file photo by Ramon Hache
November 19,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Maroons scored 24 unanswered fourth quarter points to defeat Montclair, 31-20, preserving their undefeated season at the North Jersey, Section 1, Group 5 semifinals at Ridgewood.
Ridgewood will now take on third-seeded Passaic Tech in the sectional final on the weekend of Dec. 2-4. Last year in the final Passaic Tech beat Ridgewood, 27-0.
Montclair had led 14-7 at halftime behind its explosive offense and very opportunistic defense. Down 20-7 in the fourth quarter , Ridgewood Quarterback Jack Barclay connected with Drew Granski on a 54-yard touchdown reception making it a 20-14 game. With that ,the momentum shifted to the Maroons recovering a fumble on the first play from scrimmage on Montclair’s ensuing possession then ,scoring another touchdown .
The Ridgewood defense forced a punt by Montclair and then on a 3rd-and-8 from the Montclair 48, Barclay connected with Dan Romero for a 35-yard catch.Zach Feagles finished the drive with his second five-yard score to put Ridgewood ahead 28-20. Another fumble by Montclair was just icing on the cake giving Ridgewood a field goal to pull out a win .