lincoln (10-2). Smith, who will play lacrosse at Duke next year, ran for 82 yards and three touchdowns to lead the way for Mountain Lakes (12-0).

Even though the Lion players and coaching staff were disappointed in not coming away with a title, they left the field with their heads held high. They were no longer just an average program, they had finally made it. Now there is just one final hurdle to clear. Although they lose several key players, including the Monmouth-bound Jones, most of the team returns next season as they will work hard to take that one final step towards glory.

“We're at a point where our number goal every year is to be state champs,” said Hampton. “We have some young kids at key positions and we're confident that we'll be back next year. I think we're in a good place and we know how to win. But we have to learn from this experience and get over the hump. We're disappointed for the seniors that we lost today. But for the program as a whole, we're one step closer to where we want to be and that will be the driving motivation for our players going into next year.”

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